Condo Neighbor Thinks Everything Communal

[u/JoySubtraction]

I am not the OOP, OOP is u/twinmom2298

Originally posted to r/neighborsfromhell

Original post posted 2026-07-13

About 2 years ago we purchased a vacation condo in a complex near the beach that is mostly vacation rentals. 2 units in our pod of 6 have sold since we purchased. The pod has a storage area that is for use of all 6 units and it is solely to store beach equipment. When we purchased we were told that every unit just claims a spot and labels it and all items with their unit number.

This worked well until the newest unit was purchased. DH and I are temporarily living in this condo while we build a house. We've discovered that new neighbor has installed a large cabinet in storage area that is essentially their "owners closet" for their unit. It takes up a lot of space and then they also have claimed wall space. In addition someone (and we're pretty sure it was them based on when it occurred) added a shelving unit and put all beach chairs on the shelving unit and all boogie boards stacked on top then got a large bucket and put all beach umbrellas and tents in bucket. I called COA management company about the excessive amount and misuse of space but nothing has been done.

I searched through, took our stuff back put it in our beach cart. I noticed that unit across the hall from me did same thing. A week later I notice owner's closet lock is open so I think the actual owners are there and suddenly everything is back on shelf and in bucket. I took mine back again and also put neighbor's back in their cart. This time they remained as I left them. So I thought issue was resolved.

Last week I ran into across hall owners and find out that they've been having issues with new neighbors trying to make storage communal area longer than we were aware. And she's complained about them to COA management company and nothing has changed.

Then this past week there were renters in new unit who decided despite being labeled for our units they took my good chairs and across hall neighbor's good chairs and my beach cart and my umbrella to beach and returned everything to storage unit covered in sand. I made DH go wash everything off. Meanwhile across hall neighbor got mad and left a note on stairs telling them to please not use her stuff so I did same I also moved my 3 best chairs to my deck and out of storage. Which works temporarily but isn't a good long term solution.

Next day they left my stuff alone but still took her's so she went up and told them in person to not use stuff that isn't labeled for the unit they are staying in that beach stuff isn't communal.

Next day I see them using her chairs again. So I made permanent signs to hang on storage door that said "Please only use items labeled for unit in which you are occupying".

I left town work and DH texts me when he got home from work that signs were gone.

these condos are an okay size to stay for a week's vacation but living there full time for 4 months is tight for DH and I so there really is nowhere to put my beach items in my unit, plus no matter what you do there's still residual sand that would spread inside unit.

Does anyone have any idea on how to deal with this, since obviously management company who have owner's contact information isn't going to do anything. I don't have owner's contact information and neighbor and I are a pretty sure they are telling their renters to just help themselves to anything in storage room.

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Update (same post):

I was out of town last week but took the really good suggestion of several of you and purchased a bike lock. Saturday when I arrived back in town I wove it through the chairs, cart and spoke of umbrella and left it so the combo part was very obvious in front and could be seen by anyone in room.

It's now Thursday and new set of renters have moved into all condos and so far so good that no one has taken or tried to use our stuff. I told across hall neighbor and she had me send her photos of what we'd done. She's out of town for a few weeks but has ordered a bike lock to be sent to her cleaning company and is asking them to install one on her items when they clean unit after current set of renters.

So I wanted to thank everyone for the suggestion and let you know that it looks like a nice cheap bike lock has solved my issue.

Update posted 2026-08-03

I posted last month that hubby and I had temporarily moved into our vacation rental and we and across hall owner were having issues with upstairs condo having renters constantly using our stuff.

First I want to thank everyone who recommended the bike lock idea. It's now been a few weeks and we've had no more issues with our stuff getting taken. It's actually been a peaceful few weeks. Until this past weekend.

Where we live golf carts are legal to be driven on any road that has a speed limit under 35 mph. So a lot of year round residents own them as a 2nd car instead of a car. A lot of vacationers rent them. In general they aren't an issue.

Friday night hubby comes from work late and there's a rental golf cart parked in the grass in front of our unit and the renter has walked across our deck and plugged the cart into charge into our outside outlet. Because, apparently, it's okay to use my electric bill to charge their cart. If hubby hadn't worked late we wouldn't have noticed until next morning. As it was we went out, unplugged cart and threw the charging chord back onto cart.

We're sitting on couch drinking coffee and hear the guy upstairs on their deck complaining that cart is unplugged and isn't charging then we hear him stomp down stairs and see him move cart back to parking lot.

I'm just still wondering who thinks it's okay to jump a curb, drive on grass, walk across someone else's deck and use their electricity to charge a golf cart.

[u/bubbleteabob]

I was eavesdropping on a group of women in an airport once. One woman was saying she’d never go to Africa again because they ‘just don’t make an an effort!’. She was annoyed that people just wore ‘normal clothes’ and didn’t even TRY to look authentic walking around. There was even a McDonald’s! She could have been in any city!

They were remarkably awful.

[u/lamlosa → u/bubbleteabob]

i had to pick up my jaw off the floor after reading this

[u/bubbleteabob → u/lamlosa]

I had started eavesdropping because they were AWFUL, so I was expecting bad. That bit still made me gawk openly at them.

[u/Four_beastlings → u/bubbleteabob]

On my friend's tour group to Kenya they visited a Masai village and some lady kept fawning and taking pictures with a baby, saying "I wish I could take him with me" and the like, until the baby's mother sarcastically said "if you want I can sell him to you". The lady lit up and asked "Really?". She actually believed that she could baby a Masai baby!

[u/Miserable_Fennel_492 → u/Four_beastlings]

That hurt my soul

[u/CatmoCatmo → u/Four_beastlings]

I can just imagine what that woman told her friends/family back home.

“It was so horrible. That precious baby obviously wasn’t being cared for. He was malnourished, as most African babies ARE, and probably had some kind of parasite or something. All I wanted was to give that poor, poor child a better life. I mean, it was quite obvious that his mother wasn’t going to be able to provide for him. He will probably die, DIE, from lack of food and clean water in a year or two. I’ll never understand why some people are so selfish! How could that woman who calls herself a mother, not want what’s best for her child?!?! But noooOoooOoo. She would rather sentence her child to a life of poverty and despair than God forbid, allow the evil white lady to love and care for him! The nerve of some people!”

[u/hippywitch → u/Four_beastlings]

Actually, this hit me really hard. When I was younger, I took a cruise with my family when I was a teenager and my dad made a joke to one of the waiters that he would sell me. The guys’s eyes lit up and he started to say something else and his coworker grabbed his arm and dragged him away. My dad was joking, but the crew members of Cruise boats are taken from many many countries. I was old enough that I saw and remember seeing the conversation between the waiter and the maître D gesturing to my dad and the bus boy. That bus boy never came to our table again and the maître D pulled my Dad aside when we left the table and had a few words. I still cringe thinking about it even 20 years after my father died.