Psycho resident in condo -how to handle?

[Nancy Miller]

Does anyone know the best way of handling a threatening psychotic neighbor who lives in a condo building with you? Death threats were recently made against us and we have been harassed/threatened by this person a couple times before. There's no way to completely avoid them or what triggers them cause they get crazy over nothing and imagine & accuse us of stuff we didn't do or that never happened although sometimes they are normal/quiet & this person can put on the charm when need be.

Our HOA sucks and is aware of this problem person because there have been issues with other neighbors...was told one tenant even moved out because of this person being on her floor. She had a violent encounter where this person was beating on her door in the middle of the night screaming at her. I've mention previous harassment of us to our HOA & they only say to file police report & nothing they can do but then not sure how that works when they are in the building with you or if it will make the situation worse when someone is this deranged?

Was curious is anyone else dealt with this or what the laws are in regards to this. Doesn't HOAs owners have an expectation of  enjoyment of their homes legally speaking & not to be harassed and threatened by another owner? Or is someone in this situation just screwed and stuck living in same building with this psycho? This problem person is another owner which makes it difficult to remove like a tenant.

[Christen G.]

I'm sorry this is happening. I had something similar in my condo with a lame HOA board. My advice is to document everything and get the police involved ASAP. You'll have to stay on them any time something happens and you'll want a paper trail. Police departments need a "heat map" - and if you call enough and they have to respond, your building will "heat up."

Also - go to the HOA meetings! And speak up/get on record there. Hopefully it gets resolved and then you can hit the HOA with a "negligence, complacency and complicit" complaint. I was on the board of the HOA at the time and was shocked at the inaction (I was new to the PNW and the passive aggressive ways here). When all was handled and the tenant was literally arrested (door busted in, etc...this was a drug dealing scenario) I went to the next board meeting and let them know I was lawyered up and they're very, very lucky I didn't bring a suit (which would have only raised my HOAs so I didnt). Needless to say security in our building has gotten much better. Good luck.