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I live in a co-op on the 7th floor.  The woman below me has begun complaining to management and the board of my frequent toilet flushing.  I can sometimes go between 8-15 times per day.  Sometimes I may go 3 or 4 times one BM after another.  I also am very loud when I go. I personally never notice someone else's toilet or shower.  This woman happens to be a frequent, harassing complainer.  Obviously she is invading my privacy.  Would anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this without revealing my medical history?  She is making my life miserable. Thanks in advance!!

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I have never heard of a complaint of flushing the toilet too much, and I have lived in different condominiums for nearly 30 years. However, there is a possible non-crackpot reason for the complaint that has nothing to do with Jim's IBD health. In condominiums, in particular, septic tanks can jam up from people using their toilets as garbage disposals for items that should not be flushed, like tampons and shredded paper (I even saw a news article recently about Donald Trump using his toilet to flush documents he had ripped up). In my condo, there has been complaints along those lines because garbage improperly disposed of through the toilet causes clogs, backups and related odor nuisance. And a person flushing the toilet a lot could be suspected of being a garbage disposer.

I don't think that's the case here. I think Jim's neighbor is probably a garden variety crackpot. But I am positing a legitimate reason to complain about, or be suspicious of a serial toilet flusher.

On another note, Jim's post reminds me of the time when I lived in a small one bedroom condo in Branford, from 2000-2002.  There was an older woman who lived in the unit directly over mine. Every morning she started vacuuming her condo at 6:00 am, with a high powered and loud vacuum cleaner. Occasionally, she woke me up. Why she needed to aggressively vacuum her condo at 6 am every morning isn't something I can explain, except by the speculation that she suffered from Obsessive-compulsive disorder. Because I felt she was probably mentally ill, I never complained about it. I just bought some ear plugs.

Last edited by CTBarrister
@Jim in NYC posted:

I appreciate the time all of you have taken to respond to my post.  This group is fantastic!  ytcrockpot Do you know of any specific NYC Law that she has violated?  Thanks!

Hi,

I’m not a lawyer so I don’t know of a specific law, but In NYC co-ops fall under a different entity. Complaints against the board go to the state attorney general, where as a regular rental apt would go to the city.
I believe co-ops are owned by the tenant, owners would have to get their own legal help. If you’re worried about her trying to get you out, you may have to use your medical condition and discrimination. I would certainly contact the landlord tenant lawyer to get some advice on it.
Call 311, NYC offers free legal help.
Good luck, please keep us posted.

Jim,

You mentioned a complaint by the neighbor to the board or management of the Co-op, but you do not mention what action the board took based on that complaint. Did they send you a cease and desist letter? What action did they take? If you were not asked to cease and desist from excessively flushing the toilet, it seems to me that there is nothing actionable. Neighbors in condos and co-ops make complaints all the time and nothing happens with them. I only remember one cease and desist letter at our condo and it was with a nuisance dog which killed another unit owner's dog. The owner of the killer dog was sent a letter telling him to remove the nuisance animal from the property. I also remember complaints over a tenant neighbor who my neighbors claimed was beating up his girlfriend and also abusing his dog (throwing it off a deck, supposedly). The board took a different approach and sent a letter to the owner of the condo and told him his tenant was being complained about and tell the dude to get his act together. I have seen this guy but he lives in a unit not so close to mine so I don't know what is going on at that condo. But there were multiple complaints about him.

Last edited by CTBarrister

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