Tried-and-true tactics to deal with difficult neighbours

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Howdy folks, indulge me for a second (Or more) here, what’s it like to have a good neighbour because I wouldn’t know.

I’ve dealt with an awful lot of bad neighbours.

Unless you live in your own house, chances are that you live in a ten-storey apartment with neighbours left right and center.

Even if you’ve bought your own home, no man is an island and sooner or later, someone is coming to erect their house right where yours ends.

Neighbours are inevitable and there is nothing worse than a terrible neighbour. Best believe they will get under your skin and make your blood boil.

Kenya Homes gives you these tried-and-true tactics to deal with the situation effectively. For us, we go beyond the sale to ensure your new (or old) home gives you uttermost comfort.

Assuming your neighbour is rude, could it be your own doing?

If your neighbour is showing animosity towards you, it could be because you’ve not taken the initiative to interact with them. Human beings respond well to courtesy and kindness.

Introduce yourself and show sincere interest in them, they will soften up and treat you better. If they don’t , at least you tried and that counts for something, yes?

Conducting illegal activity

You have not lived in Nairobi if you’ve not encountered at least one drug dealer in your apartment or flat. Usually going by the street slang of “pedi” to refer to a drug peddler, this neighbour usually sneaks in and out of his house during the odd hours of the night.

They may not pose any immediate threat to you or your family, but if you are aware of the activities they indulge in, then you are an accessory to crime for harboring a criminal.

You should report to the police immediately or ask your landlord to vacate them immediately.

More often than not, neighbours involved in such dealings will be found with guns, ammunition and narcotic stuff in their possession.

Is that the kind of neighbour you want to live with? And if that doesn’t hit a nerve maybe this will, would you want your kids around such a person?

Confrontation? Don’t take the bait

You have quietly lived with your neighbour for three months but suddenly, you start hearing loud music through your bedroom wall during awkward hours of the night. This is disrupting your sleep pattern and you are extremely cranky and moody.

You decide to talk to him because you need your beauty sleep and he tells you that he recently bought a sound system and has been excited about it.

He even moved it from the sitting room to the bedroom and didn’t realize the noise was bothersome.

He promises to return it back to the sitting room because the initial excitement has worn off. Starting the next night, you don’t hear a thing! Problem solved.

Sadly, you may find a neighbour with no single bone of thoughtfulness in their body. When and if they decide to confront you, don’t argue back. Take the issue to the landlord who will deal with it better.

Gossip harms relationship with neighbours

In Kenyan estates, nothing travels faster than cheap gossip (mucene).

Whatever you say about your neighbour will land at their doorstep either through the mama mboga, the watchman or the caretaker.

If a neighbour has a bedsheet for a curtain, how does that concern you? If they sleep on the floor, how does it interrupt your own sleep? Unless an issue directly affects you, avoid poking your nose in their business.

Nothing good comes out of gossiping, it only fuels the rift further.