'Neighbor was stealing water from my supply, so I ruined him.'
"Neighbor was stealing water from my supply, so I ruined him."
TheMusicFella
I live in Asia, and just purchased a new house. Now, the previous owners were family friends who needed cash urgently and haven't been living in my country for nearly 3 years. So I got it for a great price in the middle of the capital city.
The sale was finalized at the start of this month and I moved in right after. The house was definitely a fixer upper, as the previous owners had left mid renovation and the main door was locked with just a padlock, not even a door lock.
The house had no gate, meaning anyone could just walk right on in. The first day I moved in, someone's bike was parked in the garage. I just parked it on the road on the same day I had a gate installed. An angry man was knocking on my gate later and I didn't bother answering, but through my window I could see him giving up and taking the bike after 15 minutes.
So already, I wasn't digging the neighborhood. But I didn't have any incidents after that, aside from people not knowing that this was no longer an abandoned house, so my gate was blocked more often than never but a "No Parking" sign on my gate fixed that issue.
Last week, I was having a shower in my bathroom and I noticed my water pressure was lower than usual. I also heard my next door neighbors water pump going. Now this neighbor, an old guy, lived in a 3 storied house, the first being the lowest and the one he lived in. The other two floors were rented out to tenants.
This guy wasn't happy about the house being sold, and voiced many concerns to my friends the previous owners. He was super angry about it, and my friends did warn me but I'm a 6ft guy with 3 dogs.
No way he was doing anything and yep, he didn't. So with this living situation, a water pump is needed to pump water to the tanks on the roof, since the public supply's pressure is not enough to get it up 3 stories.
Now, I heard the water pump going and immediately was suspicious. Sure, coincidences exist, but it wouldn't hurt to check it out. I waited till his pump turned off, and then turned on different taps in the house. Sure enough, the pressure was back to normal.
This made me even more suspicious, but if he was stealing water, it also made sense. The water bills had been going up over the years this house wasn't lived in, but the house also had some water leaks. So it was chalked up to that, even if the bills were too high to be caused just by leaks. Now it's starting to make sense.
At some point in the last 3 years, this old miser thought he'd save the cost of paying for water, and waltzed onto my property and started siphoning water from my lines. I couldn't find where exactly he was siphoning water from, but after checking my pressure multiple times, I was pretty sure.
So I sat on it for a few days, thinking if I should confront him, go the legal path or just let it be. Now, water in my country is very cheap. My total bill, even with washing 3 animals, a car every week and watering my garden only cost like $5 per month, even with the neighbor also stealing some of it.
But it wasn't about how much I was paying or who was paying for it. It's about entitled old people who think that they're deserving of using other people's resources without paying for it, and then getting away with it. It didn't sit right with me, and I really wanted to teach him a lesson.
What I did was really simple. I just turned off my water from the mains. I wouldn't have to break into his property, nor would I be breaking any laws. It was the best way of getting back at him without needing to even lift a muscle.
So on Monday, just 4 days ago, I waited till the pump flicked on, and turned off the supply. Now, the way household tanks work in my country, is that there's a ball valve in the tank which detects the level of water and turns on the pump.
If the level doesn't increase, the valve stays open which electronically sends a signal to the pump to stay on until the level gets to a point at which the valve closes and also shuts off the pump.
However, the level wasn't increasing and anyone knows that starving a pump of water isn't a good idea. This way, my expectation was that I'd burn out his pump and cause issues with his tenants.
What I didn't account for is that his pump running constantly would mess up the fuses by constantly drawing power overnight and absolutely destroy his wiring. If he decided to upgrade his household wiring to a more modern standard, this would've been prevented. This house clearly still had 90s era wiring.
At around 3AM, I heard all residents in the house waking up and talking in hushed voices about why just their house in the neighborhood doesn't have power or water. I found out about the power part, because the tenants devolved into shouting at their landlord.
Our tenant protection laws are very important, and power and water are classed as essential even on a state level. Cutting those services are grounds for lawsuits, unless due to weather or some other unavoidable reason.
In this case, the landlord is responsible for keeping the house wiring up to date and in good condition, alongside the supply of water. So the tenants were not happy and one of them immediately moved out two days later when they were informed that water and power would not be returning the very same day this happened.
Both tenants in the two floors lodged a complaint with the police, and if a person is in clear breach of laws, the police have the authority to fine or penalize the person without a court judgment.
It can be challenged in court if the person thinks that they were unfairly penalized, but they still have to pay the fines and will only be refunded if and when the court finds the fines unlawful.
So now, the landlord lost both tenants and has to pay a fine of $500, which is a lot of money in our country. He also has to refund the security deposits of both tenants, and cannot rent out until both issues are fixed, which will cost him more money.
As of right now, he's moving out on Sunday to his daughter's place since he cannot afford to live alone. The tenants were his only source of income, and he's a retired mechanic, so he has no other income.
He did find out why the motor kept drawing power, overloaded the wiring and burned out. He came by to my gate and asked me if I turned off my water, and I said "oh yeah, my tank had a new leak on a pipe and I turned it off till the next day until the plumber came by to fix the issue".
Y'all, the look on his face. He kept a straight one, but I just knew he was holding back. He just said "oh okay" and went back inside. Not sure if he knows I know, but I don't care because he can't do anything.
I'm getting a plumber down next week to correct my plumbing and remove any pipes that leave my property. So I got rid of my water issue and a neighbor who could potentially be a pain in the ass, by simply flicking a tap off. Two birds one stone I'd say.
Here were the top rated comments from readers in response to the OP's post:
MrTempleDene
Well played, especially managing to keep a straight face when he asked you about turning the water off.
PoolNoodleSamurai
“As a matter of fact, yes. I did turn my water off. WHY DO YOU ASK? 😡”
elldee50
You should make him an offer for the house.
noeljb
Ya got to be polite to people you're stealing from.
TheMusicFella (OP)
While true, I'm sure he was mad about the sale because he knew that his freeloading time would come to an end. What he didn't know was that instead of confronting him, I'd retaliate. Don't mess with a Gen Z Engineer who knows exactly how these things work lol.
AGuyNamedEddie
From a Boomer engineer to my Gen-Z comrade, I salute you, sir!