Woman reports neighbor to property management for violating fire code with a stroller. AITA? UPDATED

"AITA for trying to get my neighbors to not block my front door?"

I (32F) live in NYC. I recently moved into a small building, three stories, 6 apartments in total. My apartment is a ground floor unit. From move in a neighbor (40F and 40M) has been storing their large stroller in front of my front door, which poses problems every time I have to come and go from my apartment.

It is also against fire code and explicitly forbidden in the building's leases. The stroller is there every day, unless their kid (3M) decides he doesn't want to walk. One day when I heard them leaving it there, I introduced myself and politely said them leaving their stroller there was causing me issues and it is against the city's fire code and asked them to no longer keep their stroller in front of my front door.

The 40F neighbor gave me excuses that they live on the third floor, but the 40M neighbor straight up raised his voice at me, while I was holding my infant daughter. The woman said as a compromise she'd fold the stroller when leaving it front of my door.

As time went on, the stroller was never folded up and continued to block my door. As it is against fire code, and explicitly forbidden in the lease, I decided to reach out to property management for help resolving this issue. I just want to be able to safely come and go from my apartment.

The day the property management enforced this on these neighbors, the 40F neighbor rang my doorbell, and proceeded to refuse to speak to me and called her mother.

Her mother then berated me on speakerphone and said I should have spoken to them first, ignoring me when I said I did. She then kind of threatened me saying I "complained about the wrong people." I was stunned and couldn't believe this was happening. All I could muster was insisting it is against fire code and no one gets to break fire code.

I am baffled by this behavior. I found it a bizarre confrontation and I didn't know adults could act this way. I've never had issues with neighbors before.

I have a child younger than their's and empathize with their situation, but their kid is massive and able to walk. They could just have an umbrella stroller, like I do. I just wanted access to my front door. AITA?

EDIT:

I appreciate the outside perspective. I didn't think I was TA, but I do have hardcore people pleasing tendencies and it was very clear my actions hurt people's feelings, and it gave me self doubt.

The reason I engaged with the mother on the phone at all is bizarre too, it's all just too weird and I'm reeling a little lol. The 40F neighbor has an unusual way of speaking, I haven't been able to work out if it is an accent or what.

When she put the mother on speaker phone I had a sinking thought that maybe the 40F neighbor is deaf and needs someone to talk for her and I felt bad that maybe I'd made a deaf person feel victimized when they can't speak up for themselves????

But like she clearly wasn't deaf, her mother was just on speakerphone with no video and she had zero issues following the conversation. Apart from this is incident and the other nasty neighbor stuff this woman and her man have pulled, they seem like normal functional adults.

The man does not have an unusual way of speaking. I don't think her unusual way of speaking is really a factor in whether I'm TA, and I have been so eager to be polite and respectful.

It became clear very quickly the phone call wasn't really about helping in communication, but just messy people expressing their anger as much as possible. But yeah, that's why I let the phone call happen. Messy.

Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:

UnfortunateDaring said:

NTA - why didn’t you just close your door on these AHs. Just report them again for harassment to property management. Start videoing any interaction with them.

EwwDavvidd said:

NTA. But I would consider telling the property manager you've been threatened. Of cousin that could escalate and make things worse. But you are being bullied. I'd try to get out of the lease and move.

NTA. The getting mom on the phone tells you all you need to know about the maturity of a 40 year old person.

FauxeticVRC said:

Nta. Your neighbors are really entitled... No normal person would want to leave their property outside a strangers door for days on end. Consider reporting them again to building management for the confrontation.. this kind of behavior was completely uncalled for.

Duin-do-ghob said:

You’re much nicer than I would have been. When they didn’t comply with the polite request I would have chucked the stroller outside.

DastardlyCreepy said:

NTA. I thought maybe they lived next door and didnt have space inside. No they live upstairs and dont take it up. I'd have put it on the street, it wouldnt be there long.

Micubano said:

NTA. Does this person think that the mother screaming over the phone keeps her safe? Record everything and pass it on to management.

UPDATE:

So it has been almost a month, and I am pleased to say the stroller has not been in front of my door since the events in my original post. Luckily I have not run into them in the hallways or experienced real fallout. I heard the man a couple of times tell his kid "that's where the snitches live," and I think the mother from the phone call was in the building once and I heard her call me a bitch outside my door.

The woman neighbor also stuck her middle finger up at my front door a few times. That petty behavior stopped pretty quickly, and they seem to have gotten over themselves. I'm not bothered by their silly little insults.

The neighbors also started using an umbrella stroller pretty soon after my original post. I'm glad they finally have taken responsibility for their own belongings and used a little bit of troubleshooting to work their problems out.

I didn't end up putting up a video doorbell as commenters suggested on the original post, I don't think I had to as it turns out. They just needed to get over themselves, get a handle on their emotions. I am actively avoiding them though, but that has been easy so far. So yeah, a bit of a boring update, but that is the best outcome. I'm just enjoying having space to come and go from my apartment.

Here's what top commenters had to say about this one:

shelizabeth93 said:

I'm just going to say from experience with jerk neighbors, don't expect the peace to last. People like that tend to fall back into their old patterns. At least it's quiet for now. Hopefully, it lasts for you.

Suspicious-Holiday51 said:

You are not a snitch. NTA. You talked to them first and asked them to move it. It’s not snitching when it comes to safety. You have a small child and so do they, and it seems you are the only adult amid this situation. They were not respecting the boundaries set by your apartment nor the one you redrew by asking them to not park there. They didn’t even respect the promise they made.

Friendly_Fall_ said:

Good luck to that kid with those parents, yikes.

IngrownToenailsHurt said:

NTA. You shouldn't have to feel imprisoned in your own apartment. I GUARANTEE they will cause more drama so you should still consider getting a security camera. People like that don't give up and are just waiting for things to die down. You can't trust them so get the camera.

Even_Video7549 said:

I would of taken the stroller and put it outside of the building. NTA.

LeaveInteresting3290 said:

If they start doing it again just move it in front of their door.