The question this answers
What to write down when there's a problem with a neighbor
These go both directions, and the same person can end up in both of them. A list written only for the one raising it would be half a list.
A short note the same night is worth more than a careful one next month. Write the short one.
Whichever direction it's going
- The date, and the times. Start and end — not "late".
- Where you were, and where it was coming from.
- What you could hear, see or smell, in plain words, without deciding who's at fault in the note itself.
- Who else was there.
- Any message sent that day — to them, to a friend, to anyone — kept with its date on it.
If you're the one raising it
- Every time you raised it, and how: in person, a note, a message, a phone call, a form.
- Any reference number you were given, and who gave it to you.
- What you were told would happen next, written down the day you were told.
- The nights when nothing happened. A log with only the bad nights in it can't show how often — it can only show that it happened.
If it's being raised about you
- The date you were first told, and who told you.
- What exactly was put to you — the wording, not your summary of it.
- What you were doing at the times named, and anything ordinary that happens to date it: a receipt, a photo, a message you sent.
- Anything you changed, and the date you changed it.
- Anything you sent back, and the date it went.
A checklist of what to record. It doesn't say what any of it means for a particular situation, and nothing here is legal advice.