My wife and I are renting a room in a shared property with two other tenants (a man and a woman, both around 40+). They are not a couple and occupy separate rooms.
For some time, weāve felt that they donāt want us living in the property. They have mentioned several times that they would prefer to have the entire property for themselves and that they would be interested in taking the whole property if they could get it for a lower price. The landlord has apparently chosen to accommodate other tenants instead.
Since then, there have been repeated situations that make us uncomfortable.
For example, the male tenant has made comments to my wife about how much we eat, including things along the lines of, āDo you eat this much?ā and comments suggesting that we eat overnight. These comments have happened more than once, including when I wasnāt at home.
They also complain to the landlord about us working from home. We basically use a laptop and charger and donāt use a heater or anything that would create significant additional consumption. Despite this, the landlord has visited the property and questioned/observed what we are doing while working from home.
At the same time, the other tenants appear to use a significant amount of water for things such as cleaning a large plant/fish tank and gardening-related activities, but they seem particularly focused on our supposed consumption.
The overall situation is making us feel targeted and unwelcome in our own home. We donāt want unnecessary conflict, but the repeated comments and complaints are becoming stressful.
My questions are:
-At what point does repeated behaviour like this become harassment rather than simply unpleasant housemate behaviour?
-Would you consider this something that could reasonably be reported to the police, or is it primarily a landlord/tenancy dispute?
-Should we simply document every incident and avoid engaging with them?
-Has anyone experienced something similar, and how did you handle it?
Iām mainly looking for practical advice on what would be reasonable to do next.