Coffee's For Closers writes:
Would you prefer a neighbour who throws lit cigarette butts out
her second-story window and balcony, down to where you have to
clean them up?

Another tenant litters on the property, you take it up with
his/her landlord, not with the tenant. If the landlord
doesn't do anything about it, you've got a beef with the
landlord, not with the tenant.

But you've already indicated that the neighbor in question
owned her unit, which means that there was no landlord to
complain to. If there's a condo association or HOA, you take
up with them. If they don't do anything about it, you've got
a beef with them, not with the tenant.

If there's no landlord, condo association, or HOA, then
you're SOL. Deal with it.

Would you prefer a neighbour who physically attacks you after you
complain to your landlord, and also politely ask her to stop the
littering?

It's clear from your postings that you walk around with a
chip on your shoulder. I'm sure that came through loud and
clear to your neighbor, regardless of how "polite" you
thought you were being.

It's also clear that you figured out early on that this was
not someone you were going to be able to reason with, so
talking to her about the littering was just stupid. Everybody
has bad neighbors. It's a fact of life, and you deal with it.
When the bad neighbor is someone you can't reason with, the
best strategy is to ignore everything that it's possible to
ignore, and cigarette butts clearly fall into that category.

By the way, what was the outcome of the complaint you filed
with the police after your neighbor physically attacked you.
You *did* file a complaint with the police, right?