Upset neighbor - looking for advice

[Ashley Langeliers]

Hi all - We own a duplex (we used to live in half but now both sides are rented). The tenant (our old neighbor) has been there for 2 years and are great tenants - always pay on time and keep the house looking great. Always inform us of any issues. About a month before we moved, the house next to the duplex was sold and we had nice interactions with the new owners.

Since then, the new neighbors (not our tenants) continue to call to complain about the tenants. Specifically, that the tenants park their trailer (a hitch carry on trailer they use to transport bikes for their business) in front of the neighbors house. Notable that most homes on the street only have single car garages so street parking is common and unassigned. I get that this is annoying, but they don’t own the street and neither do I, and it’s outlined nowhere in the lease that street parking is assigned. We’ve told the neighbor this - at one point they asked if we could mediate between them and the tenant and we said no, because they are not violating any lease terms. When the tenants dad died, the trailer was unmoved for about 10 days. Neighbor called the cops and when tenant talked to the cops, cops just said make sure you move the trailer every 3 days which they do.

Fast forward to today , we receive this text above from the neighbor. Thoughts? This is the first time I’m hearing about deflated tires, et cetera. We’re in California. I want to respond responsibly but I’m unaware of what our role is here. Should we contact an attorney as well? We’ve never heard complaints from any of the other neighbors, and the neighbor who shares the other half of the duplex praises them as great neighbors.

[Bill B.]

“Thanks for the update. I’m glad you have video evidence and don’t need to make up stories or involve me and it sounds like you have an open and shut case.”

Unless you believe your “good tenants” are flattening your neighbors tires. AND your neighbors are recoding it, your neighbors are lying to you. 

You win either way. Either tenants you thought were good and were actually bad people will get in trouble with the police. (I don’t know what the legal penalty would be for letting air out of a tire?) or your neighbors finally stop contacting you. 

I might even add that since they’re involving the law you only want to be contacted by certified mail from now and will be blocking their number to prevent future accidental contact.