What to do if the next door neighbors dog is breaking the fence and it needs replaced

Question

I have a rental in a lower income area, my property is one of the nicest on the block. Next door the house is owned by a realtor who has tenants with two pit bull dogs. The fence is older but probably would have lasted several more years had the dogs not kept jumping on the fence and breaking out boards.

I have called the owner on his cell phone three times with no reply, at first I thought I had the wrong number until I looked him up and saw it was the right number then emailed him also with no reply. This situation is getting out of hand as the dogs are breaking into my tenants backyard and I am worried one might bite someone.

At this point I am pretty sure he is dodging me because he does not want to pay for the repairs.

What should I do to get him to pay his fair share and what percentage should he pay since I believe the fence had a few more years life left in it. I was going to sell this property off this year and if the dogs had not ruined the fence I wouldn't be out the money at all. (It is still stained nice on my side.)

Any help would be appreciated.

Robert Brubaker · Answer

Are you sure the fence is on the property line?  Many times

in an older block like you describe the fence is located away from

the property line to one side or the other.

In such a case you might be able to find some different leverage

to use.  Just a thought.   Another case of Pit Bull Drama!

Account Closed · Answer

Well I feel bad now, I started by calling his cell phone. He answered and at first I had a hard time understanding him, I had talked to him before and it did not even sound like the same guy. He had had a stroke a few months ago and has been suffering with cluster headaches ever since.

He is probably only 50 years old and in good shape but a smoker. He said for me to send the proposal via email for his documentation since he is a realtor so I did.

We will see just how long it takes to get this going now. It will take the next door renter most of a day just to remove all of the junk he has piled up against the fence.

I had him help me build the back fence at this property and he does good work, so we will use him to build it and me to supervise. It took him two days to put in 50' of 7' tall redwood fence and hang two 8' RV parking gates.

Nicole A. · Answer

Have you said in your messages to this other landlord that if he doesn't reply you'll have no choice but to bring it to court? That may get some response out of him.

Account Closed · Answer

I have decided to email, call (work & cell) and text him one more time. Then If he does not respond I will just go ahead and take pictures of the fence and both of our properties, have a good neighbor fence built and let a judge decide how much he should have to pay since his tenants dogs did the damage.

I am sure that after the judge sees that I tried to contact the other landlord many times (phone records, texts, emails) and I called the day he told me to in his email with no response that he will award me a more than fair settlement.

Judges in California do not like "slumlords" and tend to really let them have it when they show bad behavior and let their tenants live in filth even if it's the tenants fault.

I know the other landlord will probably not pay me for the fence but that's ok, I will have the court put a lien on that property that will get paid some day with interest before he can sell it.

Account Closed · Answer

I know where this landlord works, it's a major company in the area only about a mile away to his office from the house. I can see why he will not call me back because he does not want to have to spend any money on his house.

I guess I will stop by my house and take pictures of the fence and then drop by his office. Maybe I can talk to his broker if he is not in.

Timothy Riley · Answer

Although dog owners are responsible for maintaining their dogs, I would fix the fence and line the fence on my side with crushed pepper seasoning once every three months for a year.

I own a pit bull and two houses down own three. We dont have fences seperating our homes (im building one this summer) but my dog is never out unleashed. I wish i could say the same with theirs. They must no someone with clout because the police have been involved in several matters with their dog's chasing and even bitting people (came at me twice)but yet and still they remain uncaring owners of the same dogs.

The people next door to me and the ones next to them (the dog owners) are renters who wont do a thing to the property. When i became aware of their dogs winter had set in and i couldnt add a fence.

The crushed pepper is like a punch to the face and as long as they dont bring in different dogs it will train them to only go so close to the gate.

Karen Margrave · Answer

Check to see what the laws are in your area. I was reading a new law, I can't remember if it's a state law or in our local community, whereby if a fence is damaged or needs replaced, both property owners are liable for the replacement costs if one replaces it. You must however; be able to show that it was in fact damaged and in need of replacing. Take pictures. You may be able to get a Googleearth photo that shows the backyards of both houses where the fence is. Do any of the neighbors on the adjoining sides have issues? You may want to talk to them.

If the owner is a real estate agent, find out what office he works for (look on the DRE website, and go see him) I'm sure at his place of business he'll be much more agreeable to working with you.  Good luck!

Account Closed · Answer

I just looked at this fence again and tenant has leaned all kinds of junk up against the fence now but the damage is done and it needs replaced.

Finally after calling and emailing the landlord many times I get an email back saying to call Monday and talk about the fence. Monday came, I called with no answer and I have called his work and cellphone several times with no reply and today is Friday!

Maybe I will just sell the house with the fence like that, it still looks good because it's nice and stained on my side. Just don't touch it lol

Account Closed · Answer

I had the same problem.I repaired the fence several times and dogs would tear it down.

He wouldn't even pay half the cost.   we had a few talks and finally I got mad. Ended up telling the guy if it happened again his dogs would either disappear or die if he didn't do something.

I told him a cheap simple solution would be to line HIS side of the fence with oak pallets and I told him where to get them for free.

The bum wouldn't go get them so I had a guy drop a bunch off and we helped him they were 8ft long pallets so it didn't take many. we used scrap pieces of lumber and screws to connect the pallets and any odd length cut with a chainsaw it don't have to be pretty its on his side.

Sometimes you can find longer pallets and around here usually they are free

If you look around for them.

I figured next they would just start digging but they didn't.

Had that problem to.

Account Closed · Answer

It's a shared fence and I have seen pit bull dogs break brand new fence boards. These dogs get running full speed then slam into the fence, no wood fence will hold up to that for long. The good side of the fence is on my side, its an old style fence (bottom 2x4 horizontal instead of vertical like is done now) and it has a mud board so the bottom of the pickets is the weakest point.

I have taked to the tenant quite a few times and suggested things they can do to keep the dogs away. I dont want to make the tenant upset because they watch the house when it's empty and the guy works for me sometimes. He does maintenance and renovations for his landlord yet they don't maintain his house at all.