what can i do?

[Katie Tiffney]

My boyfriend and I recently moved into a house after years of terrible apartments. We are renting and are having issues with our landlord and his family.

our current situation is our backyard butts up to our landlords son's house, where he lives with his family. There is no fence between the two properties so it's almost like a shared space. We have asked for a fence to be put up because their dog has gotten onto our property, urinates on our plants and has nearly killed one of our cats. The landlord has declined our request for a fence. They have since tried to keep the dog on a leash while it is in the backyard, but it gets out of the house on occasion.

our other problem is we went away for a couple days for the long weekend and when we returned, we found food and garbage on our back porch and throughout the yard. They were clearly using our property as well as their own to host a party. This isn't legal is it? We must have privacy rights?

Please help! What can we do?