Tenant Damaged Neighbors Property - Who’s Liable?

[Steve DellaPelle]

Hello BP! It’s been a while...

I’ve been a landlord for close to 4 years now and I just ran into a unique situation at my four family property. Here’s the breakdown:

- Tenant in Unit 1 has private access to the property’s backyard.

- The previous tenant was a hoarder and I had to toss a lot of things away in the backyard when they moved out.

- They left a metal barrel that is 1/4 full of oil, I haven’t been able to get rid of this yet so it sits in the corner of the backyard against the fence that borders the neighbors backyard.

- The other day, the new tenants in Unit 1 didn’t like the metal barrel in that spot so they attempted to move it. Upon doing this, they spilled the barrel over and some of the oil seeped through the fence and into the neighbors backyard.

- The neighbors backyard is, unfortunately, turf and is going to require repairs and potentially replacement.

The neighbor contacted me and they are obviously upset with this situation and are asking for me to make the necessary repairs.

I have a landscaper coming out to give a quote but I am wondering if I should be held liable for this or if I should get my tenant involved.

Any and all insight would be helpful. Upon research, turf is expensive and if it needs full replacement this could become costly, quickly.

Thanks and happy Tuesday!