Who is responsible for broken windows & cleaning up the dog turd

[Ralph Noack]

Hello BP.

I have a tenant with 2 unfortunate situations that I need to deal with. This is a corner lot house. In a residential area. Not terribly busy but gets enough foot traffic. Lots of people walking their dogs.

Situation #1:

Recently, I noticed a broken window on the main floor. 1 of 3 panes of glass on a larger window. The storm window was broken but the inside (real window) was not broken. Right in front of the window was a hockey net  & a bunch of hockey pucks (10 or so) & sticks. A week or 2 later the window next to it was broken. Also with the hockey net out front.  This window is perhaps 15' from the sidewalk. The lady tenant has a teenage boy that likes to take shots against the brick wall I guess? Don't know really. I sent her an email to address the 2 broken windows: A) what happened & B) why didn't you tell me (it's been a while)? To my amazement, her response was, "Oh, I thought I told you about that. I don't know how that happened. It wasn't my son, I know that much. I came home one day & saw that there was a ball/puck inside the window. I figured someone walking down the street threw it at the house."

Q1. Who is supposed to pay for the windows?

Situation #2:

We did our inspections of the place last week & were found a lot of dog turds. Side yard, on the sidewalk, on the driveway, in the rear yard. She recently acquired a dog (maybe 6 months ago). I have passed by before & noticed messes in the yard & asked her to look after it; she was happy to comply. The neighbour there is a dog trainer. He's got a bunch of dogs there all the time. He's constantly walking dogs. Whenever I have seen his dog 'using' our property, he cleans up. However, he is a bit of a nuisance in the community and many people have said bad things about him & his dogs to me (i.e. he doesn't clean up after his dogs). I've had the place for 2+ years and every time I go there, it doesn't take long to find dog mess on the sidewalk or in our yard or in our driveway (which happens to be right next to his house). So there's a mess there all the time. When we asked the tenant to clean it up (cuz we thought it was from her dog),  she responded, "My dog only goes in the rear yard. I'll clean it up tomorrow. The other mess is from the neighbour. He never cleans up after his dogs."

Q2. Who is supposed to clean up the dog waste?

My thoughts:

To me, it seems that if you leave a hockey net & pucks/balls out front (within 15' of the sidewalk) & someone else touches it & wrecks the house, then you are responsible for what happened with your hockey gear to the house that you are renting. Don't want to be responsible for someone else damaging the house that you are renting? Then move your stuff out of eyesight to the backyard.

To me, it seems that if you are renting a house, you look after the place. Neighbour decides not to clean up after his dog, you have the option of talking with your neighbor about resolving the matter, you could set up a camera or 2 to monitor who isn't cleaning up after their dog, and confront him/her or even go to the bylaw enforcement officer or police if you like or you could just humbly clean it up & say "Oh well. I don't want my property to look like a mess so, I'll clean it up, because I'm a good citizen." If it was your hose you would likely do the same. As my tenant, I expect you to treat my property well. Garbage floating around? Clean it up. Even if its not mine.

I can't help that my neighbour is a wiener & doesn't clean up after his dog. But that doesn't make it my issue to deal with.  I don't live there.

I say, "Too easy to absolve yourself of responsibility!"

Thoughts please?

Thanks.

Ralph

[Nathan Gesner]

Quote from @Ralph Noack:

We all make mistakes.

It's not wise to shrug your shoulders and continue making them.

1. This tenant is 50% below market and she's not a good tenant. The right thing to do is terminate her lease as early as the law/lease allows, clean the property up, and place a tenant that will pay market rate and treat your property well.

2. Broken windows are the Tenant's responsibility unless they have (a) proof someone else did it, or (b) file a police report claiming vandalism and there's no evidence to the contrary. Your tenant didn't even tell you the window was broken . . . TWICE! The hocky puck was inside the window and she admits the hockey pucks belong to her son. How much evidence do you need? There's a very good chance she will fight you on this, which is one more reason to get rid of her.

3. The dog feces is another example of why your tenant is bad. If the feces is from the neighbor's dogs, why isn't your Tenant complaining about it and getting him to clean it up? She just accepts that dog crap in the driveway is an acceptable way to live? I'm sure Toronto has an ordinance about cleaning up after animals. Heck, San Francisco will let humans poop on the sidewalk and shoot heroin, but it's a $500 fine if you don't clean up after your dog! 

If your rent is $200 below market, that's $2,400 lost every year. You could hire someone to clean up dog crap every week and replace both those broken windows for that. If you want to be successful with real estate, you need to learn from your mistakes. Find good renters. Have a strong, written lease that you understand and can enforce. Protect your property value by maintaining the property. Nip problems in the bud. Keep rents up near market rate so you can afford improvements and maintain your investment.