topic Re: Responsibility of Homeowners in Community Chat

Responsibility of Homeowners

Apple Head — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 18:58:00 GMT

My next door neighbor is an old friend. We've lived in the same area for many years.

He moved a few years ago and now lives in another city in the state and rents his house to one of his good friends (who happened to be an ex-boyfriend of mine - don't get me started on how it is living next to an ex-boyfriend).

I e-mailed my friend in early August to inform him that his backyard trees are growing over the wall into my yard and it's getting messy because seeds are dropping on my yard and it looks horrible with all those overgrown branches, etc. in my yard. I also rent and have to keep the place looking manicured.

His tenant never does any yardwork. The backyard there looks like a forest. The people behind him also have to deal with the overgrowth. All he does 24/7 is work on his 30 year old truck. He doesn't take any responsibility for the property outside.

My friend (the owner) e-mails me back that he talked to his tenant and his tenant said he'll get to the backyard by September 30. He then said he's not sure what that means for the overgrowth into my yard and if it will be taken care of sooner than that.

September 30th? By then, I'll have to call someone and pay them to cut the stuff down because it will be a mess and so overgrown in my yard! I don't know how he lets his friend/tenant dictate when he's going to "get around to" cleaning the yard. I informed the owner in a polite and neighborly way that his yard is overgrown and making it hard for me to maintain my own yard. I should not have to wait another month and have to deal with the debris and overgrowth until his tenant decides to clean it up.

As a tenant, I am responsible for the maintainance of the place I live. I spend $300 every 6 months to have the yard cleaned up, so my trees don't grow into someone else's property. Now, I'll have to shell out more money to clean up that mess. As the owner, friends or not, he needs to make sure that it is done in a reasonable time. 2 months I have to wait (I e-mailed him on August 1). Yet, the tenant gets to do what he wants. What a deal he has going. Part of it is probably because we had a dating past and he wants to control the situation. He's just being a jerk.

I could take it to the HOA, but I wanted to avoid that because the owner is a friend.

To me, this is unacceptable. As the owner, HE is responsible to make sure his tenant complies with the rules and maintains the property.

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

June222 — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 19:06:32 GMT

You did the right thing....dealing with the owner of the property directly first. Thirty days to comply sounds reasonable....but on the 31st day...if the problem has not been addressed, go directly to the HOA board and put in a complaint with them. It is always best to deal directly with a person over an issue as long as they are willing to comply and say they will fix the problem.

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

Nightowlz — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 19:10:39 GMT

Sorry you are dealing with this. We own our home & also deal with this from the neighbors. One finally had someone come in to trim trees only for them to leave & say they would be back in the fall since there was too much sap. All of our neighbors say you can cut what you don't want in your yard. I think No it's your tree you trim it. The City won't do anything about it other then saying you can cut down anything hanging on your property. We will be doing this in the fall. What we cut down that's the neighbors will go right back into their yard for them to deal with. We are tired of dealing with all the neighbors trees, leaves etc. Not doing it anymore. I would also say as a previous renter I would not be paying to take care of trees on a rental property. That should be the owners taking care of that. When we rented we mowed, edged & trimmed shrubs. We did nothing with the trees. We used to have to take care of plumbing problems etc when we rented & take it off our rent (which the owner did not like but we were not paying for it) because the owners were not doing their part.

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

hckynutjohn — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 19:10:49 GMT

@SF Girl wrote:
My next door neighbor is an old friend. We've lived in the same area for many years.

He moved a few years ago and now lives in another city in the state and rents his house to one of his good friends (who happened to be an ex-boyfriend of mine - don't get me started on how it is living next to an ex-boyfriend).

I e-mailed my friend in early August to inform him that his backyard trees are growing over the wall into my yard and it's getting messy because seeds are dropping on my yard and it looks horrible with all those overgrown branches, etc. in my yard. I also rent and have to keep the place looking manicured.

His tenant never does any yardwork. The backyard there looks like a forest. The people behind him also have to deal with the overgrowth. All he does 24/7 is work on his 30 year old truck. He doesn't take any responsibility for the property outside.

My friend (the owner) e-mails me back that he talked to his tenant and his tenant said he'll get to the backyard by September 30. He then said he's not sure what that means for the overgrowth into my yard and if it will be taken care of sooner than that.

September 30th? By then, I'll have to call someone and pay them to cut the stuff down because it will be a mess and so overgrown in my yard! I don't know how he lets his friend/tenant dictate when he's going to "get around to" cleaning the yard. I informed the owner in a polite and neighborly way that his yard is overgrown and making it hard for me to maintain my own yard. I should not have to wait another month and have to deal with the debris and overgrowth until his tenant decides to clean it up.

As a tenant, I am responsible for the maintainance of the place I live. I spend $300 every 6 months to have the yard cleaned up, so my trees don't grow into someone else's property. Now, I'll have to shell out more money to clean up that mess. As the owner, friends or not, he needs to make sure that it is done in a reasonable time. 2 months I have to wait (I e-mailed him on August 1). Yet, the tenant gets to do what he wants. What a deal he has going. Part of it is probably because we had a dating past and he wants to control the situation. He's just being a jerk.

I could take it to the HOA, but I wanted to avoid that because the owner is a friend.

To me, this is unacceptable. As the owner, HE is responsible to make sure his tenant complies with the rules and maintains the property.

Since you have already talked(e-mailed) your friend(?) and nothing has happened? I don't know about your HOA, but the one I lived in didn't care who "owned the property". If it was not up to standard they would move to evict whomever was living in it, and charge the owner whatever it takes to get the property up to meet the HOA Standards.

I personally would talk with the renter to start with in this situation, since your friend(?) seems to have done nothing about the problem. If that person didn't agree to get the property up to HOA Standards?

Time to move to the next step, whatever that is in your situation, which to me sounds like contacting your representative in the HOA.

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

GCR18 — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 19:16:04 GMT

If the tenant is not following the HOA rules, I'd turn your friend in. As a courtesy, you could tell your friend that the tenant is not complying to page x of the rules. Your friend should be aware of the rules, as he likely had to sign that he was told about them. As a result, you will turn him to the HOA if it's not remedied within a week. He's already had a month's notice. That's your only recourse other than living with it.

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

Nuttmeg — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 19:18:15 GMT

To SF Girl,

Photos are worth a 1000 words. Please go to you HOA with pictures.

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

Apple Head — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 19:25:19 GMT

I can't talk to the tenant. We have a past history, and he is rude to me all the time. That's why I think he's not moving on this right away because It's me next door.

I guess I'll have to go to the HOA. But, it isn't a comfortable thing for me to do.

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

MyGirlsMom — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 19:28:20 GMT

two observations:

I hope you're deducting that $300.00 from your rent that you're paying for yard maintenance @SF Girl.

All you have to do is send a letter with photos to the HOA.

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

sunshine45 — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 19:28:29 GMT

i am surprised that the HOA hasnt said anything about it. my ex lives in a community that has an HOA and they are all over you for EVERY LITTLE THING that looks wrong or is against the rules in the community.

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

hckynutjohn — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 19:29:03 GMT

@Nuttmeg wrote:
To SF Girl,
Photos are worth a 1000 words. Please go to you HOA with pictures.

When we lived in our Townhome, each area had a "representative that was on the Board of Directors". If a problem arose we had that persons contact number, and all of them also lived in the same housing addition.

The Rep would come over and look at the situation, and if felt it necessary, would take their own pictures and present them to the BOD at the next meeting. If it was especially bad to the Association, they could/would call and "emergency meeting".

I now they are all different, just saying how our HOA was run over the 21 years we lived in our 2 different Townhomes.

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

lulu2 — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 19:31:49 GMT

If you emailed the owner on 8/1, a month (not 2) is more than sufficient time for the renter to clean up (or at least make an attempt) the yard.

9/1 I'd go to the HOA with pictures.

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

jaxs mom — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 19:43:10 GMT

A month is rediculous. Maybe you should send your friend the photos of how bad it is?

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

MimiLouise — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 19:57:12 GMT

Its time to go to HOA with photos. Say no more to home owner and certainly not your neighbor. Good Luck.

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

occasionalrain — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 20:14:19 GMT

A lot depends on what's in the lease. My guess is that the OP's lease makes her responsible for yard maintenance so she can't deduct the $300 from her rent. Generally, what overhangs onto your property is your responsibility not that of the neighbors. To me, it's not worth making an enemy over an extra bit of tree trimming and clean up. Compared to what you could have to endure from a neighbor, a messy tree seems minor to me.

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

Apple Head — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 20:18:18 GMT

It is in my lease that I have to pay 1/2 the cost of yard maintenance, trees included. I shared the home with my parents and when they passed, I haven't been able to move, so I'm stuck with that stipulation.

The issue is in our backyards, not visible via the street for anyone in the HOA to monitor.

I do the love idea of throwing back in their yard debris that I have to clean up. LOL!

The tenant already got a new A/C, new refrigerator and new W/D this summer. I saw them all being delivered. He gets what he wants from his owner friend. Why he can't clean the yard is beyond me. As I said, he only works on his old truck day after day.

He won't talk to me anymore because I lost interest in him and wouldn't go out anymore.

Still, the owner needs to set the rules, not him.

Thanks for all the responses. They have been helpful.

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

sunshine45 — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 20:22:32 GMT

@Apple Head

the HOA that my ex has is very diligent......they walk all around the townhomes, front and back to look for problems with the homes, with the yards, and in the parking lots/common areas.

i wonder if you could tell your friend that owns the property that YOU will have it taken care of and send him the bill?

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

Lilysmom — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 20:50:26 GMT

@Nuttmeg, I agree 100 %. Let the photos make your case!LM

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

151949 — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 21:15:28 GMT

I would be content with the owner of the house saying he would get it done with in 60 days. That is not unreasonable.

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

colliegirls — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 21:53:06 GMT

Are these trees or actually large bushes? Most trees don't usually grow fast enought to be trimmed often, but some like crepe myrtle or wax myrtle do. If it is a bush type plant, I would just chop it off where it is hanging over and put it out for the trash pick-up. Leaves blow everywhere so if there are a lot of trees in the neighborhood you are going to have leaves no matter what.

Re: Responsibility of Homeowners

Carmie — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 22:06:04 GMT

Here is my take ion this situation. The home owner is not a good friend. A good friend would not have rented to an ex that you feel uncomfortable living next to and he would have taken care of the problem for you ASAP.

You have proper notice to all parties involved and never received action. Go to the HOA with pictures and request that they do something about it. Don't wait!