Tenant threatens to withhold rent?

[David P.]

Just came across a late night call with one of my tenants. His family has been living there over a year and I would consider them good tenants. They warned me before that the front tenants dogs (pitbulls) are sometimes unleashed and unintended.

I already warned the front tenant about this issue but today it blew up. The duplex is situated front and back. One of the young kids in front left the backyard gate open and the dogs were running around inside the rear tenants garage when they had the door open. They do have a young daughter so that is the rear tenants fear. Basically he had enough and called me and said if the dogs are not gone by tomorrow he will stop paying rent. This felt very unreasonable at the moment withe able to remedy a solution. 

After some back and forth we came up with a solution where I place a lock on the gate and make the gate inaccessible. The front tenant asked for one more chance so they are on board of not using that gate anymore and instead use the other side gate that faces the street for any pet duties. The rear tenant seem content and everything seem worked out. It didn't sit well with me afterwards. I understand his issue and he has brought it up before but threatening me with rent seem not right. Can he actually win in court with his reasons? He told me he didn't mind going to court in front of judge so alot of things were said tonight. I did discover from front tenant he had a medical emergency 2 days ago and was in hospital for irregular heartbeat where he collapsed at home and ambulance came. His first day back and this situation happened so I can understand the stress. 

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Quote from @David P.:

Just came across a late night call with one of my tenants. His family has been living there over a year and I would consider them good tenants. They warned me before that the front tenants dogs (pitbulls) are sometimes unleashed and unintended.

I already warned the front tenant about this issue but today it blew up. The duplex is situated front and back. One of the young kids in front left the backyard gate open and the dogs were running around inside the rear tenants garage when they had the door open. They do have a young daughter so that is the rear tenants fear. Basically he had enough and called me and said if the dogs are not gone by tomorrow he will stop paying rent. This felt very unreasonable at the moment withe able to remedy a solution. 

After some back and forth we came up with a solution where I place a lock on the gate and make the gate inaccessible. The front tenant asked for one more chance so they are on board of not using that gate anymore and instead use the other side gate that faces the street for any pet duties. The rear tenant seem content and everything seem worked out. It didn't sit well with me afterwards. I understand his issue and he has brought it up before but threatening me with rent seem not right. Can he actually win in court with his reasons? He told me he didn't mind going to court I'm front of judge so alot of things were said tonight. I did discover from front tenant he had a medical emergency 2 days ago and was in hospital for irregular heartbeat where he collapsed at home and ambulance came. His first back and this situation happened so I can understand the stress. 

Okay, he can't withold rent for the reason stated. It's unreasonable to expect this to be resolved in 24 hours. Don't sweat the small stuff.

You do have a duty to protect those kids though and you've been notified of the danger. Do sweat the big stuff. Pitbulls have been known to kill people. Your insurance may or may not cover pitbulls. It depends on the policy. 

People rarely follow through with threats of lawsuits. Those that do want to follow through rarely find an attorney willing to take the case unless it is a "solid" case. In court, he would have to prove damages. It doesn't sound like there are any damages at this point. What would he sur about and what are his damages? He is not understanding what a lawsuit is.

If both tenants can safely leave the property in the event of a fire with the gate locked, then there shouldn't be any problem locking the gate.

I would just lock the gate. I'd also issue a written warning that the dogs are sometimes left unattended and that is not acceptable and is in violation of the rental agreement and keep a copy.