Need advice -dogs jumping on fence

[Collin Holdread]

Hey guys,

First time landlord, looking for advice. We live out of state and are using a property management company to manage our 3/2 SFH in Northglenn, CO. The property management company just signed the tenants to a year long lease in April of this year. The 2 renters have partners that have been staying frequently at the property. Both of these partners have emotional support animals in the form of large dogs. One of the partner's dogs has been jumping on the neighbor's fence whenever he is outside or trying to work in his garage/driveway. He has voiced concern that the 4x4 fence post may snap soon if the dog continues aggressively jumping at him every day. Property management has encouraged the neighbor to call animal control if he is concerned for his safety. He insists he does not feel threatened, he just does not want to have to replace the fence, as this has happened previously with other neighbors in the past. The neighbor is suggesting that we put up a 4 to 5' tall welded wire dog fence 2' away from his fence to keep them from breaking it. The property management company quoted us over $1,200 to have this done. I've spoken with the contractor and he's looking at purchasing a 100' roll of the fence and installing about 8 T posts to ensure the fence's integrity. Looking at the cost of materials, $1,200 feels like highway robbery.

My question is, do we put the fence up, or do nothing?

I have a feeling the grass behind it would be overgrown as the tenants probably wouldn't bother to mow on the other side. 

The fence would likely come down after these tenants are gone next spring, an additional unnecessary expense. 

If we leave it in the hands of the tenants and their partner's emotional support dog breaks the neighbor's fence, is there any chance for liability on our end if we do not have the fence installed?

What would you do in this situation?

[Greg Scott]

So many things wrong...

1) The partners should not be staying there "frequently" unless they are on the lease as occupants.  The property manager should have required a full application, plus credit and criminal background checks. If they are not on the lease, why are they being allowed to stay there?

2) How do you know they are emotional support animals? If they aren't even occupants, I doubt your property management has the correct documentation. If your property management says they verbally told them they were ESAs, fire your property manager immediately. They don't know what they are doing. If they have documentation, ask your PM if it complies with the guidelines published by HUD. So many PMs are total whimps when it comes to ESAs. Know the law.

3) One of the guidelines for ESA, published by HUD is that if an ESA shows any aggressive tendencies (arguably lunging towards the neighbor counts) the ESA designation is immediately voided.

I'm guessing the main problem is you have an incompetent manager.