Neighbor and tenant fence dispute

[David P.]

Hey guys, wanted your take on something. My neighbor next door is asking to split the cost of converting a wood fence to cylinder blocks due to my tenant hosing down the yard due to pets waste and water sloping into her side. My tenant brought 2 dogs although I never allowed them pets since the start. I'm in California and since they been paying rent i didn't want to stir things up. The cost of the conversion is $6k and the neighbor is willing to go in half. So 3k each. Should I ask tenant to split it with me since all this came from them having pets and needing to hose down the side yard everyday? I don't charge them a pet fee. Also to note the current wood fence is in pretty bad shape but was fine for it's purpose. This all came up from the neighbor side getting all the waste water due to cleaning up their pets waste.

[JD Martin]

First, that sounds pretty disgusting. There shouldn't be anything to hose down besides maybe a slight amount of leftover after waste is picked up and put in the trash, which is how it should be.

Beyond that, the offer doesn't sound too bad. A masonry wall should provide some value to you as well as the neighbor, and if the current fence is in bad shape it will probably be not long for replacement anyway.

Tenant isn't going to pay any of it, but the dog issue should have been addressed as soon as you became aware. That's a separate issue from paying for a masonry wall. On a side note, how will this wall affect the overall water drainage of your yard? You don't want to create an artificial dam for natural run-off.