All Forum Posts by: Gunnar F.

Thanks, Mike and Andrew. I certainly have reached out to the tenant urgently requesting that she communicate with her neighbor and confirm acknowledgement of the request. 

Appreciate this also, John. I will try to manage it accordingly. There is certainly some saber-rattling involved given the limited recourse available to such a person, even if you charitably assume that he could prove the nuisance sufficiently with adequate documentation. Not to mention that he puts his claim in a bizarre posture by refusing to contact the authorities through the normal channels. Still, I appreciate the advice on this forum as a sanity check. Thanks again.

Thanks much, David.

The neighbor who lives next to my rental home has threatened to sue me because he alleges my tenant has not responded adequately to his requests that she quiet or remove her barking dog. He also complains that she holds loud parties at night.

Pure color commentary: He also seeks to shame me for “maximizing the value of my property” by not evicting such an inconsiderate tenant on the basis that the dog was not registered on the lease. He also asserts that I am unethical as I “aggressively seek out tenants with loud barking dogs” (perhaps 2 of my 5 tenants in a dozen years have had barking dogs). In essence, he blames me personally for depriving him of quiet enjoyment of his property and forcing him to sleep in the kitchen with fans and air filtration devices on full blast so that he can block out the noise.

He previously asked me to furnish my tenant’s personal data so he could investigate and possibly sue her, which I declined to do. That was some two months ago. Other than to request that my tenant communicate with him to mend fences I have stayed out of the matter. 

I was unaware that the situation had supposedly persisted until now. The neighbor appears to have evidence of some barking and party noise on video to attempt to substantiate his claims.

Normally, aggrieved residents could call Animal Control or the Police to deal with noise issues. (Indeed, this neighbor previously did call Animal Control and had another tenant’s dog temporarily removed based on similar facts several years ago.) But this time he seems to want me to handle the issue directly by evicting the tenant, at the cost of some 6 months of rent (the house cannot be re-rented easily as it is under contract to be sold on an indefinite time frame).

I posed a related question before but the lawsuit dimension has brought the matter into sharper focus. 

Would appreciate any advice as to whether the neighbor has any remote basis for bringing a lawsuit against me as the landlord? 

Terrific advice from everybody. I feel like I have a much more robust response to the issue now. I will start by having my property manager check this out in the interim while I suss out proper remediation resources! Thank you all!

Sue, thank you for your outstanding and conscientious answer and attachments. I am fully aligned with your remarks and proposed approach. 

James, I live abroad so I am not in a position to visit the house. But your points are also well-taken. 

I feel much more comfortable under these unfortunate circumstances armed with this information. I also grabbed a helpful NOLO guide on the topic but I could have made do with the Texas law review-style article Sue furnished.

Thanks again!

Hello all. I am unaware of any mold problems in my rental home. I cannot recall ever having conducted any inspection for mold (though I assume the house checked out adequately when I purchased it around 2002). My tenant just emailed me the following:

I plan to respond as follows for now, while I consult with my realtor about a trusted mold remediation company:

I have no problem paying for mold inspection/remediation and commissioning this activity promptly. I am concerned about the phrasing of the question in that it seeks "evidence." It sounds as if a lawyer in the background may be operating on a theory that landlords owe a duty to inspect for mold preemptively. Would appreciate any advice.

Well... I noticed the tenant and she indignantly responded that the presence of the dog is sporadic as it belongs to her boyfriend, who is not a resident either. In brief, she takes the position there is no lease violation. I am not in a position to police the issue as I live abroad, as mentioned. I suspect the neighbor will sort the matter by reaching out to Animal Control.

Hi, Rebecca. You raise great points, which I have factored into my revised approach. Yes, I still regard them as a tolerably good tenant in regard to this property, which commands a colossal rent by my standards. But if this were taking place at another property I would be more inclined to risk inflaming things. And again, I am more invested in the outcome as I may return to the home again and see the same neighbors my tenant is antagonizing now. 

Thanks again!

Michael, thanks much. I do agree in principle that this is not my business. But I do intend to live in the house again one day so it is not so easy to do a Pontius Pilate maneuver here.