Aggravated by Lousy Neighbors (renter, house, tenants)

[TeeRx]

I'm fed up with my neighbors. They are renters. For the most part they are nice people, but the lady has gotten involved with a man who ***Mod Cut*** fancies himself a builder.

When I first bought my house I realized with a survey that the fence that divides our lots was encroaching 30 inches onto my side. It was a chain link fence in deplorable condition so I chose to tear it down and build a new fence claiming my lost land. I spoke to the owner of the property and asked him to share the cost and he laughed in my face saying that I would be the only one benefitting from this new fence; a nice privacy wood fence.

So I spent my money and had it built legally, with a survey, a permit, and a licensed contractor.

So now... this ***MOD CUT*** builder moves in with the woman next door and gets to work. First he builds an attached roof over their rear porch. I work in the construction and architecture industry and I can tell you right off the bat this thing was crap. It was NO WHERE near to being code compliant. It was an eye sore. It was an unsafe structure and chances are if a Hurricane passed thru it would end up in my yard or coming thru one of my windows. It was just a bunch of 2x4s nailed together with a corrugated metal deck for a roof. Not to mention it encroached into the rear setback by about 12 feet.

My house and their house were built at the same time and from the same plans on identical lots. I thoroughly researched all of the zoning codes on my property. I know what I can and CAN'T build (as a responsible homeowner should) I would love to create a roof over my rear porch but I wouldn't because I know it would be illegal.

Then he goes and builds another 2x4 structure ATTACHED to my new fence with another corrugated metal roof deck as a 'bar area'. BUT what REALLY pissed me off is that he went ahead and without asking my permission painted the entire side of my fence on the other side, and dripped paint on my side throughout.

So I filed a complaint with code enforcement and they came out and made him tear all that crap down. But now I still don't know what to do about the fence. There is no way to strip the paint. The damage is done. I might be able to sand the damage to my side of the fence, but I shouldn't have to incurr any expense or inconvenience for their irresponsible behavior. The owner of the property next door is a jack-ass and he lets his tenants do whatever they want. They have pretty much vandalized my fence.

These people are renters. What can I do? Should I sue the owner? I'm sure he has a security deposit that he can use to pay for the damages, but even then it still wouldn't be enough to replace my fence. Please help.

[yrralis1]

311 is the Dade County information line . They may have the phone number(s) to report a code complaint like the one you describe .

[boxus]

It is illegal to put a roof over your porch?

[Chelito23]

When you sue somebody for valdalizing your property, you sue the people who did the damage. It would seem that the neighbor will sue the tennants for any damage they have done to HIS property and you would sue them for damage they did to yours.

What I don't get is, why would you ask a renter to pay for half of your fence? That doesn't make any sense....and you did the right thing calling code enforecement to have them tear down what was ilegally built onto you fence.

Talk to the owner about the fence getting fixed. See what his thoughts are. Most likely the tennants have damaged the inside of the house as well...so I doubt he will use that money to sand your side of the fence. Also, renters come and go from one day to the next...so if you sue, do it fast. Otherwise build a concrete privacy wall so you won't have future issues or plant vines to cover up the shoddy paint smears or shrubs.

I am sorry, bad neighbors are a problem. Good walls make good neighbors. I would just avoid future issues and go with a masonry wall and cut my losses...

[catt6]

why would you ask a renter to pay for half of your fence?

he didn't - this is what the OP wrote: "I spoke to the owner of the property and asked him to share the cost"