Bad neighbors?

[nofishfisherman]

So here is the issue.

I own a home in the metro area and the neighboring house is a rental property. There have been 3 tenants over the past 5 years, some alright, some not so good. The current resident does little to no yard work, meaning they haven't mowed the backyard this year yet. They don't seem to care at all about the place.

We report them to the city as often as we can and the city just came out to mow their lawn for them. The city has also been out for snow removal and garbage removal multiple times.

My question is what else can I do?

There are a bunch of trees that have been allowed to grow up just on their side of the fence (the fence is theirs) that lean over on to my property and threaten to pull the chain link fence apart. I cut back anything on my side but can I just go in and cut the trees down? They aren't purposeful landscaping, just rogue seedlings that sprouted and were never dealt with?

I've tried talking to the tenants but they are never around or don't answer the door. I have no contact info for the landlord, I've actually never seen or met him since he never does any work on the house.

We are working on getting our place ready to sell in the next few months and want to get the neighbors place looking better if at all possible.

Anyone have any experience with this stuff? I'm in St. Paul and so far the city is responsive when we make complaints. They are there within a day to inspect and then 2 weeks later they take care of the problem, (they need to give a 2 week warning before they can take action)and then they charge the home owner for the work. I'm just not sure if there is a more proactive solution that can be done with the city.

[leech~~]

Well, welcome to the new world same here. Subsidized housing is everywhere now. Do your neighbors at least speak English?

Thanks Obama!

[jentz]

Slum lords just don't care! any expense is $$ out of their pockets.Keep complaints up to the city,document all complaints,keep records. Obviously the renters could careless and do nothing.Once you have documentation contact the city attorney and demand action.

Where abouts in st.paul are you.Contact your area city councile person and start documenting those contacts,The more documentation the more the city att. can and will do.GoodLuck its a long row to hoe! I been there on the east side!

[centralmnguy]

You should be able to to down to the city/county office (county clerk) & look up who the property belongs to as long as you have the address...it is free public information. Realtors, appraisers etc. use it all the time for property info. As far as the tree goes not much you can do unless it is causing damage to your property.

[amateurfishing]

to the best of my knowledge you are doing everything an all you can do, we have the exact same city ordinances here. as long as you keep informing the city, whatever action the city takes (mowing, garbage cleanup, etc) they also send the bill to current legal owner. Sadly there is no more you can do other than document all calls and processes. I have a bad neighbor issue as well and have had cops out, but as long as there are no laws broken, nothing you can do. AS they say, its not illegal to not give a carp.

[nofishfisherman]

I'm in the north end neighborhood, just east of Como lake.

What I don't get about this landlord is that all of these complaints are costing him a bunch of money. I've talked to the city about it and every time the city comes out for lawn mowing or snow removal its at least $200. The city has been out at least 6 times in the past 12-18 months. So he's out at least $1200. Far cheaper to get out there with a shovel and lawn mower.

I have the land lords address from the online tax records (he lives up in Blaine). I suppose I could send him a letter. Not sure if phone #'s are available.

For now I'll keep complaining to the city and see if I can get them to take any further action. As for the trees I may just take them down. I doubt the current tenants will even know they are gone, probably too lazy to care anyways.

[nofishfisherman]

I also have email communications with the city documented for my records but I'm only one of several people filing complaints so I don't have all complaints documented.

[TR21HP]

Have you spoken with your city council member? If not try that. You can also go to a council meeting when they let the public speak on any issue and show pictures and have your documentation there. It couldn't hurt and you might get the city to contact the owner.

[nofishfisherman]

I haven't gone that far yet. Might be the next best step.

[fishersofmen]

I had a neighbor's dog $hitting in my lawn for about a year. Constant big mounds of carp everywhere which was especially nice when mowing. Tried contacting them several times, wrote them a letter etc. Finally had to call the cops and after they came out a few times with no success they were forced to write them a ticket. After the ticket I saw them installing an invisible fence system. Some people just don't give a rats a$$ about anyone but themselves.

[centralmnguy]

Not to sound like a tree hugger...but If the trees are on someone elses property you can't just go cutting someone elses trees down...just saying!

[nofishfisherman]

I realize I can't cut them down, just wishing I could. When I say trees I use that term loosely. Really just weeds and suckers that were left to grow in places they shouldn't. Sooner or later they are going to need to come out because they sprouted within 1-3 inches of the fence. Most have already started growing through the chain link weaving back and forth. Sooner or later they'll just tear the fence apart.

I think I may just end up putting up a 6 foot privacy fence to block them out. I know even if i can deal with the trees and yard now its just a matter of time before its this bad again.

[Sandmannd]

We had renters around us when we lived in St. Paul and they are a giant pain. They don't care and don't do anything to their property. Best bet is to get a hold of the owner of the property and to keep reporting it to the city. It does cost them a lot every time the city comes out to do yard work. Not sure why the owner is letting it go like that but some could care less. Personally, I would go and cut down those free range trees that are messing up the fence, but that's just me. If they don't care, why should you?

[sheephead2]

ROUNDUP

If you find out who owns property ask him if you can cut them down. Renters don't care.

I have a renter next to me and every week he puts his garbage can in front on my mail box. Mail man won't deliver my mail. I move it in front of his mail box if he has it out before i go to work. He then leaves garbage can out all week to lazy to bring back to his house. Walks out to driveway to throw his trash into it. Garbage bags on ground raccoon get into it I talked to him several times. He just doesn't have a clue.

[nofishfisherman]

I just pulled up the property tax records for the neighbors property and he's paying over $1000 in penalties in 2014 for snow removal, lawn maintenance, and garbage removal. I know what he paid for the place and I could guess at what he rents it for so he can't be making much money on the place after he pays all the penalties.

Not sure why he owns the place if he isn't interested in turning a profit. Hopefully he pulls his head out of his back side and either cleans it up or sells it off.

[corncob]

All things considered, I would cut whatever trees as needed on the property line. I mean what is going to do about it?. He doesnt do any thing about other problems relating to the property so can't see him objecting even. If he did object , so what, did you kill a valuable shade tree?.....The more noise you make, and the more you keep stirring the pot at city hall, the more likely they will do something about it.

[Cheetah]

nofish, I have a rental across from me that is similar. Current neighbors have a huge down tree limb they won't touch nor will the owner. Gutters were full of baby trees sprouting and I imagine that caused some water drainage issues and maybe damage because a company arrived to clean them out a week ago. I found the owner's name and PO box address via the ramsey county GIS map on the internet. No phone number though. A few of the older neighbors around me know who she is as well.

Maybe you can get similar info via the internet or other neighbors and write the owner a letter at least? Or if a real address is listed instead of a PO box you could go visit if he is nearby.

[CANOPY SAM]

Oh how I wish we could pick and choose our neighbors!

I have nightmarish stories I could share, but I won't. I'm sure many people here could go on and on as well.

It's probably not the "popular" choice in this case, but it's something you might try.

Catch the renter/neighbor coming or going, and work a little bit at developing at least a comfortable relationship with them. Ask them if they would mind if you took down at least a few of the trees, and possibly if you could help them clean up their back yard a bit. You could maybe take this same approach with the property owner? Perhaps he would pay you the $1200 to mow the grass, and remove the snow?

It's just a thought.

[BoxMN]

Cut down the stuff on your side, and while the cut wounds are open, use that Roundup like crazy on cuts and the shrubs. It will get into it eventually, but that may be uglier in the short term, defeating your purpose.

Heck, I'd just go cut them down and remove the brush in the same day. Lived on Eastside for most of my life so know the type neighbor you are talking about. They don't even know they have those trees/shrubs, much less if they were gone.

Good luck!

[upnorth]

I just pulled up the property tax records for the neighbors property and he's paying over $1000 in penalties in 2014 for snow removal, lawn maintenance, and garbage removal. I know what he paid for the place and I could guess at what he rents it for so he can't be making much money on the place after he pays all the penalties.

Not sure why he owns the place if he isn't interested in turning a profit. Hopefully he pulls his head out of his back side and either cleans it up or sells it off.

Rental property is not always about making money on the rent money. Write offs, etc, not too mention even if he makes little to nothing on the rent if it pays the monthly mortgage, taxes and in this case penalties, he still winds up with the value of the equity in the property.

Krappy way to run a business, but hey there are some not so nice people out in the real world.

You might be able to get the city to agree that the trees are a nuisance/blight and get them to cut them down and bill the landlord. Might be a stretch but a letter/phone call might be worth the effort.

[Tom7227]

First off the 'penalties' end up going onto the property tax records as assessments and likely won't be paid until the property sells. If they get too high the owner may just default on the mortgage and then you'll be facing months or years of a total mess.

I used to be the staff attorney for the council committee that heard these types of cases. Believe me, you haven't even come close to getting to the point where anyone is going to be able to do much. Not too long ago the City of Saint Paul had hundreds of vacant homes, many owned by the VA or HUD, where absolutely nothing was being done for months and years at a time. I've been retired for a number of years but I doubt things have changed much.

A way to find people that works sometimes is ZABASearch.com.

The idea of trying to get the landlord to hire you to do some of the work isn't all that bad but be sure to not let the bill get too high. The other thing that you may consider is that it is likely that the landlord hasn't left any equipment for the renter to do the work, and the likelihood that they don't know how to do it anyway. Possibility anyway.

[nofishfisherman]

I kind of figured that I may think the neighbors are horrible but based on other properties the city is dealing with they probably aren't even on the radar yet as far as problem properties go. I'll keep reporting things that come up and maybe someday something will be done about it.

For now I've got the guys address so I think what I'll do is send him a letter asking if I can go over and take care of the trees. If he's even slightly rational he should see it as a mutually beneficial arrangement. If I can go over and cut them down I'll make sure to put something on the remaining stumps to make sure they never grow again. Any ideas? Round Up? Gasoline? Napalm?

[SkunkedAgain]

We have a rental house next to us as well. All of the renters have been reasonably good about keeping things kept up, but when weed trees and bushes started growing into the fence and affecting us, I just go over and cut it all out. If the owner isn't around enough to care, then he isn't around enough to notice...and I know that he doesn't. I couldn't care two bits about the perceived liability of me keeping the fenceline clean.