Can the HOA hold us responsible for the behavior of dogs that don’t belong to us, but are on our property?
We have a home in another state, and we have very responsible renters living it. A few weeks ago, we received a “courtesy notice” about an incident that occurred on that property. The notice said that two dogs ran out into the street and were nearly hit by a car. It said we were responsible to keep our animals under control. The dogs belonged to some neighborhood children, who called them back into our yard after the incident.
Can the HOA hold us responsible for the behavior of dogs that don’t belong to us, but are on our property? I am not sure if this is important, but HOA rules also don’t allow fences in the front yard.
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4 Answers
Just to clarify: these are not the renters’ dogs?
The HOA can’t hold you responsible for dogs that are not yours or not those of the renters. Most likely, the driver reported the incident and gave the location, and with the “appearance” of being from your property, the HOA sent a letter.
Push comes to shove, the HOA can’t enforce their threat.
The dogs were not my dogs- they belonged to the neighbor children. The HOA lady that I talked to said that she was the one who made the report, and that the children called the dogs back into my yard so it was my problem to resolve.
I think this HOA is out of control if they spend their time worrying about stuff like this, yet won’t deal with the drug dealers down the street.
Sounds like the neighbor kids were trespassing and the HOA is out of control.
You don’t have animals at the address and neither does your renters, is there a problem with renting in the HOA rules?
@Tropical_Willie yes this HOA is totally out of control!
My renter of 15 years is very responsible. She has some children and a dog. She keeps the dog on a leash whenever it’s out of the house. In this incident, the neighborhood children were in the front yard playing with her kids and their two dogs, which were off leash. The dogs ran into the street and the kids called them back after a motorist almost ran into them. The motorist turned out to be the HOA lady.
The HOA sent us a “courtesy notice” to keep dogs on our property under our control. I just got off the phone with animal control. The lady almost laughed when I told her what was going on, and she said there is no way that I can be fined or otherwise be held responsible for the behavior of neighborhood people and their dogs on my property. (Whew!)
My renter and I are in the process of writing a letter to the HOA. This nut spends her time (and my money!) inventing problems such as the letter she sent me, yet she does nothing about the drug house down the street.
I’m told this is an improvement over the last HOA management company. I don’t think so.
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