New Dog in the Neighborhood

So the rental that's been vacant since March has new tenants. This is the same place I wrote about in my "Getting a Clue, Barking Edition" post.

What I didn't share in that post was my struggle with the property management company. I made numerous phone calls, begging even pleading, with the company to get control of the chronic barking situation. My efforts were fruitless.

That's why I went to court. What else was I to do? Continue to allow those irresponsible dog owning tenants to continue to destroy my quality of life?

Since the overly entitled college girls with the deaf dog moved out in the summer of 2010, there's been another set of dog-owning tenants. And yes, another robo-barker. Which was a pit bull. Since a lot of landlords won't rent to tenants with pit bulls, I saw an opportunity.

I wrote a cease and desist letter to the property management company. Letter stated that there was a pit bull on the property, that the dog's aggressive barking was disturbing the peace and quiet of the neighborhood, and that there are city and county ordinances against animal noise that goes beyond a property line.

Final paragraph said that if the property management company had any questions, they were welcome to contact my attorney. His name was on the cc: line.

Shortly after I sent the letter via certified mail, return receipt requested, that pit bull disappeared. And no, the tenants did not get another dog. They moved back in March.

Yesterday evening, I noticed a black dog inside the front yard of this property. So far, it has been quiet. And that's a good thing. I hope that the good behavior continues.

But I also know that this particular property has been vacant for 10 months during the last two years. And there's a lot of rental vacancy here. Last I heard, the local rental vacancy rate was way up there at 16%.

High vacancy rates can lead to landlords being less than choosy about who they lease to. And, since they want to keep those rent checks a-coming in, they're not going to be too concerned about the neighbors being disturbed by tenants' dogs.

But we, the neighbors, are not without resources. The cease and desist letter is a very powerful tool. Believe me, landlords don't enjoy getting these letters. 

Because the possibility of having to deal with a neighbor's attorney could cost them money. Lots of money. And a lot of landlords aren't making much money on their rentals. Especially in a high vacancy market.

The Department of Shameless Self-Promotion. Top of the page says that this blog's goal is to to make chronic barking as unfashionable as secondhand smoke. And you know what? The trend is very much our friend. All over the world, people are getting fed up with the noise. Tell the world you're on the bandwagon by heading over to my QuietBarkingDogs store. Tell those dog owners something very simple -- "Yes You Can Keep Your Dog Quiet."