Location: CA
My family is renting one of the houses on a two-house property. The house my family lives in is towards the back of the property, and our landlord lives in the house in the front next to the road.
At the back of the property, in the part that we casually consider “my” yard (not written down anywhere, we just spend more time there vs the landlord), there’s a big oak tree.
The back property line neighbor does not like it. He has yelled over the fence multiple times that the tree would fall onto his house one day (it’s not, it’s standing straight up and healthy. I suspect that he’s just sick of raking the leaves). I would respond back that he should talk to the landlord, I’m a renter and I can’t do anything about it. That went on for months.
This week we received a letter informing us of a legal proceeding, and my name is included along with the landlord’s. Reading the legalese, I can only interpret that the neighbor is formally demanding that the tree gets taken down, or the named parties would be responsible for any future expense and damage to their property related to the tree.
- How did he even get my legal name?
- I’m literally just a renter, I have zero control or authority to do or change anything that is permanent on the property. How am I being named as responsible?
- What should I do in this situation?
Thanks for your input.