The Sin of Throwing Tomatoes

Question

Our rear neighbor is a church that does daycare and hosts children's activities most nights. The downside is the kids wander onto our property and at best play, which means liability if they are injured. More commonly, they pick fruit or garden plants and toss them at our house. Can we force the church to erect a fence on the property line?

Answer 1

Oh lord, another bad church neighbor. They abound. 

It is painfully true that when children wander onto your property, you can be liable if they get hurt. This is especially true if you have something on the property that attracts the tots, such as play equipment. But these children sound like bad eggs; they are trespassing and also doing damage. 

It is hard to imagine a daycare center that is not fenced -- and the lack of a fence probably violates a local ordinance or two.

One solution would be to go in together with the church people and build a nice fence. But this really should not be necessary. The church should do it on its own. 

The church needs to understand that the adults in charge could be in trouble. And you will need to begin thinking of your church neighbor less otherworldly and more like any other business neighbor. 

Maybe the adults in charge are not as in charge as they should be and do not realize their charges are behaving badly. Explain the situation -- in no unmincing words. If that does not result in immediate action, You might need to scare them out of their boots. A letter from a lawyer to the church might help with this most effectively; letters penned by lawyers are often scary things -- and not just because of the commonly bad punctuation. You might also consider mediating the matter if cooperation is not forthcoming.