Background: my block is zoned for single family homes. The 25’ frontages mean that the houses are built on zero lot lines and there is no space between them. The block runs somewhat uphill, so that the house next door is more than half a story above our house.
Twice now a young man living there (either a roommate in a shared house situation, or else someone who is renting a room from the non-resident owner) has locked himself out of his entry, and has asked me if he can use our back deck (which is at the highest level of our house) and climb over our 6’ privacy wall and up onto the deck at the top story of that house, which I assume is where he lives. I have allowed him to do this both times, against my better judgment; I don’t want to be the cranky old man next door, but I am concerned with liability if he falls and injures himself. There is no doubt that there is a significant risk of serious injury if he does fall, and that falling is a definite possibility, even though he is young and agile and seems to have no problem doing this.
How crazy am I to have allowed this? I have homeowners’ insurance, but would that even cover anything like this, since I gave my permission?
If things go right he gets the credit, and if things go wrong you get the blame (both publicly and legally). You will be what judges like to call “a simple solution to a complicated problem”.
Would he be willing to give you a spare key to hold on to for him to use when he’s locked out? He could even keep it in a combination lock box like this one
I was thinking of the young guy just leaving the box with his neighbor Roderick Femm, but of course the other option is to leave it somewhere on his own property.
In fact the reason I’m familiar with these boxes is my cousin who’s a realtor and puts them on properties to be shown. That way nobody has to go to the office to retrieve a key; the real estate agents know the code.
You know this guy is in fact a resident? , I wouldn’t believe him just because he says so. Besides that he’s trespassing on you and perhaps gaining unauthorized access to the neighbors property.
Your uneasiness is entirely justified. My opinion: put a stop to it. You don’t have to give him a reason. You don’t owe him a reason. Any reason you give is an invitation to discuss the matter further. Be extremely cordial and say you’ve changed your mind and he shouldn’t count on you for this shortcut anymore.
Idk whether you’d be covered by insurance or not, but even if you were, consider how much your rates would go up after a medical claim. I filed 3 minor claims over 20+ years, and my agent told me not to file any more or my rates would shoot up.
Yes, we’ve seen him coming and going from time to time. And he’s not trespassing, so far he has had my permission to be on my property.
Yes, I think I need to go over there and try to catch him at home and let him know that he needs to make better arrangements for his home access needs, whatever they might be. I don’t mind giving him a reason, it’s a pretty strong reason, as long as I’m letting him know in advance.
What would your HO policy cover? Technically, if he fell, it would depend upon where he was when he fell. The HO policy affords medical payments to others if injured on your property, regardless of negligence. The amount of coverage is a limit you select when the policy is written. Mine is $5,000, but it can be higher or lower.
What if he falls and then sues? You have a set amount of liability coverage, and the HO policy should afford coverage to defend you against a suit or, if they believe you are liable, offer your neighbor a settlement.
Should you worry about this? You betcha! Injuries and lawsuits take many twists and turns before settlement and seemingly minor details of who, what, where, when, and how can play a significant role in the outcome. Also, your coverage may be inadequate to cover a settlement, so you would be on the hook to cover any excess amount awarded. Your good deed could bankrupt you.
If I were you, I would tell this neighbor he can no longer use your property to gain access to his home because you are worried about his safety. Offer to keep a key as previously suggested.
It’s bizarre to me to consider that the OP should become the keyholder for a resident of a rooming house next door. He’s not sure of the arrangement exactly just that he’s seen the guy coming and going. How does he access your back deck? What if you’re not home can he still climb up to your deck?
My wag is he stays with someone in the rental house unofficially and when that person is gone he his locked out.
I had overlooked this possibility until you pointed it out. Good thinking!
If this is a sorta unstaffed rooming house and the OP ends up doing anything with a key to the place, he’s also on the hook for any / everyone who ever accesses that key. Somebody who the owner doesn’t know about trashes the place or steals everything not nailed down and it turns out you indirectly supplied the key they used? That will be bad.
My recommendation to the OP is to wash their hands of any / all interaction with that house and the people in it. Which is a bigger cut-off than just saying “No more climbing around atop our house”.
Multi-person rentals owned by absentee investors are a scourge on any neighborhood. Good luck w that going forward. Seriously, not snarkily.
The owners had at one time attempted a permit to expand the house to something like 8 bedrooms and several baths. This apparently didn’t fly, with single family zoning, so then one of the investors with their family moved in for a while, possibly to let the dust settle and to establish the building’s bona fides as a single family residence. Then they moved out, leaving one auxiliary family member in the basement and going back to renting out rooms. But I don’t think you could describe it as a rooming house. They are, I think, renting it out as three units, of which probably two share the front door (and probably the kitchen and living room) and the other goes in through the garage. In any case, I never had any plans to keep a spare key for any of them, we have no relationship with the renters beyond the occasional nod when we cross paths coming and going.
