+1
I assume the neighbor has what is called a “life estate”, meaning she can live in the property as long as she wishes. Depending on the terms of the will, it’s quite possible that she is responsible for the maintenance and cannot afford to do so, or there may be some cognitive issues at play that keep her from having the repair made.
The owner might, in theory, use this lack of maintenance as a way to force her out.
Yikes. Yes, code violation for sure. Call for a City inspection asap. You may not want to cause her trouble, but you don’t know right now whether she’s responsible or the estate. Time to find out.
Thank y’all for the answers. I’m going to call the city.
I’m a very big believer in what you do on your side of the fence/wall is not my business unless it starts to affect my side. I don’t know construction well enough to know if this could affect my side. However, I do know water runs all over the place and you never know where it’ll come out.
Where do you live that you’ve never heard of a duplex?
Is it possible she’s not capable of dealing with this due to her age? No slam on the elderly, my dad is a very gung-ho 80 year old, but she may be out of her depth here.
We had a broken window in our garage and it drove me crazy until we got it fixed.
Yeah, squirrels don’t play like that.
Just go board it up. If she can’t be bothered to replace the plastic, I doubt she’s going to stop you from boarding it up. Hunk of wood + four screws = problem solved. (Or at least you’ve bought enough time to complain to the landlord/city without your house falling down or being eaten by critters/mold in the meantime.)
To be fair, my first thought when I hear “duplex” is more like a two unit apartment, not a two unit condo.
No. Tacking a sheet of plywood over a hole in a wall is not waterproofing. It could make the problem worse, as water gets trapped behind the wood and can’t dry. You need flashing and a real window.