Can I contact my landlord about tenants' children playing in the streets?

Question

My landlord owns three buildings on my street. The two buildings next to mine have families that live there and I swear they have like 12 kids each. Every time I come home their kids run into the streets, ride their bikes in the street, or just walk in the middle of the street. They pay ZERO attention to cars. The parents are never around. I have even had children purposely run into the street to try and scare me, and I had to slam on my brakes. Can I call the landlord and tell him he needs to fix this issue? I was told by a police officer that it's out of the police's control.

They are always in the streets. I actually saw one boy start to cross the street, he saw me coming, stopped, and then crossed the street right before I got to him. He crossed on purpose when I was closer. It's not cute or funny and their parents are ignoring them. If I hit a kid, I don't feel that it's my fault. I drive very slowly and turn my brights on at night, but when the pull stunts like running out... It's not my fault!

Answer 1

move! it's not worth it, I had neighbors like that and I went the wrong route, in the end, it was me that was harrassed, not the abusers.

Answer 2

When you say they are playing in the streets, do you mean all the time, or at strange times or anything like that? The Landlord has nothing to do with what goes on that way, the only thing you can do is document when you see the children playing in the streets and if they are really young, again document when and where if they are unsupervised and speak to someone at children's aid/services if it continues for prolonged periods of time. Children play in streets all over the place, they play street hockey and such, so again it depends on the situation, if they are doing something stupid like playing "Chicken" and psyching out drivers then you need to call the police.

Answer 3

And it's out of your landlord's control. As a landlord you can't tell tenants how to watch their kids unless they are disturbing other tenants. If you live in a place that rents to families, there are going to be kids all over the place. Just be very careful. You can talk to your landlord and they can try to help you out but telling people how to control their kids is a tough one. My sister-the one with six kids-used to rent. They found a place that one end and one pool was for families and the other end had apartments and a pool for singles-adults only. That was a pretty good deal.

Answer 4

It's worth a try. Leases (at least in CA) usually include the right to quiet enjoyment of your apartment, and I think the things you described could be interpreted as an interuption of that. But first, I think you should try speaking to the parents of these children directly, even if you don't think it'll make a difference. You may be pleasantly suprised. Sometimes people don't realize how neglectful they're being until someone points it out (nicely!), and they don't know every move their child's making (like running in front of cars to scare drivers).

Good luck! Hope the issue isn't too difficult to resolve.

Answer 5

I am a landlord. The reason that we are called landlords is that we rent out property. If we were responsible for what tenants' children do in the street, we would also be called babysitters. We aren't.

Answer 6

i best and cheapest time i can tell you is move. if you hit one it will be your insurance problem. but you will pay when they raise your premum. on and try driving in a play ground then you will find out it then becomes there problem. some police don't like filling out paperwork maybe they cant spell and they are trying to fool the captain if they don't have to fill it out