Kids drive homeowner ‘over the wall’

Robert Frost once wrote that “good fences make good neighbors,” but shared dividers also can cause problems – especially if they’re used by youngsters as an informal playground and skateboard park.

Q: A 6-foot-tall cinderblock wall separates my backyard from my neighbor’s. The neighbor’s two young sons and their friends like to play on top of the wall (they even jump rope and skateboard on it). I’m scared that one of the kids will fall and get hurt, and that I subsequently will be sued for any injuries because half the wall legally belongs to me. I have asked the neighbors to keep the kids off the wall, but they just laugh and say, “Boys will be boys.” What can I do?

A: Your concerns about kids playing on the wall are justified, for you almost certainly could be held liable for any injuries, even though you’ve asked the neighbors to stop their children and friends from using the divider as their personal playground.

Send the neighbors a letter that restates your concerns and reminds them that they have failed to take action when you have discussed the matter with them in the past. Also make sure the letter includes one final request that they tell the children to quit playing on the wall.

Send the letter via certified mail, and keep a copy of it for your files.

If the letter doesn’t solve the problem, start taking photographs or video of the kids each time they get up on the wall. The photos or video, along with a copy of the certified letter, should be all the evidence a judge would need to issue an injunction that bars the children from playing on the wall again.

The judge also likely would honor a request to make the neighbors pay for any of your court costs and related legal fees.

Even the most stubborn of homeowners start paying attention to a neighbor’s request when a judge must be used to mediate a dispute – especially if the judge’s order hits the offending owner in the pocketbook.

But in the unlikely event that your neighbors flout the court order by allowing the kids to keep skateboarding on the wall, you then could contact the local district attorney for enforcement action that could put them in jail until they finally start “doing the right thing”: respecting your personal-property rights and the judge’s decision, and (most important) helping to protect their own children from serious injury.

Q: Could you please explain how a due-on-sale clause in a mortgage contract works?

A: Sure. Nearly all mortgage contracts today include such a clause, which typically requires the borrower to pay the outstanding balance of the loan in a lump sum if the home is sold (or title to the property is transferred for other reasons) before the debt can be retired through the borrower’s scheduled repayment plan.

In short, including a due-on-sale clause helps the lender to ensure that it will get all of its money back if the borrower sells before the 15- or 30-year term of the mortgage expires.

The cash needed to make the lump-sum payment usually comes directly from the proceeds of the borrower’s home sale.

Q: The tile floor in our kitchen has several stains and a few chips in it. If we went out and bought some laminate flooring, could we simply place the laminate over the old tile, or would we have to go through the hassle of removing the tile first?

A: You should be able to place the laminate directly over the existing flooring, provided that the old tile isn’t too badly damaged.

The quality and appearance of laminate flooring have improved dramatically in the past few years. Many styles look like stone, wood or tile, but they’re essentially just photographs of such material encased in heavy-duty, wear-resistant plastic. Even the best laminates usually cost less than $5 per square foot – a fraction of what you would have to pay for genuine hardwood or stone.

Laminate squares simply snap together and typically can be laid down without nails or glue, which makes it relatively easy for budget-minded homeowners to do the work themselves. I installed a new laminate floor in my own kitchen about a year ago for less than $1,000, and I was able to complete the job easily in a single weekend.