Homeowner could sue over barking dog

Q: Our neighbor’s dog barks incessantly day and night. Short of moving, what can we do? — Karin

A: The law holds pet owners responsible for their pets’ actions. Barking, or any noise, can become a problem when it’s constant or when it happens at night. The legal concept at play is that of a nuisance and is usually defined as an animal that continually barks, howls or otherwise disturbs the peace.

Your first step, like with most problems, is to talk to your neighbors and see if they will resolve it. If you live in a planned community, you also may want to speak with your homeowner’s association.

If that doesn’t work, file a complaint with the animal control department or sheriff ’s office, depending on where you live. The complaint needs to be specific, so make sure that you have a log of the dates and times the nuisance occurred. Some jurisdictions require that two neighbors complain before they will take action. If the offending owner works with officials to resolve the problem, that usually will be the end of it. If they don’t, they may be fined as much as $500 per occurrence.

You also can sue to have the court force your neighbor to make the noise stop. You might receive monetary compensation if you can show that the problem cost you money. In order to prevail, you would need to show that there is a nuisance that continued after you discussed the issue with your neighbor and that the problem is affecting the enjoyment of your home. If either you or your neighbor is a renter, you would need to get the landlords involved.

The rules controlling this sort of issue are local and tend to change often, so be aware of this before you take any action, even if you have dealt with this problem before.

Board-certified real estate lawyer Gary M. Singer writes about the housing market at SunSentinel.com/business /realestate each Friday. To ask him a question, email him at gary@garysingerlaw.com, or go to SunSentinel.com/askpro.