Can a landlord be forced to evict a tenant if the tenant's child has intentionally destroyed a neighbor's property?

No, you can’t force the landlord of a neighboring house to evict his tenants. The rental agreement is between the owner and the tenant. The neighbors have very few rights regarding that. Contact the landlord and see if there is anything in the rental agreement that will allow him to evict them and request he enforce the agreement.

However, you can insist the police address the trespassing and property damage.

Keep calling the cops and recording. You cannot force the landlord to evict, but if the landlord values his property, you could probably persuade him to keep a better eye on the place.

Have you tried talking to the mom? Maybe you can start there. Perhaps she is at her wits end with this child and has no control over the child. The kid is 10, so maybe a talk to the kid from you will stop the trespassing.

Have you thought of installing a fence? Terrible to need to resort to that…but, some folks are hard to live near.

You cannot force the landlord to do anything,

I would continue to collect evidence, and report it to the police every time it happens.

You can also file a law suit against the parents (or guardian) of the child.

How about you talk to the kid and/or his mother first?
Sounds to me like the boy is just being a boy and playing around.

Why is it that some people, when faced with even minor issues, want to resort to draconian measures as the fist choice, completely ignoring simpler, reasonable ones?

@ragingloli In my experience, most people are very reluctant to confront an unknown situation. Do they have a gun? Are they going to try to co-operate and find a solution? Are they they type who will deny everything, and exacerbate the problem?

Living in harmony with our neighbors disappeared in the 1950’s, if it ever existed at all.

Not in my experience. In my experience, most people talk to each other first. But then again I live in a different culture than you.

@ragingloli Would you care to expand on that?

@YARNLADY
Well, I live in Germany, and Germans in general are very direct. If there is a problem, they will tell you that directly, without sugar coating.

@ragingloli You are the lucky one – here in the U. S. if we take an issue directly to the source, we are just as likely to be shot to death as to solve the issue (depending on what you night mean by “solve”).

Have you talked at all to the boy’s mother? If you can do that without making her angry or defensive, that would be a first good step. Second would be leaving cookies out for the kid, and maybe he will talk to you. And you can talk to him.

Maybe you could give him a little space on which to grow things for himself. Any of things might help set up some line of communication, which is what you really want, so you can tell them what you don’t want!

The answer to your question is no.

please dont think im trying to antagonize you in any way with what im about to say, just keep in mind they are only plants. im not telling you to let people destroy your stuff, and im sure you liked your plant. but it is still just a plant, not a window, a door, car, roof or worse thing.

be very careful what you do about this, you could end up making the situation much worse. if its bad having things brake because the kids are careless, imagine how bad it would be if the kids actually had a grudge with you, or what if their parents got it in their head that you was just ’‘some idiot’’ and did nothing to stop their kids or maybe even encouraged them. there are a lot of nasty pieces of work out there. and a lot of worse stories, do you really want to be a person that was tormented for 11 years over a plant.

im not saying dont do anything, just make sure you are very careful, and what you may consider evidence and justice may not be the same consideration of a judge or police officer. the law and system are far from perfect, so dont go thinking you cant fall victim of one of its imperfections.

if you want my honest advice, make friends with the kids. give them an ice cream each on a hot day, or make a point to talk to them when you see them. get them on your side, then if they are ever playing too near your house/plants or something, you can always say (hi, would you mind moving down that way a little guys, im trying to sleep is all) and you are likely to get a much better reaction than ’‘get out of here before i call the cops’’. if this fails, then start gathering evidence and a lawyer and you really go to town on them, never get the law involved unless you are prepared to go all the way.

Since the kid is just ten, why not just look him in the eye and ask him why he dug up your plant ?

I know that probably sounds a bit strange, but that’s the age of kids I used to teach. Sometimes just looking them in the eye, does more than you might think. If you ask it in a normal tone of voice, it enables you to figure out where his head is at and get an idea of what you’re dealing with.

He may just be a rudderless naive type of kid. Some at that age are just goofballs with little realization of boundaries. If that’s the case (hopefully) you can let him know how you feel about this and hopefully gain a friend. Perhaps have him help you replant and maybe hire him for some odd jobs down the road if he’s a friendly kid. He may just be a lonely latchkey kind of kid. You really don’t know at this point.

On the other hand, if he’s a wise ass smartmouth who could care less how you feel, then you know to start up the security cameras, call in the law and pin his ears back a little.

Right now, you really don’t know him at all. At least have a conversation with him so you can assess what type of kid he is. No need to involve the mother unless he does end up being a hostile little jerk. And then it will most likely be in court where you are presenting your videos to a judge.

You have no right to insist that a landlord evict any of his tenants. That’s a non-starter.

But try to figure out precisely what you’re dealing with in this kid first.