Q: We rent a single-family home that’s adjacent to a municipal golf course. Unfortunately, along with the views we get a daily barrage of golf balls. They fall in our yard, have dented our car and broken two windows, and I’m afraid to use the pool before sundown. Since we moved in six months ago, I’ve collected more than 100 balls. I want to break the lease and move, and I’m wondering if I have any legal grounds to do so. –Jack N.

A: It’s a safe bet that most people, including a judge, would agree that the conditions you describe are more than trivial annoyances and make living in your rental unpleasant and downright unsafe. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be able to break the lease without responsibility for the balance of the rent. That will depend on a number of factors.

First, did you question the landlord, before signing the lease, about the very problem you’re experiencing? If you raised the issue, and were reassured by the landlord that stray balls were not a problem, you have a good shot at convincing a judge (should the landlord sue you for the rent) that the premises were rented under fraudulent circumstances. Or, if the landlord told you, without being asked, that the golf course was well-designed, with minimal stray balls coming your way, you could have justifiably relied on this information when making your decision to rent.

Suppose the issue never came up — everyone looked at the grass and the trees, and never mentioned the golfers. Some people would argue that you should have known, given the proximity of the course (and evident lack of fencing), that balls might make it onto your property. Under this argument, by renting anyway you assumed the risk that balls would fall, and should not now be allowed to wiggle out of your decision.

Some homeowners, faced with similar problems, have argued that the constant intrusion of golf balls amounts to a continuing trespass, by the golfers themselves or the course (usually a country club). Country clubs that also sell homes have turned to their lawyers for creative solutions, such as inserting clauses in the purchase agreements that give the course an easement, or right, to subject the homeowners to intrusions that may result from golf course activity. A homeowner who in turn rents the home to a tenant might also use such a clause, but it’s unlikely that you’re dealing with one.


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