Help with cat nuisance: your rights and obligations

Questioner

I'm going crazy because of the cat nuisance in my neighborhood, there are 7 of them in my street alone. After being bothered by cats in heat, poop and pee everywhere, it has now come to the point that I can no longer let my dog ​​run free (used to it from week 8, now 5 years old) because she starts chasing the cats. Now had a clash with the neighbors about my dog ​​who is of course to blame because her breed is rotten according to everyone (Stafford) Please look into this. Kind regards

Lawyer

If the neighbours own the nuisance cats, they are responsible for these cats. This is regulated by law. You can address the neighbours if necessary, the landlord of the house can also play a role in this.

Questioner

The neighbors own the cats and it is not possible to speak to them about this because they tell me that your dog should be on a leash and should not be allowed to run loose so that it can grab one of our cats.

Lawyer

The fact that you have to keep your dog on a leash has nothing to do with the nuisance. The neighbours are responsible for ensuring that you are not inconvenienced by the cats. The fact that you cannot let your dog run free because of this is irrelevant. The municipal local ordinance contains more information about these matters. As I mentioned earlier, the neighbors are responsible for the cats. The law says the following; (..) 'The owner of an animal is liable for the damage caused by the animal, unless liability under the previous section would not have been possible if he had had control over the behavior of the animal that caused the damage'.

Lawyer

I advise you to send the neighbours a written summons to stop causing a nuisance with their cats. You should make a specific description of what causes the nuisance. If the owner of the cats lives in a rental property, you can send the landlord a copy of the notice and ask them to ensure that their tenant does not cause any nuisance. You can also ask the local police officer to talk to the owner of the cats.