[Noah930]

Another 'What would you do?' question:

My parents own a rental property (single-family house). The neighbor recently had to re-do their pool plumbing equipment/wiring. During the course of that, supposedly there was severe root intrusion into the pool plumbing. My parents had 3 large trees in their backyard, just on the other side of the common/shared wooden fence. The neighbors asked my parents to cut take care of the trees.

My parents paid for arborists to take down the three trees.

The neighbor completed their pool work, took down the old wooden fence, and put up a new vinyl one that runs the length of the property--from driveway to back corner of the lot.

Now the neighbor is asking my parents to split the bill. For both the fence ($5000) and the pool repairs ($6300).

I can understand the splitting the cost of the shared fence. But the pool equipment, too? Particularly because their request is after the fact. I have not visited this property in about 40 years, so I have no idea how the rest of the two backyards are landscaped (other trees?).

If my parents knew they were paying for half the bill, should they have had some say in the choice of vendors? Are my parents liable for any future issues with the pool/repairs? What if the work was shoddy? Do my parents have to pay for future repairs? How do we know if the "invoice" actually reflects the price paid by the neighbor? It wouldn't be the first time a contractor charged one price, yet with a wink and a nudge printed up a different amount on an invoice or estimate. Were the repairs just to fix like with like? Or were there upgrades done to the pool/equipment?