Dear PoP – Who is Responsible For This?

“Dear PoP,

Here’s a question for you and your readers. We own a house in Columbia Heights, that we lived in for several years before moving abroad. Now we rent it out, with the help of a rental management company. Well… recently, we found out that the property next door to us was razed and in its place a 4 story (including basement) 2 condo unit will be built. Right now it is a hole in the ground.

When the neighbor’s house was torn down, it ended up exposing the inside of our porch roof, eliminating the railing we shared with the neighbor (which was on their side), etc. The photos actually illustrate better than I can explain it. Shortly after the house was torn down, our tenants reported leaks in the roof, which we had repaired right away. The roof was old, so it wasn’t a shock to us, but the leaks were related to a separation of the flashing from the roof. Ultimately, I think it was probably related to the activities next door.

All of this long-winded description leads to my questions:

1) Do the owners of the property next door have any responsibility re: the exposed side of our porch roof, railing, our exposed wall, etc.

2) Do PoP readers have any suggestions for us to keep any eye out for?

3) Any other thoughts?”

It certainly seems like the property next door should have some responsibility for this. Have you tried contacted them? What do you guys think?