My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: California
Good Afternoon;
Last year, part of our fence got burned. My mother was watching TV when she smelled smoke. When she went outside to check, she saw part of our backyard fence burning, and the man who's renting the house behind us is hosing down the fence. My mother asked what happened, and the guy said "he doesn't know" and just continued to hose. In panic, my mom called our local Fire Department. By the time the FD arrived, the portion of the fence collapsed on our side already. The fire was controlled and when my momther asked the FD what caused it, and the FD said it started from the bottom of the fence.
I was not home at the time, as is my kids since they were in school. Only my mom witnessed what happened, and we informed the owner of our house that we're renting. I got home and checked out what happened, and discovered that our neighbor has their BBQ on the area, and my mom said she noticed a tiki torch on the corner of the post. Those have all been moved by the time I got home, and I just covered the burned part with plywood because our neighbor has a huge dog.
2 weeks ago, the entire fence was replaced. Then after a few days, we received a letter from a Property Management company saying that the replacement fence costs $1,400 and we have to pay 50% of it. I personally didn't read the letter, my mother just told me as she sent the letter to our home owner right away.
Our home owner called us and by the tone of her conversation, she was implying that the damage was our fault. My mom got upset while speaking with her, so I took the phone to talk to our owner. I told her what happened, and she said that it was our fault because "that was what was said in the letter". She wants us to contact the Property Management company and instructed us to NOT give her name when we speak to the company. My mom said that if the $700 is not paid, the Property Management will sue.
My question is, are we the ones that are liable to speak to the Property Management in regards to this issue? Are we the ones who has to pay the $700. We personally do not want to get sued over something we have not caused, and we do not want to ruin our relationship with our landlord, as we've been renting her house for almost 9 years without any problems.
If we speak to the Property Management, I know I do not have any authorization over the house since I am not the owner, and if no agreement come up, my name will be on the lawsuit, and not the owner. I think this is unfair. We do not have any contract/agreement with the owner of the house for many years. When we first moved in, it was through a property management company (not the same one mentioned above), and after a year the owner pulled out of their contract because the PM was charging her a lot, so we've been paying her directly ever since without any signed contract.
Any advice will help us. My mother is old and cannot handle issues like this.
Thank you.

