We Ignored Our Lease and Got a Puppy
Question....
My wife and I have lived in our apartment building for more than three years. Our lease has a no-pets clause. Recently, we saw an absolutely adorable male Yorkie puppy at the pet store and bought him. Now we are afraid our landlord will force us to get rid of him. Could this happen?
There are other tenants in our building who have dogs and cats, but I don't know what their leases say. Also, I have heard that if you have a pet for a long time and no one complains about it, by law the no-pets clause is not enforceable. Is that true?
—Love My Apartment
Dear Love:
Based on those facts, you could have an uphill battle if your landlord insists on enforcing the no-pets clause in your lease. The fact that your landlord permits other tenants in your building to keep pets may not help you.
Written leases frequently contain no-pets clauses or other similar restrictions. Additionally, leases commonly contain a provision that allows the landlord to terminate the renter's right to possession if the renter violates any of the terms of the lease, including a no-pets clause. If the landlord discovers a violation of a no-pets clause, he or she can require removal of the animal or terminate the tenancy altogether.
The landlord's legal right to enforce a no-pets clause can vary from state to state. But generally, courts tend to take the position that a written lease should be enforced as written. They have ruled that signing a lease is tantamount to a renter's reading and agreeing to the lease. Also, courts tend to disregard the fact that other tenants in the same apartment building may be permitted to keep pets under their leases, because a landlord is normally free to treat different tenants in a different manner.
Occasional exceptions
All that aside, a no-pets provision may not be enforceable if written state or federal laws protecting certain classes of people supersede them. For example, state and federal statutes designed to protect the rights of the blind, the deaf, and other people with protected disabilities may bar a landlord from prohibiting service dogs, signal dogs, and the like. Similarly, under a California statute, a public agency that owns and operates public rental housing may not prohibit elderly tenants from keeping up to two pets.
The particular facts and circumstances in a case can also significantly affect the landlord's right to enforce a no-pet clause. In one case, a court refused to enforce a no-pets clause against a tenant because he had, with the landlord's knowledge, kept his pet at the rental property for more than nine years. The rationale behind the ruling was that, under the circumstances, it would be unfair to permit the landlord to enforce the no-pets clause after such a prolonged failure to do so.
In your case, you bought your puppy with the knowledge that having a dog was prohibited under your lease. Under such circumstances, you would be hard-pressed to convince a judge that the no-pets clause in the lease that you signed, and agreed to, should be ignored. Your best option is to try to get your landlord to waive the no-pets clause—and to put it in writing.
