Tenants Have a Cat!!!
When I advertised my apartment on Craig’s list I was very clear that pets were not allow. I’ve discovered yesterday that one of my tenants has a cat. I was in my backyard and saw the cat on the window sill. I don’t want to seem anal, but a rule is a rule. They signed…
When I advertised my apartment on Craig’s list I was very clear that pets were not allow. I’ve discovered yesterday that one of my tenants has a cat. I was in my backyard and saw the cat on the window sill. I don’t want to seem anal, but a rule is a rule. They signed the rider and agreed to it, so they’re actually breeching a contract. How should I handle the situation without any animosity?
so Martis,
what does that make you since you decided to join us sad, yet fine examples of aholes? Just another sad, after the fact, let me post my smugly superior commentary ahole.
this is just a classic Bstoner comments thread with so many fine examples of the aholes on here with nothing better to do than debate the merits of a no cat policy violation in some brooklyn apt. so sad. i’ll wager the poster was just trying to get a rise out of three groups … cat lovers, cat-loving renters, and uptight 30-something landlords. seems to have worked.
Maybe I missed it in the posts above, but the best thing the landlord can do is sit down with the tenant and ask what’s up. If thier is a good reason ride with it, if not ask them to remove the pet in a reasonable time frame.
If they don’t or won’t give them a heafty rent increase the next time around. If they go for it you cover the cost of any percieved risk. If they don’t they leave voluntarily and are out of your hair.
NOTE. As a landlord I always put in a no pets without landlords permission clause. It gives me control over the situation, if I like the tenant I say yes to make them happy, if I don’t I say no to help ease them out the door.
For God’s sake shut up already, 9:48.
Who the hell asks for people to provide legal documents on an anonymous public forum? Ever been on the internet before or is this the very first time?
As you stated in your first paragraph, we aren’t here to determine the facts, but to give advice based on the scenario presented. And yet, by your last paragraph, you understand that we need at least some facts to take a position. I can’t tell you how many times I listened to someone’s story, gave them advice based on that story–with the caveat that we should speak again when they have the documents that they believe back up their story–only to discover that what they told me originally was completely self-serving and totally wrong. I’m not saying that we’re here to sit in legal judgment; I’m saying that to form any kind of judgment, and offer up good advice, a few real facts would be helpful. If you don’t need them, that’s fine with me. But I’m not going to agree with you without them.
8:48, I agree that in life, everyone tells their own self-serving side of the story. Again, who cares? We aren’t trying to determine the facts here. The only point of this whole discussion is that IF the apt. was advertised as “no pets’ and there WAS a rider in the lease about it, then the tenant is wrong for renting the apartment and bringing a cat in it to live. That’s it. We can spend another 100+ posts discussion speculating on whether the tenant is in the wrong if the apt. WASN’T advertised as no pets or without a rider, but since that wasn’t the question, what is the point? Or we can make up all kinds of scenarios, like, what if the ad said “no pets” but the lease didn’t. Then, we can figure out who might be wrong or right. Again, what is the point?
You seem to think we are sitting in some kind of legal judgement in this matter. We are answering the question posed by the OP. That’s all. All the answers here don’t amount to a hill of beans in a court, in which, you are correct the OP would have to offer some proof.
Also, breaking the law is entirely different than breaking the terms of a contract. But regardless, yes, if you jaywalk and you are caught, you accept your ticket. Same thing if you speed in your car. We all break the law at some point and if we are caught, have to pay the price.
However, this tenant didn’t break the law, he broke the terms of the contract he signed with the landlord. Willingly. And while NYC landlord/tenant law may make it near impossible for the landlord to do anything about it, the tenant is still morally and ethically wrong. That is, assuming that facts are as stated, of course. Don’t you agree, that if the facts are as stated, the tenant is wrong?
^^^^^The Cat ^^^^^
“I don’t want to seem anal, but a rule is a rule.”
This was the OP’s statement, not mine. And I repeat: without seeing the craigslist posting or the rider that was signed, it is almost impossible to determine if the tenants are actually breaking this rule. (And I say this from both a legal background and as someone who has counseled both tenants and landlords, and as a former tenant and landlord myself.)
Be that as it may, 3:44, I hope you never jaywalk across a NYC street. A rule’s a rule, after all. And 6:15, if the OP isn’t willing to offer proof, then she’s the same as many of the landlords and tenants I’ve dealt with. Everyone tells their own self-serving side of the story, but the truth is usually somewhere else.
BTW, a leaking fishtank can cause far more damage than a cat. But the OP probably wouldn’t have known if her tenants had a 30-gallon tank in their living room…. Just sayin’.
So did you speak with them? As you can see we all are dying to know.
Whatever deal you made with them I hope you include the innocent tenant who trusted you and rented your cat pee free home. You dont want them sueing you for breaking the agreement you had with them.