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?
10:07-
Please go back and read my earlier posts. I did say I thought the tenant was lucky to have a landlord who seemed so nice and was trying to work it out. And no one at all has said the tenant is in the right- not even I. I think most of the thread seems to be those who want faithful to take a hard line and those who are saying try to work something out. The hardliners are ready to accuse the tenants of everything from being dead beats to the Antichrist, the rest of us as simply saying talk to them first and see what they say- maybe they’re just cat sitting. She herself has said she doesn’t know because she hasn’t had a chance to speak with them. And the lawyer who posted at 4:18 provided a dose of the reality- even with a lease and a rider.
And I have to disagree-there is always 2 sides to every story. Maybe not of equal validity- but still. A little compassion goes a long way and while landlords get to make the rules, sometimes they impact tenants in very painful ways.
It’s harder and harder to find places that even let you have cats. and if you desperately need to have a place to live, and you have an animal you love, it’s a heart wrenching position to be in. I know- I had an 18 year old cat. I had to move in with my boyfriend as the place I was living was being torn down for a parking lot. We had 3 roommates- all of whom were absolute pigs, and because I was the girl I was expected to keep the whole house clean. Did I mention the landlady was the mother of one of the pig roommates? So it was ok for her son and his friends to have entire civilizations of mold growing on their floor, 5 week old pizzas rotting under their beds, rivers of beer soaking into the floors (think cat pee is bad?) sweaty, smelly clothes everywhere,and she thought my 18 year old cat would destroy the house? the landlord forced me to put her in a kennel- a week later she was dead. I’m sure she wouldn’t have lived much longer anyway, but she died alone and terrified in a strange place and I have never forgotten or forgiven.
so while landlords think it’s all business, for tenants it’s a lot more than that. Animals are not furniture or garbage. when you adopt an animal, it’s because you accepted the responsibility for a creature that now depends on you for food and shelter. It’s a moral and ethical obligation. And they are a part of your family. It isn’t simply a matter of the tenant doesn’t care about the rules. Sometimes its because they are being forced to make a choice that they can’t bear to make. And everyone gets those choices sometime or another in life. Even landlords.
All any of us are saying is going in confrontational could make it a lot harder. but the hardliners forget that to a tenant this is their home as well- that’s what they’re paying for. If a landlord doesn’t accept that, they shouldn’t be landlords. Nor should landlords and tenants automatically assume they’re in confrontational relationships instead of symbiotic ones. Life’s about compromising sometimes. Nothing wrong with it.
Doesn’t mean faithful is wrong if she insists the cat has to go. Doesn’t mean the tenant is the Antichrist for having a cat either.
bxgrl, I hope you agree that if the OP reminds the tenant that cats are not allowed, and the cat has to go, this doesn’t mean the OP isn’t showing compassion toward the tenant. What bothers me in your post, and many others like them, is that there seems to be some judgement upon the op for simply asking his tenant to obey the rules he made very clear before the apartment was rented. It’s now in the tenant’s hands — if the tenant doesn’t immediately rectify the situation, he is the problem.
Not every issue has 2 sides. If the tenant had signed a lease for an apartment that said nothing about pets and the landlord had later said “by the way, no cats”, I’d be siding with the tenant here. But given the circumstances, I don’t see any reason to feel compassionate toward the tenant — why didn’t he simply rent an apartment that allowed cats, as many, many people do. Why rent one advertised as “no pets”? The only answer I can think of is that this person feels the rules don’t apply to him. “Showing compassion” seems to be a code word for letting the cat stay if it hasn’t bothered anyone yet. Clearly, if the op didn’t mind, he wouldn’t have posted in the first place. He doesn’t want a cat in the apartment and was about as up front about it as anyone could be. Somehow I doubt getting $50 more a month is going to make him feel a whole lot better about it.
None of us here are entitled to do whatever we want in this community. There are rules against littering, trespassing, spitting, etc. That doesn’t mean we all don’t occasionally break them. But if someone catches us littering and asks us to pick up the garbage we just threw in your front lawn, should you show us compassion if we simply refuse and tell us “it’s okay”, or do you expect us to pick up our garbage and apologize? Everyone makes mistakes, as these tenants did. It’s your reaction when you are asked to rectify your mistake that tells the most about your character.
Seems like the fur is still flying. I agree for negotiation rather than confrontation. Maybe it will result in kicking out the cat (with or without the accompanying tenants), maybe not, but the legal route is expensive and probably not necessary.
Two comments:
1) Most cats don’t travel, as an earlier poster said. Some really social ones do. (Really.)
2) I know someone who moved into a building with a 2 pet policy with four cats. Two were 18-20 years old, the other two were 3 and 4 respectively. The older ones were ill, and died (of natural causes) within 4 months of moving in. She didn’t want to break the rules, but this person knew this was to be the likely scenario, and didn’t want to abandon her cats even for a few months. And in response to the poster who sadly had to put her/his elderly cat to sleep, be kinder: I’m sure it was a struggle and if the cat was really sick it may have been the best move.
Think I’d give them three choices: 1) Get rid of the pet 2) Move out 3)Ask for an additional $1,000 deposit and then another $50 a month.
I love cats, but I also know that cat pee is nearly impossible to get out of wood floors, and cat dander is pretty persistent, especially in carpeting. And cat allergies can be debilitating.
I’m all for being firm and polite on this issue. The vacancy rate is still really low so you shouldn’t have a problem finding new tenants if they move out.
Which ones? ACC, North Shore, Bide-A-Wee and Mary Jo Tobin’s monthly adoptathons are the most popular and the only ones I know about other than online entities like Muffins and PetFinder.
These places aren’t Law & Order: Pet Adoption Unit. They’re not equipped with either the manpower or the technology to do meaningful background checks. It’s not their fault. They have a hard enough time just trying to find the resources to care for the homeless animals they’ve got.
Aside from the proof of identity, most of it is just getting a read on the person. Pets can always be returned to the shelter if the landlord balks, no questions asked. Adoption agencies are more concerned with signs that the animal might be adopted by an abuser.
Faithful said in one of her earlier posts she and the other tenants liked them and she doesn’t want to evict them. too many people go for a hard line first and when you go that route you are guaranteed trouble. Who needs it? Maybe they are just cat-sitting or had a cat all along and no one would let them keep it and they love the animal too much to give up . It’s a rotten position to be in- and one of the reasons they made that 90 day law. Even the City understands how people feel about their pets.
Landlord-tenant issues are never just about business and money. You’re talking about people’s homes (on both sides) and how people live. A lot of tenants are jerks, sad but true. But a lot of landlords think that since it’s their building and they make the rules, tenants have no rights and are not entitled to a little compassion or understanding. Then we wonder why there are so many tenant-landlord fights.
Steve, I don’t think the ACC and North Shore are the animal shelters the previous poster might have had in mind. Both places are known for their sloppy, and often unethical, treatment of animals. There are much more thorough organisations out there, too….
maybe they are cat sitting for someone? ask them before escalating the situation. are they good tenants?
disagree with seahag21’s advice to let tenants have cat until your allergies kick in. Yes, you can simply ask your tenants whether they have a cat and explain that you and others have allergies, which is why you specifically advertised it as a “no pets” apt., and it has to go.
If your tenants refuse to get rid of the cat once asked, it is they who are being “overly confrontational”, not you. Certainly give them a chance to do the right thing, but if they don’t, because they feel they are entitled to ignore a clear-cut “no pets” rule if they please, I bet you dollars to donuts that they will feel entitled to ignore other rules in the future. Any poster here who claims he would rent a no-pets apartment, bring a cat in, and when the landlord requests the cats removal simply say “no”, is either lying or a truly inconsiderate person. Is this the way all of you posters defending the tenants would behave? Give the tenants the chance to do the right thing, but please don’t act as if the OP is wrong to simply request that of the tenants, and please don’t tell me it’s not ethically wrong for the tenants to simply say “no”.
OP, please let us know what the tenants say to your request for cat removal.