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Pets - Landlord Forum thread 350114

Pets by Jeff on January 12, 2017 @14:33

                              
We recently rented an apartment to a woman with a dog. In the lease agreement and the pet addendum that she signed it clearly states that she would pick up any waste in the yard immediately from her dog. She isn't doing it plus the dog is using the flower beds for its bathroom. I have confronted her twice already about this issue and she cleans it up then but that's it, she doesn't do it again. I am getting ready to send her a registered letter stating that if I have to keep cleaning up after her dog I am going to charge her $50.00 a month and it will be deducted from her security deposit. I don't know what else to do or even if I can do this. so that's my question. other tenants in the building have dogs and they abide by the rules.
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Re: Pets by Garry on January 12, 2017 @15:56 [ Reply ]
What you are wanting to do is actually changing the terms of the lease midway thru it. You cannot do that til the end of the lease, OR if the T agrees to it in writing midway thru the lease. But lets say she agrees to it, in writing. Are you willing to go there every day to clean up the dog doodoo ? You will now have to do that, because it was the change you wanted, and you agreed to. Check in your state's LL/T laws, to see if you can notify her of a lease violation, and serve papers for the violation on her. Be prepared to go to court to enforce those violations if need be. Otherwise, could you "hire/pay" one of your other Ts in the building to pick up the poop and then just give the T notice towards the end of their lease that you are not renewing it? Some Ts just need to learn that their poor behavior can cost them a place to live. As for the flower beds, you may have to put a small fence around them to keep the dogs out.
Re: Pets by Anonymous on January 12, 2017 @18:03 [ Reply ]
I have the exact same situation, and more. Now that the lease and the pet agreement has been signed, I can't do anything except sending notices, a headache for me. I am ending the tenancy as soon as the lease expires.
Re: Pets by Anonymous on January 12, 2017 @20:26 [ Reply ]
"I am going to charge her $50.00 a month."

Is this specified in the terms of the lease or the pet addendum as a penalty for not picking up after the dog? If not, then you can't unilaterally and arbitrarily decide to start charging.

"it will be deducted from her security deposit"

No. You should take some time to familiarize with your state's security deposit laws. The security deposit is property of the tenant and your state laws specify what is a legal deduction to be made *after* tenancy ends. You cannot use the security deposit for anything during tenancy.

Be careful how you proceed or you could end up in serious legal trouble for misuse of the security deposit funds. Again - it is not your money.

The proper course of action here is to issue Cure or Quit notice in accordance with your state law.
Re: Pets by P-Bone (NY and OH) on January 13, 2017 @09:01 [ Reply ]
My rental agreements all have lease violation terms. In regards to this situation, I would be immediately issuing notices to comply (Leave Violation Notification/Notice to Cure). My lease violation terms have penalties, i.e. $50 if not cured. I would make sure I immediately went out after the 3 day notice to see if there was still a noncompliance and immediately issue the notice of the fee $50 being applied and take it out of the next rent check, since my terms identify that fees will be considered added rent. I would do this consistently.
Re: Pets by AnonymousFL on January 13, 2017 @09:34 [ Reply ]
We also have penalty fees listed in our lease addendum. Every landlord really should have something to be able to penalize tenants for other than notices to correct or vacate.

The cleaning could also fall under maintenance costs attributed to the tenant. Most leases have something in them that states that repairs and cleaning may be billed to the tenant if they are responsible. The OP did not mention that his lease states that he may charge for such an incident, but that does not mean that the clause isn't there. He may have just been telling us what actions he is taking.
Re: Pets by Anonymous on January 15, 2017 @19:15 [ Reply ]
Your pet addendum should provide for the removal of the dog if the pet agreement is not adhered to. Issue notice that the dog is to be removed permanently if the waste is not cleaned up and removed promptly after the dog in the future.
Re: Pets by Anonymous on January 17, 2017 @15:26 [ Reply ]
What did you do? Did you have the dog removed?

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