If you want a pet, but you think they’re not allowed in your building, think again. This week we heard stories from a couple of our neighbors that indicate you might do well to reexamine the conventional wisdom. First, Steve:
Out of the five places I’ve lived with my dog, three were listed as “no pets” or “no dogs”, while two hadn’t thought about it before I applied. In all cases after the first, I provided the prospective new landlord with a sort of rental resume for my dog. It contains pictures (because he’s fucking adorable), documentation of his shots, a recent statement from his vet about his demeanor, and references from previous landlords and neighbors.
Landlords say no in their ads because they don’t want someone to show up with a gigantic man-eating hellhound who does nothing but shit and bark. When you drop the hammer of integrity on them they see that not only is your dog well-behaved, but you’ve got your shit together and are probably a better tenant than 95% of the dipshits in their potential tenant pool. Win.
Win!
Next up is TK, who has an even simpler way:
I signed a lease that said “No pets.” I now have a dog and a cat. How’d I do it? I asked the landlord and he said “Sure.” Never hurts to ask.
There you have it. Now go adopt a cutie-pie like Apple Fritter (pictured above).
I LOVE MY CAT! haha
“I signed a lease that said “No pets.” I now have a dog and a cat. How’d I do it? I asked the landlord and he said “Sure.” Never hurts to ask.”
If you sign a lease that says “no pets,” and you have a pet, regardless of whether the landlord said “Sure,” I’d be concerned about eviction.
can you straight-up be evicted on the spot for having a pet against the lease or do they have to give you a three-day “come correct” or something like that?
We have so many renters’ protection laws here in SF that the eviction process can take up to a couple years. It costs a landlord a LOT of money to remove a tenant, too. If the only problem they had with you was your dog, and you got rid of it, I can’t see why they wouldn’t cancel the eviction even if it had begun.
Depends on the landlord, and how well you know them, I guess.
I believe if you’ve been living with the pet “openly” (i.e., not hiding it in your handbag as you enter and leave the apartment) for thirty days, they’re no longer allowed to evict you. Correct me if I’m wrong, but i think that is the rule, because the landlord is deemed to have accepted a new condition.
Um, no, that’s not correct. You might have a case for claiming that the landlord had effectively agreed to your pet by not doing anything about it for a period of time if you could prove that the landlord was aware of the pet all that time. But many landlords do not live in their buildings and may or may not be in a position to regularly observe their tenants’ comings and goings. In that case, the landlord is fully within their rights to enforce a “no pets” provision in the lease when they become aware of the violation.
You can also get a “prescription” from your therapist or psychiatrist if you have a mental health condition that a pet could help with. My shrink has recommended I do it, but my roommate’s anti-pet. eh.
works for dogs, but not for cats. not sure why felines are excluded from consideration as “service animals,” but i blame the crazy cat ladies.
I too signed a lease that said we couldn’t have any pets in our apartment. Our landlord explained at the time that he had recently added that rule to the lease because of the downstairs neighbors’ dogs.
We soon found out what he meant about the neighbors. They had 4 dogs, most of them large. The dogs had completely shredded the wood on all the doors, and the carpet by all the entryways, in their apartment. They barked constantly and our backyard was full of dogshit.
That’s right, folks. All it takes is one household full of assholes to screw up everybody else’s fun.
Fortunately for us, once those dogs moved out and we’d been here a few years, our landlord told us if we wanted a cat or a small dog, he’d be fine with it. By then, our lease had expired and we were on month-to-month.
Imagine that, dealing with issues like a mature adult can yield positive results. In San Francisco, that’s an incredible revelation! It’s crazy that so many people would come to any other decision (resign themselves immediately to the disappointment of not owning a pet; sneak one in and hide it from the landlord; get an unscrupulous doctor or therapist to write an unwarranted prescription) than to simply act like an adult and discuss the matter maturely with the landlord. Almost every “rule” in life is negotiable, and most of the ones that aren’t really are, if you only have the means with which to negotiate.
So true. Like many others in this post, I simply asked my landlord (before I went ahead and looked for a kitty) if I could get a kitten. He said “yes”, even though my lease said “no pets”. And now I have Mr. Siegfried, Best Cat Ever. So yes, acting like an adult (instead of a whiny, entitled child) can work wonders.
talking doesnt always work. i talked to my landlord on more than one occasion and now he has sent a notice signed by his lawyer that we need to get rid of them…we’ve been on time with rent, we dont party, smoke, drink, anything! great tenants but he he surprised and now denies he ever said anything
Thanks for that William, oddly enough San Francisco has the world’s oldest population of teenagers who don’t quiet get that they are, in fact, adults.
The amount of stupid shit I’ve seen with respect to leases, landlords that could have been dealt with by just being an adult and talking about it in an adult fashion e.g. Its probably not a good idea to have a charcoal bbq on a wooden stairs… its probably not a good idea to have your college buds piss on your landlords front door at 3am etc etc etc
I love the idea of a pet replacing a roommate.
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My experience in esseff has been somewhat similar, but with a cash twist… Every place I’ve lived has advertised itself as “no pets,” but when I meet with the landlord, I bring my (painfully cute) dog, application, dog reference, and a cashier’s check for the deposit with an extra $500 tacked on. This combination immediately shuts down a “no pets” policy instantly.
I wish I could say that it’s been my adorable pup that sealed the deal, but sometimes just throwing cash at the problem is all it takes.
Does anyone have any advice about finding a pet-friendly apartment before adopting? We want to adopt a dog, but when we checked with our landlord he said no dogs and that it’s non-negotiable. We were prepared with offers of fostering a dog on a trial period to make sure it was ok with the landlord/building, submitting the names of planned dog walkers and dog trainer, paying extra security deposit, etc. but he wouldn’t budge.
It’s great that many people have had success convincing their landlords when they do have a dog, but we won’t adopt a dog until we know we can have one in an apartment, because we don’t want to be irresponsible or break a lease.
We have a dog in mind that we want to adopt. Perhaps we should create a profile as if it’s our dog and go out to find apartments. Any advice?