Rental Agreements and Your Best Friend

Time and again, I see clients who have pets. When I review their lease agreement, I find a strict prohibition in the lease agreement against having pets.

Before you sign a lease agreement, read what you are signing. Tell the landlord that you need time to review the lease agreement and, if you are an ARAG member, hire a lawyer to review the lease and, if possible, to negotiate some of the lease clauses before signing.

While the landlord may say, “Oh, such a nice dog. I love dogs, too. Of course, he can stay,” that same dog-loving landlord may attempt to evict you for breach of the rental agreement for having that nice dog. If that occurs, you must argue that the landlord waived their right to evict you because they knew that you had a dog and they allowed you to keep a pet even though the written agreement had a NO PETS clause.

To argue waiver and succeed, you will need proof that the landlord waived their right to evict you.

• You may have a photo of the landlord and your dog together at the residence. 

• Or you may have one or more witnesses that saw the landlord, with your tail-wagging dog behind them, at your residence. 

• Or, perhaps contractors showed up at the residence with the landlord to conduct repairs and can testify that the landlord knew that you had a dog and made no mention of it until things went awry in the landlord-tenant relationship.

For the sake of your best friends (your dog, cat or other pet), please review your lease agreement before signing it and make sure that if there is a NO PETS clause in your lease agreement, that you write a line through the clause and initial it and ask the landlord to initial it, too.

Attorney and her Best Friends

Too many times you may have to make a choice - your home or your pet. Too many times, I have seen pets given up to shelters or euthanized because of a NO PETS clause. Don’t let this be you! Don’t let your best friend down.