Landlord just found out Tenant has a dog. The tenant’s lease agreement prohibits pets. What is the best way to handle this?
Answer:
Since your lease agreement specifically prohibits pets and the tenant signed that lease agreement, signifying his understanding and agreement with lease terms and conditions, the tenant by keeping a pet is in violation of his lease agreement. You should immediately serve the tenant with the appropriate written notice as per your state landlord-tenant statute to cure or quit the noted lease violation. If the tenant doesn’t comply with notice requirements within the stated time frame, you may file for eviction.
It is important for a landlord to enforce his “no pets policy” as soon as the landlord discovers a lease violation. If a landlord ignores the situation and does not notice the tenant regarding the violation, the landlord jeopardizes his position to take action at a later date. The tenant may argue that the landlord by failing to act in a timely manner waives his right to object to the tenant having a pet.