Federal, state, and local fair housing laws govern your rental policies and practices for advertising and marketing of rental properties, tenant screening and selection policies, and enforcement of lease terms and conditions in a consistent and non-discriminatory manner.

Your priority is knowledge and understanding of applicable fair housing laws for the location of your rental property.  Federal Fair Housing laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of these protected classes:

• Race
• Religion
• National origin
• Sex
• Color
• Familial status
• Disability

Many states and some local jurisdictions have fair housing laws that grant greater protections against discrimination. As examples, state and local protected class status may be extended to include age, sexual preference, gender identity, gender expression, occupation, source of income, Section 8 voucher participation, educational status, medical status, marital status, partnership status, military background, political affiliation, or other named class.

Fair housing compliance will be in accordance to the federal, state, and local law that is the most restrictive in protecting against housing discrimination.

Since an applicant/tenant is potentially a member of any of the federal, state, and local protected classes, the landlord’s rental policies must be based on legitimate business criteria for fair housing compliances.

Your rental policies should be documented in writing and applied equally and consistently in all areas of your property management operations.

Federal, state, and local fair housing laws govern your rental policies and practices for advertising and marketing of rental properties, tenant screening and selection policies, and enforcement of lease terms and conditions in a consistent and non-discriminatory manner.

Your priority is knowledge and understanding of applicable fair housing laws for the location of your rental property.  Federal Fair Housing laws prohibit discrimination on the basis of these protected classes:

• Race
• Religion
• National origin
• Sex
• Color
• Familial status
• Disability

Many states and some local jurisdictions have fair housing laws that grant greater protections against discrimination. As examples, state and local protected class status may be extended to include age, sexual preference, gender identity, gender expression, occupation, source of income, Section 8 voucher participation, educational status, medical status, marital status, partnership status, military background, political affiliation, or other named class.

Fair housing compliance will be in accordance to the federal, state, and local law that is the most restrictive in protecting against housing discrimination.

Since an applicant/tenant is potentially a member of any of the federal, state, and local protected classes, the landlord’s rental policies must be based on legitimate business criteria for fair housing compliances.

Your rental policies should be documented in writing and applied equally and consistently in all areas of your property management operations.

Requiring a social security number for tenant screenings is an accepted standard practice for most landlords. However, a social security number, while an important personally identifiable piece of information, is not always needed to run consumer reports. You should check with your tenant screening services provider regarding their business requirements for consumer reports. Obviously the more information that can be provided to a screening provider should be beneficial to return correct information on the applicant. Our screening services provider requires at a minimum the applicant’s name and current address. Helpful, though not required, is the applicant’s previous address, date of birth, and social security number.

Remember that consumer information reported to the major credit reporting agencies including names, addresses, and social security numbers, can be subject to errors in credit reporting, data entry, or filing. This is why reporting agencies and recipients of consumer credit reports do not depend on any one piece of data as the conclusive and exclusive proof of consumer identity. Due diligence is always required at every point in the credit reporting process and delivery.

There are other associated issues regarding the request for and the requirement of an applicant’s social security number for use in tenant screenings. One issue may be state and/or local requirements that could prohibit or limit access and use of consumer reports in housing transactions. Accordingly, you may need to further research the matter.

The federal Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, and disability. Citizenship is not among the federally protected classes.

Any landlord who plans to use citizenship as part of their tenant screening protocol should develop a policy and apply it uniformly in a non-discriminatory fashion. You may not selectively ask for immigration information—that is, you must ask it of all prospective tenants, not just those you suspect to be in the country illegally. It is not illegal to ask housing applicants to provide documentation of their citizenship or immigration status as long as you have a legitimate basis for doing so.

However in some state and some cities there are protections against discrimination based citizenship or immigration status. As example, California Civil Code Section 1940.3(b) states in part:

“A landlord, or any agent of the landlord, shall not do any of the following:

(1) Make any inquiry regarding or based on the immigration or citizenship status of a tenant, prospective tenant, occupant, or prospective occupant of residential rental property.

(2) Require that any tenant, prospective tenant, occupant, or prospective occupant of the rental property disclose or make any statement, representation, or certification concerning his or her immigration or citizenship status…”

Under the New York City Human Rights Law, it is illegal for landlords to discriminate against tenants based on their actual or perceived immigration status, including:

Requiring tenants to provide proof of citizenship or documentation detailing their immigration status.

Refusing to sell, rent, or lease housing because of a tenant’s immigration status or national origin.

The Fair Housing Act prohibits both intentional housing discrimination and housing practices that have an unjustified discriminatory effect because of race, national origin, color, sex, religion, disability, and familial status.

People with limited English proficiency are not a protected class under the Fair Housing Act. However, national origin, which is a protected class, has been closely linked to the ability to communicate proficiently in English.

A landlord’s policy or practice that contains language-related housing restrictions or that result in a language-based adverse action decision is a violation of the Fair Housing Act.

Landlords may be liable for claims of intentional discrimination if their rental practices include advertising that contains blanket statements of language-related restrictions, such as “all tenants must speak English” or turning away all applicants who are not fluent in English.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has published guidance that addresses how the Fair Housing Act would apply to claims of housing discrimination brought by people with Limited English Proficiency (LEP).

While the guidance notes that a person’s inability to read, write, or speak in English could be associated with a disability, in such circumstances, other statutory protections would apply, such as the landlord’s obligation to provide reasonable accommodations.

A landlord’s refusal to deal with persons having LEP may signal intentional discrimination. With general availability of language assistance services from a variety of resources including free or low-cost services, a landlord’s defense in refusing to deal with LEP persons based upon his concerns of the cost of needed services is without valid business justification. Courts have held that LEP persons may speak English well enough to conduct essential housing-related matters or may have a family member who can provide assistance as needed.

Landlords are therefore prohibited from using an applicant’s or a tenant’s limited English proficiency in a selective manner as basis for discriminatory actions or as an excuse or pretext for intentional housing discrimination.

Housing providers may consider less discriminatory alternative practices for matters involving people with LEP, such as allowing an applicant or tenant a reasonable amount of time to have a document, such as a lease agreement, translated; providing written or oral translation services, using multi-lingual skills of staff members; or having an applicant or tenant bring another person or family member along to interpret documents or facilitate communications. HUD guidance points out that English proficiency is likely unnecessary in the context of many landlord-tenant interactions where communications are not particularly complex or frequent communication is needed.

Fair Housing Month is a calendar reminder to landlords to review their rental policies and practices to ensure current compliances with federal, state, and local fair housing laws.

Fair housing laws prohibit discrimination in all aspects of the landlord’s rental housing policies and practices including the landlord’s advertising policy and practices. Many landlords are unaware that their current advertising practices and/or marketing materials could inadvertently violate fair housing advertising requirements.

Fair Housing advertising issues and violations are more common than most landlords realize. Whether a landlord may realize it or not, a landlord is in some way advertising his rental business every day through direct or implied speech and actions during property operations. As a practical matter in doing business, a landlord should be aware that any word or statement that could be perceived by a tenant or potential tenant to limit housing choice or as an indication of a preference based upon a protected class could be construed by the tenant or potential tenant as discriminatory, whether the statement or word was used in media advertising or communicated orally to another individual in person or over the phone in a matter related to rental housing.

Understanding what the Fair Housing Act considers advertising and what is required for compliance for responsible non-discriminatory advertising requires the landlord’s due diligence to avoid violating fair housing laws. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has published guidelines on acceptable words and phrases that can be used for non-discriminatory advertising which should be of help to landlords in developing advertising practices.

Advertising a rental vacancy is a standard landlord practice to attract the interest of potential tenants to fill that vacancy. Housing discrimination occurs when a landlord places an advertisement regarding the rental of any housing accommodation that indicates any preference or limitation based upon protected classes or characteristics.

Section 804(c) of the Fair Housing Act specifically makes it unlawful to make, print, or publish, (or cause to be made, printed, or published), any notice, statement, or advertisement, with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling, that indicates any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, or handicap. This prohibition against discriminatory advertising applies to single-family and owner-occupied housing that is otherwise exempt from the Fair Housing Act.

Advertising rental property is no longer just a classified ad in newspapers. Technology has changed advertising practices to allow greater access to larger markets using a variety of media and platforms. Today’s advertising can be posted online, instantly accessible and responsive to interested prospects or general inquiries. Landlords must be attentive to how all forms of advertising, written or oral, are created and delivered to the rental market audience. Recent investigations of targeted online advertising on social platforms that could potentially limit, exclude, or prefer certain demographic areas or audiences regarding housing transactions should alert landlords to closely examining their own advertising policies and practices.

Discriminatory advertising laws apply to the landlord’s use of brochures, flyers, leaflets, signs, posters, banners, TV and radio commercials, billboards, Internet-based advertising, or other conventional print ads in newspapers or magazines. What might be overlooked by a landlord in assessing his operations for potential fair housing violations are various other forms of advertising that make or print notices, statement, or advertisements used for communications by email or text, printed application forms and other rental documents, photographs of the property with tenants or potential tenants in the photos, illustrations in marketing materials or even signage and pictures in the rental office that could be construed as discriminatory against a protected class or characteristic.

Non-discriminatory advertising should advertise in an inclusive way that will attract the broadest possible audience, and avoid expressing any preference for or limitation against certain classes or characteristics.

A landlord should consider the following advertising guidelines:

• Make sure the advertising is compliant with fair housing laws by focusing on the property details – features and amenities – in a rental listing description. Advertising should not focus on characteristics that the landlord considers to be an ideal tenant.
• Do not make statements that exclude persons in protected classes or that express a preference for one personal characteristic over others.
• Always include the fair housing logo and/or the “Equal Housing Opportunity” slogan in all rental advertising.
• Do not exclude from marketing campaigns persons in protected classes, such as families with children, people of certain racial or ethnic backgrounds, persons with disabilities, etc.
• If advertisements feature human models, make sure the images are inclusive and representative of individuals in the community who need access to housing.
• Always provide truthful information about the availability, price, amenities, and features of a housing unit.

The important questions to ask when reviewing your advertising are:

• What message is being sent?
• Does the advertisement communicate preferences for or against particular people?
• Does the advertisement describe the housing and not the people?

In determining whether advertising constitutes a discriminatory housing practice, courts have generally applied a “reasonable person” standard. This means that liability is incurred by a person or entity if they make an advertisement that indicates a preference and that preference is readily apparent to an ordinary reader.

Although advertising violations are common in rental practices it is not difficult to create a responsible ad that complies with fair housing laws if a landlord keeps the key point in mind –advertising should describe the property, not a potential tenant.

There is another fair housing advertising issue that can sometimes be overlooked. Telephone fair housing training is critically important to provide accurate, timely information to callers inquiring about rental housing.  Rental properties, particularly multi-family properties, can receive numerous calls every day regarding the availability of units, rental qualifications, rents, pet policies, or other questions that must be answered in compliance with fair housing laws. The employee answering calls is the agent of the landlord. How the call is answered and the manner in which the response is given must be non-discriminatory, professional and not create a false impression or perception of the rental community and its policies. As example if a caller inquired about the availability of a two-bedroom unit and was told there was unit availability, the caller upon visiting the property would expect to be shown a two-bedroom unit. However if the unit in question was rented immediately after the first inquiry of availability, the visitor may perceive she/he was given false information, perhaps as a pretext for not wanting to rent to her/him. Any time there is a contradiction in information from a landlord or an employee, the individual could perceive that there may be housing discrimination issues.

A best practice to avoid claims of fair housing violations is make sure all employees (and the landlord himself) receive proper training on fair housing issues.  A written prepared script with property address, features, and amenities, and answers to commonly asked rental policies can help the employee answer questions accurately, consistently in a manner that avoids inadvertent discrimination.

Fair housing violations can be quite costly for landlords that have been found in violation of different housing-related laws, including the federal Fair Housing Act. For 2018, a maximum civil penalty of $20,521 can be assessed for a first violation of the Act. A landlord who had violated the Fair Housing Act in the previous 5 years could be fined a maximum of $51,302, and for those landlords who had violated the Act two or more times in the previous 7 years could be fined a maximum of $102,606.

These civil penalty amounts are in addition to actual damages and attorney’s fees and costs that may be awarded to individuals who experienced housing discrimination.

Employment screenings are a business necessity to protect the security of the organization, and the safety of the workforce, customers, clients, and the general public.

Pre-hire background screenings have become essential practices in an organization’s standardized hiring process to identify potential risks during the qualification and verification of applicant credentials.

Many employers who use pre-employment screenings feel confident that pre-hire screenings make a more informed hiring decision. Due to that confidence some of these employers do not choose to conduct screenings of current employees. These employers reason that a good hire transitions to a good employee and therefore there is little reason to continue to assess risk.

However this reasoning can lead to a false sense of security. The safety and security of employees and protection of business interests cannot be taken for granted. While the use of pre-hire screenings has been shown to help reduce workplace violence, employee theft, and negligent hiring, a screening report is only a snapshot of the applicant’s history of certain activities at a set point in time. The screening, by its nature, cannot show the applicant’s current activities nor predict his future behaviors. A once and done screening practice opens the employer to potential risk even though the new hire is considered the right hire for the job. A screening is a historical reference to past behaviors. By conducting only an initial screening, the employer has a risk that the screening failed to capture critical information indicative of future risk. There is always a risk that the new hire changes his behaviors once he is on the job.

For business protections of security and safety, employee screenings should not be a one-time event. Instead, employers must take the initiative to identity potential warning signs of risky behaviors at any time throughout the employer-employee relationship. Conducting screenings only during the hiring process creates a dangerous gap in security risk management practices. A better practice is to screen throughout the entire tenure of an employee. The practice of continuous integrity and background screenings should be considered by employers as an important risk mitigation tactic against insider security threats.

Post-hire periodic screening is a pro-active measure to help assess the employee’s current risk to the organization. An organization has a vested interest in retaining the employee, having spent considerable time and money in recruitment, hiring, employee training, education, and company benefits. The employee has been allowed entry to company buildings, use of company property, and granted access to proprietary data, product information, customer records, software and systems management, and other operational data. The employee may have responsibility to interface directly with customers and/or the general public as an agent of the organization, thus greatly increasing the organization’s potential for liability.

As a re-check, periodic background screenings serve as a risk management tool to enforce the organization’s standards and hold the employee accountable for his actions. Periodic background checks could discover new information that was missed during the pre-hire screening or identify suspicious activities or behaviors currently taking place that are of concern. A re-screening could help protect the organization against employee theft, embezzlement, fraud, and workplace violence. An employer may be blind to employee criminal activities unless a screening is conducted, an event is discovered after the fact, or an employee self-discloses his activities.

Proactive measures and post-employment monitoring techniques are important for privacy concerns and data protections. Employees have more access to critical data than ever before. Financial fraud and theft of confidential data by trusted employees and senior executives have become a serious concern for organizations. Employers must be more attentive to security access of systems and proprietary data and ensure that safeguards are in place including ongoing background screening of all employees with responsibility for and access to corporate systems.

There is movement toward enhancing security and risk practices to conduct continuous, real-time, post-hire screenings by ongoing monitoring of employees. Some employers have taken a greater initiative to protect their business by implementing continuous or rolling background checks on employees. Continuous screening uses automated monitoring of criminal, civil, and licensing databases to update employees’ risk profiles for events such as criminal convictions, lawsuits, or financial behaviors that could signal potential risk or require immediate attention by the employer.

While there are legal risks to conducting background screenings, there are legal risks if an employer does not conduct adequate due diligence through employee screening. Post-hire screenings help protect employers from claims of negligent hiring and negligent retention. The legal doctrine of negligent hiring holds employers to a duty of care to assess the nature of employment, the degree of risk the employment poses to third parties, and to conduct reasonable investigations to ascertain the applicant is competent and able to perform job duties. Duty of care extends to reasonable measures to ensure the safety and security of the employee workforce. The burden is on the employer to be alert to potential risk issues and to take appropriate steps to resolve matters in a timely, responsive manner. The organization cannot cite lack of knowledge as a defense against claims of negligence. The employer can be held responsible for the conduct of the employee if the employer failed to use due care in the hiring and retention of the employee.

The organization must protect its customers and the public from harmful behaviors by the organization’s employees. It is possible that an employee’s financial hardship or domestic circumstances could have changed considerably from the employee’s date of hire. It is entirely possible the employee could not meet the current hiring criteria. As an example, a re-screen of the employee’s credit records may show financial difficulties that could lead to the employee’s mismanagement of company funds or other action detrimental to the organization’s well-being.

Employers must comply with applicable federal, state, and local laws in developing and implementing their employment screening policy and practices. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is the federal statute requiring specific written authorization and consent by an employee before an employer can conduct background screening. Due diligence is required of the employer to determine specific requirements for consent, authorization, adverse action notifications, and protection of consumer rights. Additionally there may be requirements and restrictions under state and local laws regarding the use of background checks for employment purposes, for example, Ban the Box laws in certain states or Fair Chance initiatives in certain municipalities.

Legal counsel may be advisable to provide guidance on employer legal obligations, screening policy limitations, and employee informed consent for post-employment screening. The organization’s screening policy must also take into account that an employee may refuse to consent to continuous screening or that a negative event has occurred that will require individualized assessment of the event or termination of employment as the appropriate course of action.

A risk assessment may be appropriate to determine the organization’s policy and the level of screening necessary for business protections and legal compliances. The interaction of employees with the general public, the organization’s customers, and the vulnerability of such populations may have a direct impact upon the type and frequency of screening necessary for safety and security to protect others. An employment policy must be non-discriminatory and based upon needs of the business and the population, internal and external, that it employs and serves.

A recently published independent consulting study commissioned by TransUnion to evaluate fraud in the rental industry found that more than 80% of property managers participating in the study had experienced tenant fraud.

Accordingly, to protect their businesses, landlords must increase their due diligence efforts, strengthen their tenant screening practices, and keep vigilant against tenant fraudulent acts. Discovering fraud after a tenant has skipped a rent payment is too late to prevent loss.

Properly utilized, tenant screening can serve as a first alert to tenant fraud. Tenant screening supported by a committed policy of full investigation and direct verification of applicant data helps to protect the landlord’s business. Rather than take an applicant’s information at face value, a landlord should independently verify applicant information, whether given orally or on the written application. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is. A little skepticism on the landlord’s part may be a good thing to prevent fraud.

What can a landlord do to protect his business from tenant fraud? A key issue in fraud protections is thorough knowledge and understanding of applicable laws that regulate landlord-tenant matters. Rental fraud often occurs because a landlord is unfamiliar or unsure of applicable laws and legal processes. Tenants with the intent to defraud take advantage of a landlord who doesn’t know the law and hesitates in taking action.

The simplest, most direct fraud control to avoid loss of rents is to recognize fraudulent behaviors, be alert to red flag issues, and thoroughly vet applicants throughout the application and interview process. The timing of the investigation and verification process is critical to identify fraud before advancing the applicant to consideration for tenancy. Once a tenant is installed, a landlord must use the legal system to remove the tenant from the property, which may take several months and be at great expense.

Vigilance is also a key factor in identifying red flag issues and preventing tenant fraud. A landlord must be alert to discrepancies, omissions or inconsistencies in information in the application itself, as discovered during applicant interviews, or revealed in reference verifications.

A landlord should never be in a hurry to fill a vacancy without conducting adequate investigation and verification of applicant information. Patience and persistence in the landlord’s due diligence efforts can be a first line of defense in protecting the business from intentional harm from fraud or rental scams. An applicant intent on committing fraud is counting on a landlord being too busy to notice inconsistencies in his story or too desperate to rent up the unit. If the landlord is unfamiliar with landlord-tenant laws, or unwilling to take the time to follow stated rental practices, there is greater risk for tenant harm.

Adequate due diligence to complete all necessary tenant screenings is not a waste of time and money when compared to the costs of lost rents, eviction, and property damage that can occur if tenant fraud is involved. No matter how good an applicant looks on paper and in person, a landlord should always follow his stated policies and practices of tenant screening. An applicant in a hurry to move-in is a potential red flag. While there can be good reason for a quick move-in, an applicant who is legitimately looking for a rental should be knowledgeable of the rental process and should have allowed adequate time to search the rental market. The landlord has a duty of care to protect his current tenants by enforcing his policies and practices for screening and selection. Installing a tenant without adequate screening could be cause for claims of landlord negligence.

Common Tenant Frauds

Identity theft is true name fraud. Fraud occurs when an individual’s personal information is used without their knowledge by another individual to commit a criminal act. An applicant may use bits and pieces of the identity theft victim’s personal information, such as the victim’s name, date of birth, or Social Security number, as his own information on the rental application. Unless the landlord discovers red flag issues or obvious discrepancies, the applicant may be approved for tenancy based upon the qualifications of the identity theft victim. When the fraudulent tenant defaults on his lease, the landlord will discover that his tenant was never who the landlord thought he was.

Manufactured identities are another type of tenant fraud. A fictitious identity is created through the use of digital fraud. If a landlord installs this tenant, the person using the false identity now has the means to obtain credit or commit other types of fraud. The fraud may not be discovered until the tenancy is well along and may only be discovered if there is a material default of the lease. Once again the landlord will discover that his tenant was never who the landlord thought he was.

The use of online rental applications may contribute to tenant fraud. An online application provides a level of anonymity that can create problems for a landlord since the landlord has no knowledge of how the application was completed.

When accepting applications, landlords must ask for proof of identity. The industry standard is to require two forms of identification with one document containing a photograph of the individual. Most landlords consider a state issued driver’s license to be a reliable identification document. Because the document is official looking, many landlords take only a cursory glance, assume the document is valid and accept it without question. However fraudulent documents can easily be produced by applicants and tenants whose intention is to create rental fraud. Any document used in support of a rental application should be independently verified at the appropriate source or level of agency that purportedly issued the document.

A state issued driver’s license provides a great deal of personal information that could be used to further verify applicant information. The license generally contains the legal name of the driver, a photo identification, date of birth, and descriptive personal information of the driver’s sex, height, weight, eye color, hair color, or restrictions such as glasses. A landlord should certainly check that the appearance of the applicant is reasonably similar to the photo on the license and that each item of physical information shown on the license seems reasonable compared to the person in front of the landlord. The signature on the license should be similar in appearance to the handwriting and signature of the applicant on the application form. The landlord’s policy of verification of identity including the use of state issued driver’s license information must be his standard practice applied to all applicants in a non-discriminatory manner according to fair housing laws.

Fraud Prevention Practices

To help protect his business from tenant fraud, a landlord should, at a minimum:

• Have full understanding of landlord-tenant statues, local ordinances, and fair housing protections.
• Be prepared to pre-screen potential applicants when they respond to an advertised vacancy; make notes of information discussed and save for later reference as needed.
• Meet the prospect in person and require proof of identity before showing a property.
• Provide written copy of rental policies, rules, and regulations and advise prospects of rental qualification standards and tenant screening policies during the initial contact.
• Require applicants to appear in person to complete and submit application – only the landlord’s rental application form should be accepted.
• Accept only fully completed signed applications; missing or illegible information will be cause for rejection of application.
• Compare the applicant’s signature on the application with another document that required a signature, as example, the signature on the driver’s license.
• Require a personal interview with applicant.
• Require all proposed adult occupants of the rental property to be tenant screened and qualified to standards.
• Require all adults occupying rental property to be named on the lease agreement and made joint and severally responsible for the lease.
• Require applicants to furnish two forms of personal identification, with one document containing a photo identification signature at time of application.
• Require applicant to furnish copies of proof of employment, income, utility bill, and telephone bill.
• Require applicant to furnish copy of driver’s license and vehicle registration.
• Advise applicant that supporting documentation must match the information on the rental application including name and address.
• Verify the applicant’s employment or source of funds.
• Verify the applicant’s past rental history with previous landlords.
• Conduct full tenant screenings as applicable by statutes and law.

Landlords who know the laws and control their business may be less likely to suffer financial loss from tenant fraud.

Landlords as housing providers under the federal Fair Housing Act are required to provide reasonable accommodation to people with disabilities who require assistance animals. Emotional support animals are considered assistance animals under fair housing guidelines. Accordingly a landlord must grant reasonable accommodation to a tenant with an emotional support animal even if the landlord’s rental policies prohibit pets.

Since your lease agreement specifically prohibits pets, the tenant is in violation of lease terms and conditions. Depending on the situation you could give the tenant an oral warning to comply with the lease by removing the dog from the rental unit. If she fails to take care of the matter, you can serve her with a written notice to cure or quit. If she doesn’t comply with written notice requirements within the stated time frame, you could file for eviction.

It is important for a landlord to enforce his “no pets” policy as soon as he discovers a lease violation. If a landlord ignores the violation and does not serve notice on the tenant regarding the lease default, 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 keeping a pet.

Be sure you document your actions and the tenant’s response or lack of response in order to support your position if the matter does require legal action.