What To Do When Tenant Doesn't Clean Up Dog Poop

Landlords and holding managers have several reasons why the might create a pet policy for their rental property.

A good pet policy will protect the belongings, comply with insurance, and go along your tenants safe and happy. For these very reasons, some managers and owners will decide that "no pets allowed" is their policy.

If you have a pet-free holding, inevitably you will encounter a tenant who decides to sneak an unauthorized pet into their rental.

Unauthorized pets are typically discovered past direction during a routine inspection or a bulldoze by inspection, by maintenance doing a repair on the house, or by a neighboring tenant who sees the pet or hears barking through the walls.

Landlords and holding managers need to be prepared for handling the unauthorized pet situation legally and professionally.

Remember, that your tenant has probably bonded with the pet and removing the animal could be emotional. Yous need to stick to your charter terms and follow legal procedures to get your tenant to remedy the charter violation.

What does your Pet-Policy and Lease Understanding say?

Your lease agreement should conspicuously state your pet-policy and outline what will happen if an unauthorized pet is discovered.

If you lot have a no-pets policy, state that pets are not immune under any circumstances and if a tenant has i, information technology will be considered a alienation of contract. Additionally, clearly land what fines will be assessed (if any) if an authorized pet is discovered and how many warnings (if whatsoever) you lot will requite.

Earlier they motion in, allow your tenants know that y'all intend to schedule quarterly "maintenance visits" to test smoke alarms, replace furnace filters, etc. If they know you plan to visit the property every few months, they'll exist less likely to try to keep an brute on the sly.

If y'all discover an unauthorized pet, stick to your pet policy. Send the notice, collect the fine, and move frontward with an eviction if necessary.

Here are a couple unauthorized pet scenarios:

Your tenant adopted a pet at a local shelter and didn't tell y'all.
Your tenant decided to move their parents' dog in temporarily (or forever) considering their parents asked for help.
A stray wandered into the backyard and your tenants started feeding information technology and letting it inside every at present and so.
Your tenant is watching a friend's pet while they are on vacation.
Your tenant'south pet-owning friend is just over hanging out and brought their dog along.

In some of these scenarios, it's clear that your tenant was only keeping a pet temporarily, and might non think of themselves as violating the pet policy. In other cases, such as adopting a new pet, they made a clear choice to violate the terms of their rental contract.

Regardless of the state of affairs, and whether or not the tenant brought a pet onto the property temporarily, you lot demand to stick to your lease and follow through with lease violation procedure.

What to do when yous find the unauthorized pet

If you lot suspect that your tenant is keeping a pet yous haven't agreed to, it is a practiced idea to get photographic evidence, if possible. Then follow through on the terms of your understanding.

Typically, you volition send your tenant an official find stating the lease violation and the timeline in which the tenant needs to fix the situation (ie remove the pet). This timeline is largely dependent on your state laws and what your lease says. In some cases, you can give your 24hrs to remove the pet while other states may require 3-7 days to remedy the state of affairs.

Tell your tenant that if they do not comply with the timeline to remove the unauthorized pet, you will move forward with an eviction.

Yous should likewise inform your tenant of any fines they incurred due to the lease violation, and remind your tenant that they will responsible for any amercement caused by the unauthorized pet.

Official Notice of Unauthorized Pet Lease Violation

It is best to follow formal procedures when dealing with a lease violation. While you could easily text or call your tenant to ask them about the pet that was discovered, using an official notice form is e'er advisable, should you need evidence of proper procedure in court. Additionally, official notices are more than probable to exist taken seriously by your tenant.

ezLandlord Forms offers landlords and property managers an Unauthorized Pet Charter Violation form that is a clearly-worded document that notifies the tenant that you are aware an unauthorized pet has been living on the property, which is a violation of the charter. It further states the pet must be removed immediately and that failure to comply could result in eviction and removal from the property, every bit well every bit, additional court and attorney fees.

Other Types of Unauthorized Pets

If you allow pets on your belongings, your pet policy may require that all tenant animals are registered with management. You can crave that a tenant tells y'all the brute's breed, weight, and name, and gives yous copies of current vaccinations. Forth with registering the pet with management, y'all may choose to collect a pet eolith, a non-refundable pet fee and/or pet rent.

If a tenant does not meet all these weather condition for having a pet, it would be considered an unauthorized pet.

Some tenants will presume that since they live in a pet-friendly property, they tin only decide to get a new pet at whatever time during their tenancy. However, if they do not comply with your pet-policy, they would technically be violating their lease with an unauthorized pet. Make sure to review with your tenants at charter signing what to exercise if they decide they want to motility a pet into the property mid-charter.

What about Service Animals and Therapy Animals?

Landlords are required to make reasonable accommodations for tenants with service animals and therapy animals under the Fair Housing Deed .

If yous have a no pets policy, you have to brand reasonable accommodations for service and therapy animals. Companion animals, emotional support animals (ESA), therapy animals are terms used to describe animals that provide comfort only by being with a person.

Here are the bones guidelines for landlords and property managers, as outlined by The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in regards to service animals at rental backdrop .

Service animals are not considered pets, therefore a housing providers "pet policy" does non use to service animals.
Service animals are allowed wherever a person may get, including restricted animate being areas like food establishments.
Landlords cannot collect a pet eolith or charge a pet fee to persons with a service animate being (since they are not technically considered pets).
Landlords cannot enforce weight limits or breed restrictions for service animals.
Landlords can require written verification from the tenant'southward wellness care provider that they are disabled simply cannot ask for any specifics about the disability.
Landlords tin can require written verification from the tenant's health intendance provider that the service brute is medically necessary.
Landlords tin write warnings or even evict a tenant with an assistance animal is disturbing others, posing a threat to others or causing considerable damage to the property.
Landlords can charge a tenant for any property damage an assist animal causes on the property.
Landlords can request copies of the animate being's health records to testify the animal is in expert health, parasite gratuitous and immunized/vaccinated.

Tenant requests for assistance animals are legally enforceable if the renter qualifies for reasonable accommodation.

The Section of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provides further description on service animals and help animals to help housing providers understand their responsibleness when it comes to reasonable accommodation.

Reasonable Adaptation for Therapy and Companion Animals

Although the ADA treats companion animals differently than service animals, the Federal Fair Housing laws treat them similarly. Companion animals do qualify for reasonable accommodations under the Fair Housing Act and enforced by HUD .

If the conditions outlined above are met, where an individual has a verified need for an assistance beast or a companion fauna, the landlord or belongings managing director must provide a reasonable accommodation and allow the animal on the holding.

In some states, a companion animal is only allowed in the rental unit of measurement and not in community spaces of the property, like the pool surface area or recreation room.

This article has been updated and was originally published August 17, 2017