6/17/2009

Not only are leases being broken, from the last time this thread was active, there are bank contracts being broken.

Leighdu, like Meya, I find the clarification's helped a lot. Wise words already from Meya - he'd be nuts to go to the trouble of an eviction and if you moved you'd have to go through all that upheaval and expense again. If you feel you can trust him to play fair with you from here onwards, I'd stay but in all honesty, to me that'd be a big if, now I've heard the rest of the story.

For the record, I'd move for my pets if it came to it but that's just me. I moved too not long ago and know it's not easy finding somewhere that accepts them. But they were easier to find a place for than my smoker of a husband.

Leighdu, the above posting was removed because it seem to be sort of misuderstood by others.

Your rephrase sounds much more clearer than what I had in mind before, from the first posting, it seems like you were asking for someones opinion or similar experience in breaking a lease for thier pet. Also, that you were being forced to leave (along with animal control being called on the pet) if you did not pay the $500 in 48hrs.

To add to your revised statement, I would pay the deposit and stay where you are at unless you are not happy with the living conditions of the place or anything else thats not in your agreement about it. Your landlord can not breach a contract outside of the orignial. Some verbal contract are legal in courts, and if the landlord really wanted to go with an eviction then he or she is plain crazy because it is going to cost them more in the courts rather than to wait 2 weeks for an additional $250.

If the landlord changes his or her mind in this manner, then you need to watch out for whatever else that persons mind might up and change about. If the landlord is a really cool person, then I would stay. As for your pets being the reason for me to up and move for, it would have to be a good reason. I just moved into my new house last year and I was told, "No Pets!" I have a cat that I semi left behind but I have a chance to visit him (Stripes) nearly 5 times per week. My neighbor fell in love with him so she decided to keep him. We miss him dearly but we always bring him food to help out my neighbor, and my husband just purchased him another new playhouse.

I was in dire need of moving to a house from my townhouse because my kids needed to be in a safer environment, so yes I did choose to leave without my cat. If I had no one to keep him, ummmmmmm, ewwww, you got me on that one. I probalby would have found a good pet owner to take over and be heart broken. He is my 3rd generation from my first pet, so you might have more time in with yours. I just refuse to purchase another one because no one is going to take the place of Stripes.

I understand your problem here Leighdu. The landlord told you that your initial deposit would suffice to cover the pet, yet within the lease it states an additional amount may be due for a large animal. The landlord has now after a good period of time decided to put what the lease says into play and demand funds immediately. The comments above confuse me a slight bit. I understand it was your fault for not realizing that whatever is in the lease you can be held accountable. I do not however understand some of the rudely judgmental comments made slandering your ethics and thoughtfulness towards your pet in this situation. My advice would be to call your local tenants’ board. The tenants’ board is for anyone who rents a property be it an apartment, condo, house, etc. Explain to them the situation and find out what your rights are. I would be very interested to know if a landlord can follow through on the threats he has told you without at least a 30 day notice. Please, keep us updated on the situation.

Ok, very true about the breaking of the lease part. I should have explained myself more clearly. Landlord is wanting a $500 deposit right away. If he would wait at least 2 more weeks, we will have more than enough to pay the deposit, and we will also have enough to break the lease, pay the broken lease fee and move if we decide we want to keep our pet. Yes, he is correct in that he can charge us more for a larger pet, but we did already pay the initial $250, and by verbal agreement he said that was fine...then changed his mind.

Also, had he told us that he was going to charge even more of a deposit a week earlier, we would have went ahead and paid it off, but we used what he had saved up for a newer car. I am here to build my credit up and learn how to do that, so I don't have credit cards with that high of a limit just lying around where I can pull the cash out and give it to him.

I basically wanted to to know if anyone else thought if their pet was worth moving for. I will not have anything negative on my credit as I will be able to pay off breaking a lease and I am already paid up on rent here until May 15th. It will cost much more in long run to move, but if we stay we have now only 24 hours to get rid of our pet that our daughter is very attached to.

[edited]

Check your mailbox immediatley.

Actually, I feel we were kind of tricked. It is not an apartment manager, but rather an individual that we are leasing a home from with a huge back yard. We told him then that we had a Golden Retriever. He said that would be fine as long as we pay the standard deposit. It was my fault for not looking very closely at the tiny print, but we took his word on it until he decided to go the other way around. Either way, yes I understand that this is our fault, but that's not really what I was asking here. I was just asking how many would actually consider moving if faced with that situation. Btw, we tried to work with the landlord and asked if we could pay the deposit over a few months and he said No. Thanks for the replies all.

especially if your previous landlord could give you a reference to say your dog didn't cause any problems

I did not think about that one scribbler, this is a good way to start first. Then maybe he will lower his actual deposit or make out a payment plan with you.

I meant to add that the best you can hope for is as Meya said, that he'll let you negotiate terms for payment of the deposit.

I feel I have to side with the landlord here I'm afraid. He's just looking after his investment and big dogs are capable of a lot of damage even unintentionally, no matter how well trained they are. He's probably had his fingers burned before by another tenant with a large dog when he's asking for such a large amount.

Perhaps you could ask him for a reduction in it at least? I don't think it would do any harm to do so, especially if your previous landlord could give you a reference to say your dog didn't cause any problems. (I'm assuming that's the case.)

For anyone currently renting or leasing, would you break your lease if your current landlord said that you have to fork over an even bigger deposit for your pet ? Seems we were kind of tricked on our pet deposit. In very very thin fine print it says a "larger deposit may be required for large dogs". We initially paid the standard deposit that he wanted, but now he is wanting us to fork over a $500 deposit within 48 hours or remove the dog from our house. If we don't remove the dog, then he will call Animal Control.

Now we love our dog as she is a part of the family, but we cannot afford to give them that much money in that short of time, but at the same time we don't really want to have to move either and shell out even more money. What would everyone else do in this situation?

The thing is with leases that it doesn't matter how big the print is. If it's there, it's part of the contract. Your responsibility to yourself as a tenant is to go over it with a fine toothcomb before you sign it, not after to prevent situations like this arising.

Well if you knew the rules about pets, which I am sure that they had told you this in the contract prior to moving in, you should have given up the deposit money then. I know how people love their animals just as much as humans, but I believe strongly that you should have covered your pet as well as you would have if you were requesting additional rooms to satisfy your children needs. I would have never signed a lease not covering a deposit for my dog. I hate to say this but you took the wrong steps in this part, and you should try to find a way to give the apt manager the money even if you have to take out a loan or get cash from your cards.

If you have no other option, try working it out with the landlord, tell him that you are short on funds this month and will like to pay next month, or can you make out a payment plan with him or her. I am pretty sure that the pet rules applied when you signed the lease.

For anyone currently renting or leasing, would you break your lease if your current landlord said that you have to fork over an even bigger deposit for your pet ? Seems we were kind of tricked on our pet deposit. In very very thin fine print it says a "larger deposit may be required for large dogs". We initially paid the standard deposit that he wanted, but now he is wanting us to fork over a $500 deposit within 48 hours or remove the dog from our house. If we don't remove the dog, then he will call Animal Control.

Now we love our dog as she is a part of the family, but we cannot afford to give them that much money in that short of time, but at the same time we don't really want to have to move either and shell out even more money. What would everyone else do in this situation?