• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

I'm not supposed to have reptiles?

attackturtle

attackturtle

Registered Superhero
I resigned my lease and discovered they have a no reptile policy! (new management) All caps and bold to. I told them I have a snake and 2 geckos and they just told me not to let them out. I am going to assume they have this policy in an attempt to shield them from some sort of liability and that they really don't care. Anybody else meet anything like this before?
 
I would get a written statement saying they don't care if you have your animals. Verbal contracts can always come back to bite you.
 
When she said that, I think she was just saying that to me as a person. She wasn't speaking on behalf of the complex. I don't expect anything to come of it but I think if I made a stink about it, I wouldn't be have been allowed to sign the lease.
 
i'm pretty sure my apartment has th same thing except its for everything except fish birds, cats and dogs. I find it kind of ridiculous but i dont care ive got my newts and snake and if they think there gonna make me get rid of them theyve got another thing comin
 
You should have a "grandfather clause" written into your lease, giving you express permission to keep the reptiles you have. It would most likely stipulate that in the event one escape, you would immediately surrender them or your lease, and they would probably expressly deny any new aquisitions, but at least you would have in writing that your reptiles are allowed.

As someone said...verbal contracts can be a killer...
 
tyflier said:
You should have a "grandfather clause" written into your lease, giving you express permission to keep the reptiles you have. It would most likely stipulate that in the event one escape, you would immediately surrender them or your lease, and they would probably expressly deny any new aquisitions, but at least you would have in writing that your reptiles are allowed.

As someone said...verbal contracts can be a killer...
Click to expand...

This is what I wanted to post as well. Since you had your reptiles before this new rule was stipulated you should be above it as it were.
 
Getting grandfathered in would work if I had a 5 year and new management took over during the middle of it. Since my original lease would have never had that language, they can ban anything they cant to and it wouldn't affect me. They could say no cars but my first lease said I can have 3 so it wouldn't matter. Once that lease ran out, it was my decision to seek new terms and as such, since I am leasing from them, it is my obligation to conform to their wishes. It one of those things I think they have in there just because. Tenant A has snake, a hot one too, Snake escapes and bites Tenant B who goes to hospital. Tenant B gets attorney who argues that APT failed to provide safe environment on their property. It could go either way but I think the apartment has this in there to protect themselves. If this is their reasoning, they will never remove it. Its not worth the trouble of asking their counsel. It would be easier to tell me to fly a kite. Even if the manager knew about my reptiles, I don't think they would have a problem with it unless they didn't like us for some other reason like we were noisy or left trash in the hall. I was just wondering if anybody else has found their landlord has a policy like this.
 
Our landlord has a "no pets" policy, and this is the first time I've signed a lease with such a stipulation and no rider for our cats. However, we were assured that they do not mind our having the cats (I never mention the snake as he is undetectable), and several of our neighbors with the same lease have dogs who are not even well-behaved.

New York City is odd though: when we first got here we found out that most of the places with a "no pets" policy have no issue with tenants having cats. There is about 1 kind of lease for everyone in the city, which includes crap like being responsible for carpeting 80% of the floor and whatnot, and the lease and reality are completely removed from each other here. Also there is a law that if a landlord is aware of your pet and does nothing to make you relinquish them within a few years, then you get to keep the pet regardless of what the lease says.

I've also lived elsewhere in the country, and while we are always very specific about having cats, we happily sign leases that say "no waterbeds" (which is most of them), and we've had a waterbed in every apartment we've had. Sometimes the landlord or their representative has come in for a repair or something, and no one has ever mentioned it. These have always been hard-sided waterbeds, by the way, too.

So, in contrast with the other folks here, I will say that while it probably could be a problem later on, from my experience it is not likely given that you were up-front about the situation with them and they said they were fine with it.

(Somehow I always imagined you with a turtle... :shrugs: )

-Sean
 
attackturtle-

I understand what a true "grandfather clause" is, and how it works. This is why you should have something in writing. If your reptiles truly fell under a grandfather clause, you wouldn't need anything in writing...pretty much the point of being "grandfatehred in".

What I was trying to get at is that your reptiles have already been there, without issue, and you should get the management company to write an agreement allowing you to keep them.

My point is that it usually doesn't matter, and there usually isn't a problem. However, if a problem ever arises, you haven't a leg to stand on without something in writing...
 
I don't think you have anything to worry about if the woman said it wouldn't be an issue.
Sounds like the management is just using a standard contract without thinking about everything it entails. I'm in property management as well, and I like a contract that asks for way more than I need, because you never know what may come up. For instance, I'd jump on it when the tenant gets a kiddie pool for the pet alligator, but otherwise leave it alone.
Technically everyone that posted here is right, though If your landlord knows and has said she doesn't care, you're probably all right. But asking for some rewriting is looking for trouble in my opinion.
If you're a good tenant and you pay on time and take care of the property, I can assure you they don't want to lose you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top