I have a Lease Question (leasing, month-to-month, house)

[jkl1739]

I am a renter and I cannot find the answer to my question. I have lived in my rental house for seven (7) years. The first year that I moved into the house I had pet rabbit. The "owner" (the Lessor is a LLC with a managing partner) gave oral (yes I hear the sighs) permission for the rabbit as it (the rabbit) came with a cage. The lease stated any pets over 25lbs were to pay a pet deposit. My rabbit weighed 6lbs.

In the ensuing years, I have not signed any more leases due to sloppy bookkeeping on their part. I am not sure of the date when the last lease was signed. This company is out of town as well, making all communication via e-mail (meaning I do no get copies of the lease except for the very first one).

Herein lies the problem: I asked for the my house to sprayed for bugs as was done last year. Last year I had to remove the rabbit for a few hours.
The answer I received was no pets are allowed per your lease. Remove your pets or risk eviction.

I was sent a copy of the "new" lease which does not allow pets at all. Meanwhile, there are other residents that live here that have dogs and cats, and have had these animals for over 3 years.

What are my rights?

[palmetto75]

The verbal permission would be hard to prove if your original lease says no pets on it.

However, that really is beside the point. Since you have not signed a lease since the first you are now most likely in a month to month lease unless there is some sort of other provision in your lease. If it is now month to month and they are asking you to sign a new lease w/o pets you basically can sign it and get rid of the pet or choose not to and move.

[spankys bbq]

In this case, the management company can evict you for the rabbit. An oral agreement is usually always trumped by a written one. Or you could go over the company's head and ask the owner directly. It might work.

Don't concern yourself with others' pets or situations. They may have paid the deposit or worked something out in the beginning. Or they may be getting the same letter saying the pet goes or you go.

[jkl1739]

One reason I concern myself with others' pets is that two other renters' have pets. The management company(the wife) uses their family; i.e. mother, step father, cousins and who knows what else as maintenance and bookkeeping here in the south and on the property. The two other renters' are family that have the pets. One of the family members, I have had to call animal control as she has two very large dogs that she lets out and lets run loose when they need to relieve themselves.(This is a whole other problem). I have lived here longer than she has. She tells the police that she is the owner!

[BlondeLocks]

So this is a whole house? I would suggest you keep better records of your leasing documents. Second your lease should be signed yearly unless stated otherwise in the initial lease, not when they feel the need to issue a new one. Also since this seems pretty shady, I would read the whole lease and the fine print before you re-sign anything.

As it stands now, your verbal agreement doesn't count for anything. If the new lease clearly states no pets, then that's what they have decided and have the right to do. From what I see you have no recourse here, you can either abide by the new terms or move.

[jkl1739]

This is a house. Get this: The Deputy Tax Collector came by yesterday with a piece of paper informing renters' to pay the Tax Collectors Office instead of the management office as the they are being garnished. Hopefully this means that I will not be evicted anytime soon...Yes, I asked for ID and I called the Tax Collector Office, to make sure that this was not a scam!

[jkl1739]

Management informed me that:
Some renters have paid an extra non-refundable deposit to have their lease amended to include pets. I did not see this amendment on your lease.
Hmmm. Why would management tell me, get rid of rabbits or risk eviction, rather than giving me the option of paying a non-refundable pet deposit as offered to other renters?

[vmaxnc]

Whatever you have on paper is what you're working with. Everything else is irrelevant if you want to take this to court. How far are you willing to take this over rabbits?

It does sound like your situation is very shaky, so I'd be looking for an easily implemented Plan B. If you as a renter are being approached for back taxes, the end could be near.

[pink caddy]

Originally Posted by jkl1739

Management informed me that:
Some renters have paid an extra non-refundable deposit to have their lease amended to include pets. I did not see this amendment on your lease.
Hmmm. Why would management tell me, get rid of rabbits or risk eviction, rather than giving me the option of paying a non-refundable pet deposit as offered to other renters?

What ever made you think all landlords are smart? Some LL cannot multiply :
y (rent per month lost) x 12 months per year = a lot of money vs. getting a $400 non refundable pet deposit + you monthly rentl = $$$$$ in LL pocket.

[spankys bbq]

Unless the tax collector had my personal information, I would tell them to pound sand. It may be for real, but it sounds like a scam to me.

As far as the end being near, if the tax collector is knocking on your door, go ahead and be ready to find a new place to go. Better yet, go ahead and give your notice and go. If you're not under a written annual lease, you are most likely on a month-to-month lease, and I can't think of a single magistrate that will side with the owner in this case. If you get that witch Pope, she will probably automatically side with you as a tenant.