Landlord/Pet Issues (apartment complex, lease, tenant, evict)

[kayleeshae12]

Hello! My husband and I recently signed a year lease on an apartment in Louisville, KY. I was very excited to start renting here, especially since our old apartment had a strict no pets policy and this one was marketed as pet friendly. The only stipulations listed on the apartment website is that the pet must be under 40 pounds and that there would be a pet fee and pet rent applicable. My husband and I moved into a unit (with new carpeting) and signed the lease. The lease mentioned NOTHING about pets at all, and looking back I should have asked more about that, but at the time neither of us thought much of it.

Fast forward a couple weeks, and my husband and I are looking at our options concerning adopting a pet. We contact the landlord to get her express permission, and we are told that she very much prefers us *not* to get a pet and that if she had known we wanted a pet, she would have put us in a unit without new carpeting. She insists that if the animal has even one accident on the carpet, we will be responsible for complete carpet replacement cost. I've spoken to at least one other previous tenant who said that she charged them for the carpet replacement due to "dog urine smell". She also said that if we decided to adopt a dog, she needed to pre-approve the breed and that we would have to sign an additional lease or addendum to the lease concerning pets (apparently pet regulations were not included in our lease because we didn't have pets at the time of signing).

So, my question(s) is/are multifaceted.
1) Is this legitimate? It seems to me that she is backing us into a corner with the carpeting because she doesn't want to risk pet damage, even though the apartment complex is marketed as friendly to pets.
2) Since our lease said absolutely nothing about pets, can she actually make us sign an addendum or another lease if we get a pet after we already agreed to the rental contract upon moving in?
3) Can landlords actually prove a pet "smell"?

We are very new to renting and just feel a little slighted and are pretty confused by the rules.

Edit: I really do understand the desire to keep new carpeting clean, and would very much understand being responsible for replacement if my pet tore up the carpet and used the bathroom on it often, but our lease said nothing about this and I'm unsure why she expected us to tell her beforehand if we were considering, at any point, getting a pet.

[Zippyman]

Would you knowingly rent an apartment with pet "accident" history? a pet-owner would probably say "yes", but a non pet-owner would likely say heck no. Hence, many landlords have "pet friendly" units, and "no pets, ever" units.

This is legitimate, and the landlord can refuse to allow the pet, they can jack the rent because of the pet, and they can evict you for getting a pet if you do it without permission.

As for a smell, I'd suspect the landlord has a carpet guy who would affirm the presence of a "smell" pretty easily, in exchange for the sale of new carpet.

[reenzz]

When the lease is silent on an issue, the law governs, and there is no law that requires a landlord to allow pets on his property.

[Katie1]

Why don't you get a House Trained dog? LOTS of Rescues Foster dogs so they can Train them. Purebred & Mix. Carpets not the only thing you need to worry about. How much time are you home to take the dog for walks? Dog Parks for Full out running exercise? Tired dogs don't get into too much trouble.

[MigratingCoconut]

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Yes

Pet fees per pet, rent increases per pet, pet deposits for each pet, expect this.

That is how it works, and it is legitimate. No slighting happened, no deceit happened on the landlords part. You probably should have said to the landlord before hand that you saw this was a pet friendly building, and you wanted to make use of that.

Pets must be on a lease. Every pet, of all types. It's good for both parties.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I'm feeling very little sympathy. You represented yourself as being a non-pet family and so you were put into a non-pet unit.

If you had put onto your application that you hoped to get a dog as soon as you moved in, you would have been put into the pet section of the building.

No matter. If your dog damages the carpet, pet unit or not, you are going to pay to replace the carpet. Carpet replacement costs are prorated, but if you damage brand new carpet, you are going to pay for all of the replacement, including sealing or replacing the sub floor, if that is needed.

Yes, of course, landlords can prove a pet smell. The carpet cleaner will put it onto the bill that he treated for pet odor. The landlord will take pictures of the carpet backing and the stain on the sub floor, and the carpet installer will put it onto the bill that carpet that he removed and threw away smelled.

[aslowdodge]

when you signed the lease you saw no mention of pets, yet you were aware of pet fees.
When you applied did you list a pet?
Some people are very sensitive to pet smells so it makes sense to have pet apartments separate. If you rendered the unit unrentable to a non pet tenant because of the odors then that is a financial hit to the landlord.

[bentlebee]

Yes pet smells can be proven. We took a piece of carpet to the court house and the judge sided with us about the pet smell.