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Long story short, our tenants moved in in January. Originally when we interviewed them, they said they had one dog. While signing the lease they mentioned they technically have 4 and asked if they could have 2 permanently but 4 for the first month while they had family members take the other two. Should have said no right there. We have been nice and not said anything til today. Asked about the dog situation and they said family could no longer take the other two. This is where my boyfriend and I disagree. I would have like to of said they had two weeks to get down to two dogs. But he ASKED if they could have it done by May 1st and they said they'll try. He is trying to be a little softer with them than I would want. It is our house and we make the rules, not them. They dont seem like the type of people who are really going to try too hard to have it done by May.
What would you all do? If we decided it is okay to keep them, what is an appropriate amount to increase the rent by a month. Deposit too? The rent is currently 1400. Too much for $200 more a month? These are small dogs either. Its 4 pits....Help!!
Just curious. What background check did you do on these people? Odds are, they have low credit scores as they lie and cheat others. Now you want them to be honest?
You can evict, although if you allow them to go to May, you will be unable to evict. Once you notice a lease violation, you MUST act immediately, or the Court will say you set precedence by allowing it. You may have already lost your chance to evict due to it being three month's now that you were aware of the extra dogs.
You may be able to get a new agreement saying by the May date the dogs will be gone, and then evict due to defaulting on the new agreement.
Good luck. I suspect you are going to be stuck with at least 4 dogs. You cannot just increase the rent mid-lease unless the tenants agree.
What does the house & property look like? What about local laws about how many dogs & what kind?
It is a 4 bedroom house with a huge fenced in yard. Clean and partially updated. No laws about if pits but the city limit is 3 dogs, which was also mentioned to them today.
The lease states two dogs.
I would never terminate the lease because they are pitbulls and they're "dangerous". they are friendly but that is beside the point.
Thanks for the info FIREin2016. Didnt realize about the immediate violation/eviction thing. A full background check was done on all the tenants.
With us being relatively new landlords, I guess you live and learn with all tenants you have.
You can evict, although if you allow them to go to May, you will be unable to evict. Once you notice a lease violation, you MUST act immediately, or the Court will say you set precedence by allowing it. You may have already lost your chance to evict due to it being three month's now that you were aware of the extra dogs.
Yep, and its also covered in NRS:
"NRS 76-1433.
Waiver of landlord's right to terminate.
Acceptance of rent with knowledge of a default by tenant or acceptance of performance by the tenant that varies from the terms of the rental agreement or rules or regulations subsequently adopted by the landlord constitutes a waiver of his right to terminate the rental agreement for that breach, unless otherwise agreed after the breach has occurred."
So the tenants can tell the landlord the four dogs stay and if the landlord accepted rent knowing the violation was present, they accepted the violation as an acceptable practice going forward.
Except that the city limit is 3 dogs. They might permit more than 3 under specific circumstances (like some sort of permit that costs more $, triggers more inspections, etc). Guess who animal control may cite once they are aware there are 4 dogs on the property? One or more of your neighbors may not appreciate them and report. Deal with the extra dogs before the city gets involved. Sounds a little like you've been played...the tenants have always intended to keep all 4 dogs. Your property insurance may allow pits but watch your premium...it might go a lot higher.
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