Affordable, Pet Friendly Apartments in Ossining (Hunter: lease, safe area, tenant)

[starbugster]

I'd like to move to a more pet friendly apartment in 8 months. I have a fairly nice one bedroom apartment on Hunter Street. There are many reasons I'd like to get off this street, it is perpetually trashy, it smells like garbage all the time due to people dumping garbage on the hill in the back (which faces my front door) and my landlord, IFCA, is very picky about sanitation, despite circumstances I can't control (dumping I don't participate in and they don't put any pressure on Village of Ossining to clean up). Landlord wants to do inspections of my apartment often (more than once monthly) due to one incident when one of their workers came into my home, unannounced, and the cat litter wasn't as clean as they wanted it. Since they have called, I clean, and even do a daily vid. of the condition of my apartment. I know, I'm getting paranoid, but they are believing the worst about me due to one incident in 4 months.IFCA also doesn't like that I'm feeding 3 spayed/neutered cats who are keeping other cats out of the area. I told IFCA that I would only feed cats once daily, and pick up food after only one hour daily.

I'm not insensitive to what landlords go through with people who shouldn't have pets in the first place, who don't seem to realize pets aren't toys, but a big responsibility, that all pets should be spayed/neutered, etc.

I think the bottomline is that my landlord just doesn't like cats or pets, and I'll never be truly at ease here.

I'm new to Ossining, as I moved here from out of state 5 months ago. I'm already looking for a new landlord and apartment, studio or one bedroom, for no more than $1350.

Am I asking for a miracle? Any help, I'd greatly appreciate.

[catnip8056]

I realize this post is old- are you still looking? (Because it's not quite 8 months since your post).

Keep checking Craigslist, because I found plenty of pet friendly apartments in Ossining - for cats anyway.

You don't mention how many cats you have...that can very much determine the ease in which you find a place. Most places will allow a maximum of two, but I had zero problems finding potential LL's who were fine with the fact that I had three. $1,350 is what I pay, my place is small but very nice, 1 bedroom, extremely clean, beautiful building and no garbage smell, safe area, my LL is a lovely woman and cats are allowed.

On Craigslist lately I've been seeing ads for apartments studio and 1 bedroom for even less than that. When discussing pets, be prepared to show immunization / spay / neuter records / vet references and discuss how often you clean. They may not ask, but that says "responsible pet owner."

Since when is the LL (or workers) allowed to come in to your apartment without first giving you notice? Unless it is an emergency situation or if the smell of cat feces / urine is so overpowering they suspected hoarding or some other extreme circumstance, they are not allowed to do this.

Like I said, no idea how many cats you have, but I can say with my 3- you would never know I have any by any smell. Do you use enough litter boxes? Scoop the box(es) daily? I use Fresh Step (the clumping, scoopable kind) and that stuff is great. Nature's Miracle is great for removing the smell if there is any problem with kitties going outside the box.

I do not understand why a LL would have such an issue after you were already living there, (since it appears your cats were allowed in the first place when you moved in) - as long as the place is clean.

I recall an apartment I lived in once where a downstairs tenant had 1 cat that peed on the rug. She never cleaned it up fully and that smell was strong enough that I could smell it from my place, so I know how strong that smell can be. But in my opinion, you really have to let it go before it gets like that. If the situation is as you describe, your LL sounds like a real tool and the "inspections" sound excessive and invasive. I assume this is a private landlord? Because with those, you are really playing roulette and can end up renting from some real whackos. I lucked out with my landlady big time.

Edited to add: I am a cat lover and glad that you feed the ferals outside.

[starbugster]

This is a very belated reply. As you can tell, I don't go on City Data very often. Thank you for your reply. I'm very sad to relate that my dear cat companion became very sick and I had to euthanize, just a few weeks ago. I'm still reeling from the pain of her loss.

I didn't move yet, but I will be. definitely this time, when my new lease is up. A new issue has come up with neighbors that have moved in next door, also an IFCA apartment. They do more damage and are more destructive than my cat plus the feral cats (one was hit by car, so now two) times 5; they throw rocks (teens), broke a window, throw trash and don't pick up, and possibly tried to break into another tenant's apt. My cat was persecuted and these hoodlums are getting a tiny slap on their wrists (possibly because grandmother is on the board of IFCA).

Forgive the rant, and thanks again!