Hello BBI, I come to you in need of help. A family friend of mine that I know almost 30 years (I'm only 32, so that should tell you something) is in a pickle. She lived in a building for almost 30 years and had a dog for the last 9 or 10. The landlord doesn't allow dogs but she was a quiet dog that they hid from him. It's a tiny Pekingese that doesn't cause any trouble or even bark.
Unfortunately, he found out about the dog recently and is threatening to get a lawyer and evict her if she doesn't get rid of the dog. My neighbor is about 60, her husband, unfortunately, a few years suffered a heart attack which resulted in brain damage. She's taking care of him by herself mostly and lives alone with the dog. It's breaking my heart that he's forcing her to get rid of the dog.
Also, he's had other tenants have dogs (his son did, the super did) and he rationalized it as "it lived there a long time". As opposed to what, 9 or 10 years? Her idea is to go to a psychiatrist and get a note that it's a support dog that helps her heal from what happened to her husband. Could that work? Does anyone know if she has any legal recourse? Thank you so much for your help!
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Thanks, considering how strict NYC is with airbnb, I wonder if the laws are favorable. Though maybe that's a big stretch.
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With a try. Hard to know about the legal aspects without seeing the lease. The landlord tenant courts can be friendly to tenants depending on the state so you can always try and plead your case there.
Thanks, considering how strict NYC is with airbnb, I wonder if the laws are favorable. Though maybe that's a big stretch.
In general NYC courts are very tenant friendly but I don’t know about pets.
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In comment 14468619 BillT said:
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With a try. Hard to know about the legal aspects without seeing the lease. The landlord tenant courts can be friendly to tenants depending on the state so you can always try and plead your case there.
Thanks, considering how strict NYC is with airbnb, I wonder if the laws are favorable. Though maybe that's a big stretch.
In general NYC courts are very tenant friendly but I don’t know about pets.
Thanks for the tip.
If the dog is at least 9 or 10 years old it will probably die before it gets adjudicated.
I say this not to be flippant, but as a dog person, someone who would rather be around dogs than most people, but reality is most dogs aren't going to live much longer than that. Without knowing the breed, average life expectancy for dogs in general is 10 - 12 years.
She can try the emotional support dog thing, worst case to buy some time.
you can't discriminate against a person with a support animal. You can register it on-line and you can even get a doctors note for a plane or apartment.
Seems shady to do it that way but worth a shot.
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With a try. Hard to know about the legal aspects without seeing the lease. The landlord tenant courts can be friendly to tenants depending on the state so you can always try and plead your case there.
you can't discriminate against a person with a support animal. You can register it on-line and you can even get a doctors note for a plane or apartment.
Seems shady to do it that way but worth a shot.
Not sure if it's shady, the dog is an important part of her well-being.
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Thank you!
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In comment 14468619 BillT said:
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With a try. Hard to know about the legal aspects without seeing the lease. The landlord tenant courts can be friendly to tenants depending on the state so you can always try and plead your case there.
you can't discriminate against a person with a support animal. You can register it on-line and you can even get a doctors note for a plane or apartment.
Seems shady to do it that way but worth a shot.
Not sure if it's shady, the dog is an important part of her well-being.
Then she should have rented an apt that allowed dogs. If you get a dog when you know it's against the lease, I have zero sympathy. Especially stupid when you have longterm apt where the landlord is probably dying to get you out so he can rerent at a much higher price.
It is possible those other tenants were allowed pets due to their leases (with a possibly higher security deposit or pef fee). I don't think it's uncommon to have customized leases for individual tenants. I know every lease I ever had was altered based on negotiations.
It isn't like this is a new rule - the woman knowingly has a dog and actively has hid it.
I'm with the landlord on this.
Also, yes other people might have had customized leases that allowed them to have dogs but if that's the case it was based on nepotism (son of the landlord, super). Furthermore that wasn't the landlord's response when asked why he allowed them to have dogs it was "they lived here a long time". And this dog has lived there a long time too!
I guess I just don't understand the way of thinking of not questioning rules ever. Not to go nuclear here but it's a variation from "it was my duty" argument that has caused a lot of evil in this world. Blindly following rules is what robots and animals do. Now as I said if it was a big dog causing problems it's a different story.
It is a matter of proactively disobeying the rules. It isn't like the woman challenged the rules before signing a lease. She bought a dog and hid it.
It isn't like we have some nefarious landlord - we actually have a deceitful tenant.
Not sure what a Libertarian take has to do with that, or the red herring of rules being too authoritative.
It is a matter of proactively disobeying the rules. It isn't like the woman challenged the rules before signing a lease. She bought a dog and hid it.
It isn't like we have some nefarious landlord - we actually have a deceitful tenant.
Not sure what a Libertarian take has to do with that, or the red herring of rules being too authoritative.
My point is it didn't violate the spirit of the rules. Literally, as far as I know the nothing material would have changed to the landlord if the dog didn't live there in the last 10 years. And as I said, others have broken the rules and "different lease" is just conjecture and NOT what the landlord sited when questioned. More likely nepotism.
And I'm pretty sure a rule saying no dogs is broken "in spirit" of having a dog.
But yeah, this sounds like a situation that if followed could lead to widespread oppression and an authoritarian state....
Dogs and Cats will pollute the house with allergens too - people with sensitivities may not notice when they move into their rental, but a couple of months later, they'll be venting the hell out of the place and deep-cleaning floorboards trying to get the dander out.
And like xmeadow stated, it's not just barking or the inherent danger to others that's at issue. Dogs can piss/shit and generally destroy the apts. That's why apts that allow dogs typically charge an extra pet fee which is likely used for a thorough cleaning of the place after the tenant leaves.
Plus, those allergic to dogs may choose that apt complex because of their No Pets policy, but because they lady knowingly ignored the rule they now have to put up with dog fur in any common areas the dog goes.
My wife's not overly allergic to dogs, so this was a surprise to us.
And it highlighted how that shit stays behind, buried deep in floorboards.