Dog Owner Suspicious of Unusual 'No Pets' Policy

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By Robert Griswold

Question: I recently received a little dog for my birthday. I took the dog with no worries, thinking it was OK since my apartment neighbor has two small dogs and also breeds them, and sometimes has four or more dogs for several months. Those dogs bark and follow you every time you walk by. My dog is always on a leash and never barks when someone walks by.

Now, the owner wants me to get rid of my dog. I never realized there was a "no pets" line in our lease. When I spoke to the landlord about it, she said that the tenant with the dogs moved in a while ago when there was a different owner so his lease is different from my lease. Is that fair to other tenants not to be able to have pets when another tenant breeds dogs in his apartment? Can tenants have different rules on pets?

Tenants' attorney Kellman replies:

A landlord is allowed to put language in the lease that limits or prohibits the keeping of pets. Although pet owners do not enjoy special protection (such as for race or religion etc.), the law does prohibit arbitrary and capricious discrimination against tenants for most any reason.

Here, the old leases differ from the new ones in that the new ones prohibit pets, while the old ones do not. If the landlord has made a business decision to limit pets, it is reasonable to phase out the old leases and replace them with new ones, thus employing a new no-pet rule. The landlord must be vigilant and be sure to change each old lease as it expires. If the old leases are month to month, they should be all changed at pretty much the same time with the proper legal notice. Tenants who keep animals for medical service reasons (i.e., a visual guide dog) are not subject to a no-pet rule because service animals are not "pets." Tenants can still object to a change in the pet policy based on any representations made to them by the landlord about allowing pets as inducements to move into or to stay at the apartments rather than live somewhere else.