No mention of pets in lease

[dlman91]

Hi, I live in Pennsylvania and have a dilemma. I have been in my apartment for about a year, and recently my wife and I wanted to purchase a dog. I checked my lease and there is no mention of pets whatsoever, not one word. Since there was none, I went ahead and bought a dog.

About 2 weeks later, the landlord calls us and says that we are not permitted to have dogs or cats in our apartment. I want to keep my dog, so am I able to since there is no mention of anything in the lease?

The option of moving out was discussed as well, but our lease just automatically renewed for another year last month and it says there is no way out of it.

Can I keep my dog and ignore my landlord?

 

[johnd]

Can I keep my dog and ignore my landlord?

Yeah. And you may be out of your apt. the hard way sooner than you like.

Even if the lease is silent about pets, most leases (and common law permits...w/i REASON) contain a clause that permits the LL to amend as necessary for things such as this. Much like if you were to install a pool in the back, and the lease was silent about that. Pets...pools...both reasonable inclusions/exclusions/amendments.

 

[dlman91]

well, then I would probably want to move out of my place, unfortunately it just renewed at the beginning of November. I'm sure there's not an easy way to get out of it either.

 

[johnd]

It will probably cost you something. It's not a service dog, is it?

 

[nextwife]

Good Grief. Why would you not FIRST have obtained written verification that having a dog was OK PRIOR to adopting your dog? Taking on a dog should be a lifetime commitment to that pe - therefore one should make sure of permanence of the situation BEFORE proceeding.

 

[dlman91]

no it's not a service dog. The reason I thought it was no problem was that the landlord's daughter lives across from us and she has a dog. I know that was dumb to assume, but once I saw it wasn't in the lease, I figured there was no problem.