Cat in the apartment?

GrabTheCREAM

Im just after signing a lease the other day and I am now reading something I mustve missed at first glance on the lease it states:

the tenant agrees to the landlord:
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"unless the landlord previously approves in writing not to keep any pets in the apartment"
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it doesnt say "to not keep pets in the apt" specifically but starts with "unless" which is putting me off

and this is the only note about pets on the lease. i want to know what this means as i have one cat and she will be moving up with us soon, i dont want to risk asking the landlord in the chance he will kick us out before we move in. thanks

Courtn2

Grammar Nazi Alert!!

if there's a comma between "writing" and "not", I would read that you need to have written permission for the pet, otherwise - not allowed,

i.e.,tenant agrees not to keep....unless....

"unless the landlord previously approves in writing, not to keep any pets in the apartment"

without the comma, I would guess that was the intent, but it could be read otherwise

ForestFire

Possible written badly or missing comma's etc, but.....

"You agree to the landlord, not to keep any pets in the apartment, unless the landlord previously agrees in writing to allow it"

Therefore you are not allowed pets in the apartment at the moment as you have no agreement

miezekatze

You need to ask your landlord for permission before moving the cat in. If they aren't keen, maybe offer to pay a higher deposit in case the cat causes any damage.

GrabTheCREAM

The problem is we've paid the deposit and first month rent already, all I know which could be damaged is a leather couch but it'd be covered and carpets - but she never scratches those.

That's a good idea though, any other suggestions to make my case better?

Baby01032012

Something else to consider...for a lot of apartment blocks it's in the House Rules that animals aren't allowed..so it might not just be the landlord but the management company may not allow it also.

myshirt

Overall op, maybe it is a bad idea to have a cat in an apartment where you can't let them out etc.

Cats really stink the place up. As a landlord you'd be ages trying to get the smell out of the curtains. They scratch the sh!t out of couches even if they have a scratch post, and they don't put one bit of litter into litter boxes, they just sh!te in there.

I have a cat and have rented and didn't tell the landlord . He didn't destroy anything and I had inspections and had the cat in a cat box in my car and the landlord never knew. I also had tenents which had a dog , they never asked me but it didn't bother me once rent was paid and place was left in good condition. However you may not receive such a sound landlord

El_Duderino 09

I've done the same. Had a cat in 3 houses over 4 years and never declared it. Landlords inspected the houses every 3 months and they never suspected anything. The cat was well trained to not leave any evidence by using her scratching post and using her litter tray/the outside toilet.

It can definitely be done, it just takes training. People say cats smell but that's simply not true any more than its true that people smell. A clean house with a trained cat won't smell at all.

MysticMonk

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

I've done the same. Had a cat in 3 houses over 4 years and never declared it. Landlords inspected the houses every 3 months and they never suspected anything. The cat was well trained to not leave any evidence by using her scratching post and using her litter tray/the outside toilet.

It can definitely be done, it just takes training. People say cats smell but that's simply not true any more than its true that people smell. A clean house with a trained cat won't smell at all.

Go way out of that.

If i found somebody was keeping a cat in my rental when i'd forbidden it they'd go out on their ear.

Only cat owners fail to be able to notice the horrible smell of those animals to say nothing of the damage that they do to furniture etc.
I've seen programmes where industrial cleaners had to remove floorboards after years of cat-piss had eaten through the carpet and damaged the wood underneath..the stench was so bad the house was unlivable.

Then there's the small issue of cat-hair allergies..a huge number of people are allergic to cat hair and fluff and it clings to clothes,carpets and furniture causing breathing problems for anybody unlucky enough to be in the same room.

Even a "well-trained" cat litter box reeks to high heaven,nobody should be keeping these creatures in somebody else's house without their knowledge.

El_Duderino 09

MysticMonk wrote:

Go way out of that.

I wont. I'm telling my experience.

MysticMonk wrote:

If i found somebody was keeping a cat in my rental when i'd forbidden it they'd go out on their ear.

Ok

MysticMonk wrote:

Only cat owners fail to be able to notice the horrible smell of those animals to say nothing of the damage that they do to furniture etc. I've seen programmes where industrial cleaners had to remove floorboards after years of cat-piss had eaten through the carpet and damaged the wood underneath..the stench was so bad the house was unlivable.

The cat has to wee outside the litter tray and scratch furniture for that to happen. As I said, I trained my cat's behaviour to live in the house without causing damage.

MysticMonk wrote:

Then there's the small issue of cat-hair allergies..a huge number of people are allergic to cat hair and fluff and it clings to clothes,carpets and furniture causing breathing problems for anybody unlucky enough to be in the same room.

Hoover regularly and thoroughly to remove cat hairs. It's just a matter of adapting your house cleaning habits to the needs of the cat - long hair, short hair and time of year to account for moulting.

MysticMonk wrote:

Even a "well-trained" cat litter box reeks to high heaven,nobody should be keeping these creatures in somebody else's house without their knowledge.

Litter trays don't smell if they're emptied and cleaned twice a week and cleaned with boiling water and detol. The poos smell when they land but you remove them straight away and it's back to normal.

Strikes me that you seem to hang out with dirty people and poor pet owners. My landlords never suspected anything and we got on great with them.

I accept that we shouldn't have done it but no harm no foul.

Ms Doubtfire1

Fully agree with Duderino. A trained cat and well maintained litter tray won't smell at all. OP, if I were you I wouldn't even mention it. You have to be notified of inspections so plenty of time to prepare.

Baby01032012

I love how some posters are advising the OP to break the law...if it contravenes the lease or the block rules it breaks the law...im not sure how any pet owner could expect to be allowed to keep a pet in an apartment.

Cats absolutely stink, the bias by some is hilarious. They shouldn't be inside in the first place never mind in an apartment!

Mickeroo

Don't mind the always funny hysterics of the resident ailurophobes but you really shouldn't move the cat in if it says that on the lease. Better to come clean and say you missed that bit, ask for permission and if they say no look into going somewhere else.

Murrisk

Amiya Rich Washtub wrote: »

Cats absolutely stink, the bias by some is hilarious. They shouldn't be inside in the first place never mind in an apartment!

Cat litter might stink but cats themselves don't. I always know when a dog lives in a house I enter but never a cat unless there is kitty litter in the house.

I'd never keep a pet myself if a landlord forbade it, except maybe a goldfish, wouldn't feel right about deceiving him/her, but the reality is, people do get away with keeping cats and the landlord not finding out. A few of my friends are doing just this currently.

El_Duderino 09

Emmalyn Cold Smokestack wrote:

Cats absolutely stink, the bias by some is hilarious. They shouldn't be inside in the first place never mind in an apartment!

Murrisk wrote:

Cat litter might stink but cats themselves don't. I always know when a dog lives in a house I enter but never a cat unless there is kitty litter in the house.

As murrisk says, cat litter can stink but that's down to the humans to clean it. The house of dirty humans will probably smell of something or other. If dirty people keep a cat its likely that the house will smell of cat.

Some people think it's normal to use underwear for 2/3 days in a row. I'd say those people's houses would be dirty enough without a cat, with a cat it would probably stink. Some people think cat smell is inevitable, I think that tells you more about their attitude to cleaning than anything.

Sleepy

As someone with an allergy to cats, I'd be utterly furious if a tenant kept one in an apartment I owned without permission.

Why buy pets when you can't provide for them? My daughter has been hounding us for a dog for years but we wouldn't even consider it until we owned our own house.

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MysticMonk

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Don't the cats cough the balls of fur up though? I mean it's hardly very clean having balls of cat hair that have been in the cats gizzard blowing about the place.

Ms Doubtfire1

MysticMonk wrote: »

Don't the cats cough the balls of fur up though? I mean it's hardly very clean having balls of cat hair that have been in the cats gizzard blowing about the place.

LOl. you know nothing about cats.If I ever see a cat fur ball blowing around the house I'll let you know - I rest my case.;-)

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MysticMonk

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So you're deflecting from the issue at hand by saying it's the people in the place who stink ,not the cat?

A clear case of obfuscation and bias.

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MysticMonk

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Largely because as semi-domesticated animals they're meant to live outside and crap wherever they want and not in a plastic tray in somebody's house.

Ms Doubtfire1

MysticMonk wrote: »

So you're deflecting from the issue at hand by saying it's the people in the place who stink ,not the cat?

A clear case of obfuscation and bias.

look who's talking lol

pilly

Okay, the OP did not start a discussion on the smell of fcuking cats!

OP you need to ask your LL about the cat for your own peace of mind, you will never be comfortable if you don't.

Some LL's won't have a problem with cats.

CruelCoin

GrabTheCREAM wrote: »

any other suggestions to make my case better?

Sessile rope scratching posts. Argue taht the cat will scratch it in preference to all else, mine does.

I have one in my kitchen, one in the sitting room. Without them, the fluffy terrorist (maine coon, big bastards) would have the place in bits.

MysticMonk

CruelCoin wrote: »

Without them, the fluffy terrorist (maine coon, big bastards) would have the place in bits.

Exactly..cats destroy people's houses and should never be kept indoors,especially in rental accommadation.

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MysticMonk

GrabTheCREAM wrote: »

Im just after signing a lease the other day and I am now reading something I mustve missed at first glance on the lease it states:

the tenant agrees to the landlord:
to___
to___
to___
"unless the landlord previously approves in writing not to keep any pets in the apartment"
to___
to___
to___

it doesnt say "to not keep pets in the apt" specifically but starts with "unless" which is putting me off

and this is the only note about pets on the lease. i want to know what this means as i have one cat and she will be moving up with us soon, i dont want to risk asking the landlord in the chance he will kick us out before we move in. thanks

It means that your cat will not be moving up with you soon as pets are not allowed without permission and as it's a cat you probably wont get permission.

El_Duderino 09

MysticMonk wrote:

Don't the cats cough the balls of fur up though? I mean it's hardly very clean having balls of cat hair that have been in the cats gizzard blowing about the place.

Precisely the same as saying that if babies vomit there must be baby vomit balls blowing around the house. Normally clean people clean up baby vomit quickly. In the 4 years I've had my cat she's vomited less than once a month. You just clean it up quickly and there no problem. If you knock over a glass of milk it would stink in a week once he milk rots. Clean people will clean up the mess. You're experience seems to exclude clean people.

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Exactly that. However cat urine has lots of ammonia which is revolting. If a dirty person gets a cat then the smell of cat urine is likely to be the strongest smell in the house. To be fair it could be a normally clean person who doesn't know how to care for and train a cat.

MysticMonk wrote:

So you're deflecting from the issue at hand by saying it's the people in the place who stink ,not the cat?

Yeah if people don't know how to clean a house with a cat then there might be a problem. Proper hygiene and training with a normal cat will result in absolutely no evidence of a cat living in the house and the landlord is happy out.

The_Conductor

pilly wrote: »

Okay, the OP did not start a discussion on the smell of fcuking cats!

OP you need to ask your LL about the cat for your own peace of mind, you will never be comfortable if you don't.

Some LL's won't have a problem with cats.

Pilly has it in a nutshell.

OP- ask your landlord- he will either say 'yay' or 'nay'.
As it may be governed by a Management Company rule- it may be out of his hands anyway.

Either way- ask- and abide by whatever the landlord says.

Everyone else- if you want to discuss cats, scratching posts, litter trays, fur balls- or any other cat related issues- there are a number of appropriate venues on this site to do so- the accommodation and property forum, is not one of them.

Thread closed.