Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been in my current residence for almost 4 years. I didn't advertize I had a small colubrid collection moving in, but the landlords still knew. The landlady has even been in my place and seen my collection. She's always used this against me when I ask for needed apt. repairs (turtles are on my lease, not snakes).

Now I've given her a thirty day notice (finally got a good opportunity to move) and she's flipped out. To spite me she's demanding I remove the animals or she'll give me a 3 day notice, threatening to call animal control and so on and so forth.

Do I put my animals in a boarding facility or tell the landlady
to piss off?

unless your animals are causing a problem , the animal control agency would have no interest in this or even want to take your animals because if you are not breaking any local or city laws.............I had some very similar events happened in my past life and was threaten with the same ( animal control ) and this is what i was told by them. On the other note...a 3 day conviction doesn't normally stand up in court . In fact I don't know of anyplace in the country that you would have to move in less than 30 days after given a conviction notice for the petty issue of your reptiles, unless they were venomous, not caged ( proof would have to be given ) etc. Gee...it's one of the main topics on Judge Judy and Judge Joe Brown on the teli these days, ( proper conviction notices ). LOL !

Legally there is NOTHING she can do, if she knew about your animals when you moved in then she accepted them by allowing you to move in.
As far as a 3 day notice, thats a bunch of rubbish, I wouldnt tell her to piss off but I would tell her that you are within your rights as a tenant and that she has no reason to penalize you for moving. The worst she can do is keep your deposit, landlords have that power, BUT BEFORE you move clean the place up so it is acceptable to another tenant, take pictures, have a witness come walk through the place when you are out. If you do all this, there is NO WAY she can keep any of your money as long as the place is in as good or better condition than when you rented it. Landlords these days are out to make money, they dont care about laws or tenants rights, they will try to screw you if they can because when you move they still ahve a mortgage to make (usually).
Make sure and tell your landlord you are going to be protecting yourself by doing the above mentioned things, they will usually quiet down once they know that YOU KNOW your rights and how not to get screwed by slumlords.
Good luck
B

If you have a valid lease and your not violating any laws concerning herp ownership in your area I would not cave in to her threats. But I would be cautious and perhaps have a lock on your door that she does not have a key to, otherwise when you are out she could tell the authorities that you have abandonded the animals or some other story and get them taken away etc. it has happened here.

Thanks for all the support people. I haven't heard from her
(the landlady) so maybe she's gotten over the shock that her most stable and steady tenant is leaving and moving on.

If I change the front door lock I would be in violation of the lease, but you do have a good point.

I give private "in home" music lessons so I'm only gone from my home a few hours per day, so I don't think she could convince any authority that I've abandoned the animals. One look at my mockingbird's cage would convince them someone has recently cleaned and fed that animal.

Also seeing my degree from UC Davis (Zoology) along with Herpetological Certificates of Appreciation from the Boy Scout Troop on the wall, should convince animal control I probably know what I'm doing. Of course if the "dog catcher" gets a look at her (my landlady), he just might take her away LOL.

Thanks Again!

I've been on both sides of this issue and here is my opinion:
From the landlords perspective, once you give notice, she is legally allowed to put your residence on the market and show it to prospective tenants. Some prospective tenants may have phobias that would make them not take the apartment if they saw your snakes, and may also imagine fears that there could be escaped snakes still in the residence after you leave. If you live in a small town, this could result in gossip that results in others not wanting to see or rent the apartment. If your landlord spends money and time advertising and showing the apartment to people that are refusing it due to your animals, then she is wasting that time and money. In my opinion, even if you are living up to the letter of the law, you are not living up to the "spirit" of the law. I have been in your situation and have always rented new quarters 60 days in advance of my departure of previous quarters so that I would have the first 30 days to get my animals out and set up in new quarters and still give the landlord the legally required second 30 days notice to show the apartment without any animals in it to cause such problems for the landlord. The additional extra overlapping months rent has always been worth the expense from the standpoint of avoiding such headaches and preserving good relations with the previous landlord which may be needed as a reference in the future. Renters with pets are always at a disadvantage in disputes with landlords and when landlords experience problems resulting from a tenants animals, many decide to not allow future tenants to have animals, thereby decreasing the available housing pool to future tenants with pets. I was once a landlord myself and rented to a fellow herper and experienced exactly these problems as a result.
Ed Stone, WI Herp. Society

This post will be too late if you've received a 3 day eviction notice. Will share my thoughts anyway.

Many cities have strict, but unenforced, ordinances regarding pets. One example I researched was Plano, TX. There is a city ordinance forbidding private ownership of all herps. Period. After reading the law I called animal control and they confirmed my understanding of it. I then called 3 local vets who advertise as herp specialists. Only one of them knew about the law. I called the local PetCo's (there are 2 in Plano). They both sell herps, including boas and pythons. No one at either store had ever heard of the law.

Bottom line? All it takes is one call. A landlord, ex-girlfriend, pissed off neighbor, whatever. Animal control shows up and your herps are gone. This almost never happens, but be aware of the risk.

Regarding your lease: these nearly always have an "integration clause" which says essentially that the entire agreement is in the written lease. This excludes oral understandings from being incorporated into the agreement. Basically, the landlord could say "snakes are fine" but if the written lease says "no animals" then you are in breach. The landlord is a lying SOB, but you are still in breach.

A three day eviction notice allows you to "cure" so if you get rid of the snakes within three days of being served then you can't be evicted (at least for that).

There are other arguments to make: the eviction is unfairly punitive, laches, etc. You'd need a lawyer to make them for you.