Well, fish, frogs and reptiles are NOT plants, are they?

Yes, you can get in trouble because you are violating the terms of the lease.

I'm not exactly sure how the management in your apartment is, but in mine, the weight of a dog is limited to under 30 pounds and a limit of one cat or dog. I didn't know there were limits to how many pets until I was signing the lease.

I have three cats. I'm one of those old ladies in a retirement or Senior Citizen Project. At any rate, when I spoke to them on the phone prior to even seeing the apartment, I told them I had three cats. They made no mention of a limit.

When they showed me the apartment,again I spoke about my three cats. They are my life, I talk about them all the time. When it came time to fill out the lease papers, there was a place to write in the condition of walls, doors, apliances, etc. Also a place for how many pets, what kind, male, female, etc. I put in three cats.The same as I did on the application to begin with.

I couldn't see any point in lying, because I would NEVER have taken the apartment if it wouldn't let me have my cats. In the event there was trouble down the road, I kept copies of my application and of course the lease to prove I never lied. So hopefully, I won't have any problems.

So I guess it's up to you, weather or not you go to management about your pets. I don't know if I could stand it, to worry all the time that they 'might find out'. I guess if it were me, I'd have to do it right away, so if it were not permitted at all, I'd find some other alternative in houseing.

You must have known it wasn't allowed before you moved in, didn't you? I just wonder why you didn't confront the issue before you signed? Honesty is the best policy, all the way around.

LCW

"or other animals" means reptiles. Fish, frogs, and reptiles are forbidden by your lease. Is it possible taht tenants can get board permission for them.

you're in a co-op, right, Angelo? I am, too, and every single animal in our 10-unit building must be approved by the board. The pets are ALL forbidden, unless you get approval from the board. So, we get approval from the board. No one's asked for an animal that's been refused (though no one's asked for a dog or a snake).

Is it possible that individual pets CAN be approved, and that's why your neighbor has a cat?

Are you an owner, or are you subletting? That will change how much opportunity you have to get approval for your pets. If you're subletting, you may not have much goodwill to get an approval.

How big is your building--how many voters, and how many board members? You might ask around quietly w/ other owners to see what sort of vote you might expect if you brought the issue of your pets up before the board.

Ask the lady who has a cat (slip a note in her mailbox) if she got permission, if she knows whether anyone else has gotten permission, etc.

You might find that the approval is mostly a formality, and the board is only really picky about dogs. I know if our building, we wouldn't care if you had a lizard or a frog, but we might care about a snake, since we wouldn't want to find that in our apartments, if it got out. Maybe you could convince us that your set-up was so good, your snake wouldn't be able to get out.

And as for fish, our biggest concern would be, is the tank likely to leak? So we might want to limit you to a 10- or 25-gallon tank (or a pair of them) instead of a 50-gallong, so that if it DOES get knocked over, or whatever, the damage will be smaller.

W/ a co-op, you might have freedoms a renter doesn't, because if your pet pees on YOUR rug, YOU deal w/ it, not the building. A landlord has a bigger problem, because it's HIS rug. W/ co-ops, sometimes all the matters is that whatever you get, doesn't affect life outside your unit.

There are three major categories out there: animal, vegetable, or mineral. Unless you have a pet rock, I assume your pet is an animal.

That said, as a landlord who strictly forbids pets, I might make an allowance for some fish (with a maximum size to the aquarium stated in the pet agreement, size being a weight/water damage issue). I'd still ban birds (loud and often stinky) and reptiles (creepy).

Acutally, all the places I've ever lived in have had that clause, and whenever we asked them they all said no problem (this was for 15 gal fish tank) Our first landlord even overlooked the clause for our box turtle. It's usually an noise/allergen/damage issue, and, except in the incidence of (knock on wood) a tank break, reptiles/fish don't any of those.

You could bring it up by saying something like, "Oh, I think tropical fish are very beautiful, and would like to someday set up a reef aquarium...what is your policy on aquariums?" ( I suggeted tropical fish because some people find them less creepy than reptiles, and you could probably gauge what the reaction would be to your current menagerie by the landlord's reaction to this question.)

I think its terrible landlords don't allow pets, or worse mudalate pets to fit them better in their places- cats and de clawing for example soft paws are the answer on that one..

I think you should talk with your landlord over the fish idea, and your cats, if he orders de clawing on the cats, leave the cats your parents house, your old home, or re home them.

As far as the reptiles go, if the lease says no animals I would think they would not be allowed. Even though they are not making a mess or roaming the apartment, there is always a chance that they could get out of their cage and depending on the kind of reptiles, they could get in the plumbing, get out into the hallway and into someone else's apartment. Who knows, with how little some of those reptiles are, anything is possible and that presents a big problem. i am not big on reptiles at all and if I found a frog, lizard or snake in my apartment you better believe I would flip out and my landlord would have an ear full. The fish I dont think they would be a big deal because they really cant get out of their cage.

Runswalken - I think the cat issue goes beyond using Soft Paws (which not every tenant would use in any case). It's about 'accidents' where carpets get ruined and urine smells never really go away, enzyme cleaners or not. I have cats (always have) and would just never put either of us in a position where anyone could have a case (luckily it's been a long time since I rented), but I've also had doggie problems, not so much about accidents, but about barking and prodigious shedding!

When cats are young (adults- not kittens) and are well trained to scratching posts they don't really cause "damage", if you have a wood floor- it solves that issue of carpet mess.

They might barf every now and then but if you have a wood floor and are responsible with cleaning up it shouldn't be an issue.

Wood floors don't solve the issue with cats. Cats with needle sharp claws can damage wood floors. Worst of all if wood floors soak up cat urine the smell will NEVER come out and the floor boards have to be replaced. Cat vomit is acidic and can damage varnish. And you can't "clean it up right away if you are out or at work/school all day. The whole issue that landlords have is that a great many pet owners are not responsible and there is no way to predict ahead of time who those ones are.

Anyway, the issue for Angelo is not cats but reptiles. He moved into an apartment knowing that animals were not allowed and hid the fact that he has them. Now he is worried about getting caught and possibley evicted or having to find new homes for expensive exotics. Hindsight is forsight.

Angelo, how long did you intend to stay at the apartment? Is this place just "for the school year" or "until you find something better" in a new city that you moved to, or were you planning on living there for years/decades? Do you always want to be living in fear from day to day that you will be found out? I would tell them that you are "thinking about getting a caged reptile" and see what there answer is. If they freak out, proceed from that point with that knowledge. If they say it's OK, get it in writing.

Well, at least fish and reptiles don't bark! You have a chance of sneaking them by. Just be prepared that you may have to pay a fine or get rid of them if you're caught.

I don't see what the big deal would be for you to keep reptiles & frogs since they're in a locked fish tank, but if it were me, I would be afraid of getting caught. Like LCW1947 said above, she would never move to a place where she wasn't allowed to have her pets & honesty is always the best policy in a case like that. On the other hand, your pets are in a fish tank so it's not like they're running around destroying the property. They would also be easy enough to hide if you ever needed to...

Obviously you've signed in the contract of lease and there is no way that the owner will not call your attention regarding the matter. Don't wait for that time do what you think is best for your pets. Although they're not harming people in the area you still violated the contract policies and agreement. Start looking for place where you can freely put your pets and no need for hiding.