Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maryland
Harrassed about known pet in apartment.
We live in a large apt.complex in Md. We have a 2 bedroom that houses 2 adults, 1 toddler and 1 dog. We have lived here for 2 years on an original 1 year lease. We live next to the rental office and it was known from the beginning that we had a 5lb yorkie terrier. Our next door neighbor has a cat, upstairs there is a big black dog. Next building over has an assortment of dogs and cats all very visable to the rental office. My point being that the complex houses many domestic animals. For the last month we have been harrassed by mail about our dog."You have 7 days to get rid of the dog or you can vacate the premises in 30 days". We have asked 3 other animal owners and they have not received any letters and when we called the owner, he keeps saying that the rental office has not been keeping up with the problem.??That's why we moved here, because we saw all the pets.It never dawned on us that pets were not allowed for certain people.We have a standard lease that states the owner must give written permission, after 2 years??????. Do we have to move? Can they do this to us? And the owner keeps telling us that letters are being sent to everyone.Not true. Please help us!!!Thanks.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Harrassed about known pet in apartment.
You should have followed the lease requirements when you first moved in and applied for permission. Since there are a number of other pets in the complex, it may well have been given to you. Now you will have to rely on the fact that the landlord knows you've had your dog for 2 years without challenging you. If he files an eviction action, you argue to the judge that he should be "equitably estopped" from enforcing this provision of the lease by his sitting on his rights for so long, and you have relied to your detriment on his doing so. It might work if get a sympathetic judge and can show that the rule is not consistently enforced. However, you should also remember that you are now on a month to month lease, so the landlord can evict you with 30 days notice for any reason--just as you can move out anytime with notice. Thus, you might win the battle but lose the war.
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