Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New Jersey

Re: no pets law

Well, I admire your gift for brevity but your question does require that I do the math and when adding your subject line I assume you mean can an association make a rule banning people fom having pets.

The Courts have almost uniformly invalidated such a rule insofar as it applies to pets people have at the time the rule is adopted. A rule prohibiting any new pets would not be viewed kindly either but since it can only apply to "common areas" a Judge will look at the reason for the rule, how broad it is and so on. Obviously no one can forbid you to have a parakeet or a goldfish in your oown condo and I suppose some cats that never go outside woud be beyond such a rule as well.

I once had a client who consulted me because she had not read the Asociation Bylaws and Rules and Regulations before buying a unit in the interior of the development so she had to carry her 40 lb dog over 100 yards to reach a "non-common" area every time it HAD to go outside.

These are cases in which the majority doesn't necessarily get its way if it comes down to a court battle but reasonable regulations regarding pets such as "curbing" them and not letting them run loose are in effect just about anyplace you go.

Re: no pets law

DALE HAS PRESENTED A COGENT STATEMENT, AND THE ANSWER DEPENDS UPON ADDITIONAL FACTORS SUCH A TYPE OF ANIMAL, ITS SIZE AND WEIGHT, ITS FEROCITY, ITS TOILET NEEDS, POTENTIAL ODORS, THE SHOTS IT MIGHT REQUIRE, AND SIMILAR QUESTIONS. WHILE YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO MAINTAIN YOUR PET (WHICH YOU DO NOT DESCRIBE), THERE ARE HEALTH AND SAFETY ISSUES THAT ALSO NEED TO BE ADDRESSED. YOU HAVE NOT PROVIDED THE RULES AND REGULATIONS, ANY INFORMATION OF THE TYPE OF PET, INFORMATION ON WHETHER OTHER RESIDENTS HAVE SIMILAR PETS, ETC.