My wife and I live in a lovely housing community in Florida. The complex is a owned by a corp and as we know big corps have big rules and policies.
Most recently we have been taking care of my brothers dog during the day, since I work from home I agreed to potty train the new pup. However, our apartment complex is mandated by the city to do regular inspections of the apartments water sprinkler system located in each room. Well, after the last inspection of the "water sprinklers", we received a letter stating we were violating our lease agreement (FLA STATUTES 83.56) by housing a dog in the apartment.
I contacted the front office after receiving the letter and informed them that the dog was only visiting and does not reside with us. They stated that we could not have the dog in the apartment without having a lease agreement for the dog and if was not removed from the premises we would be evicted.
In fear of being evicted with my wife and two-year old daughter, I signed a pet agreement with the complex. However, I continued to do my research on the matter and emailed the corporate office regional director asking if the charges could be reduced, as we only have 4 months left in our lease and we would not be signing a new lease at the end of the term. That was declined. Within the week the dog was removed from the premises.
My issues are: I asked the apartment complex to remove the pet agreement from my lease after reviewing the cost with my wife; we determined it would be less expensive for the pup to go to a dog daycare. The leasing office says that since I agreed to pay the fees (300 security deposit, $250 non refundable, and $15 additional in monthly rent) they could not remove the agreement from my lease. The pup has never stayed overnight with us in the apartment and we agreed to sign the pet agreement out of fear of being evicted. All this has occurred within a week's time. Rent was due at the beginning of this month and I did not include the fees for the pup.
I am worried they will deduct the fees from our security deposit. Is this legal? The dog is no longer in the apartment. How can I legally amend my lease to have this agreement removed from my original lease? Some legislation would be nice to refer to.
- I thought this was America! We should be helping each other through these tough times not suppressing.
Sincerely, Law abiding citizen
Most recently we have been taking care of my brothers dog during the day, since I work from home I agreed to potty train the new pup. However, our apartment complex is mandated by the city to do regular inspections of the apartments water sprinkler system located in each room. Well, after the last inspection of the "water sprinklers", we received a letter stating we were violating our lease agreement (FLA STATUTES 83.56) by housing a dog in the apartment.
I contacted the front office after receiving the letter and informed them that the dog was only visiting and does not reside with us. They stated that we could not have the dog in the apartment without having a lease agreement for the dog and if was not removed from the premises we would be evicted.
In fear of being evicted with my wife and two-year old daughter, I signed a pet agreement with the complex. However, I continued to do my research on the matter and emailed the corporate office regional director asking if the charges could be reduced, as we only have 4 months left in our lease and we would not be signing a new lease at the end of the term. That was declined. Within the week the dog was removed from the premises.
My issues are: I asked the apartment complex to remove the pet agreement from my lease after reviewing the cost with my wife; we determined it would be less expensive for the pup to go to a dog daycare. The leasing office says that since I agreed to pay the fees (300 security deposit, $250 non refundable, and $15 additional in monthly rent) they could not remove the agreement from my lease. The pup has never stayed overnight with us in the apartment and we agreed to sign the pet agreement out of fear of being evicted. All this has occurred within a week's time. Rent was due at the beginning of this month and I did not include the fees for the pup.
I am worried they will deduct the fees from our security deposit. Is this legal? The dog is no longer in the apartment. How can I legally amend my lease to have this agreement removed from my original lease? Some legislation would be nice to refer to.
- I thought this was America! We should be helping each other through these tough times not suppressing.
Sincerely, Law abiding citizen
