Tenant did not disclose pets

[Sunny A.]

How would you deal with this situation:

My tenant did not have pets when they signed the lease for a unit in MF building recently when I was there for some work I noticed they were keeping a cat.

My lease says"No Pets". 

Now, I am not completely opposed to allowing pets but tenants should have discussed this and got permission to have a pet probably I would have allowed with pet fee. 

At this point, I am planning to ask them to pay for the pet fee for the entire duration of their lease or vacate as it is a breach of contract.

[Jeremy Horton]

I had this happen with one of my units...

Options were essentially to demand the non-refundable pet deposit or evict the tenant over a small pet

Look - evictions cost me time and money. I don't believe the cat/small dog is that destructive (if it is, I'll keep the security deposit anyway). 

For me it's one of those "choose your battles" kinds of things. Honestly (1) I don't care that much (2) I have bigger things to worry about (3) the tenant is happy and paying on time with their pet - why create a bigger issue (4) likely cheaper to allow to tenant to stay with the pet than to face eviction costs + vacancy + immediate turnover 

Unless it is a big dog, disruptive, causing damage that is noticed during a routine inspection, high risk breed or something like that - I'd let it slide