All Forum Posts by: Tyler N.

Looks like John is right again. To keep things civil, we ended up wanting to give them an option "Quit or Cure". Plus their lease is up at the end of June, and this way, we are more likely to avoid costly eviction proceedings. Way too much time spent on this, but oh well. Learned a lot. Made the note less aggressive too, hoping they will comply.

Here is how the final note read for anyone interested:

Late Sunday evening, {renter} informed us you guys have and intend to keep a puppy/dog at the house/property.

Simply put, this is not allowed and breaches our lease agreement. We have had no conversations of a new puppy dog and will not allow it for several reasons including property damage, breed/pet aggressions (insurance), and other.

Going forward, there are 2 options:

1. Need to find the dog a new home no later than the end of the day Friday March 16, 2012 (5:00 PM).

2. Need to find a new home for everyone by the end of the month. Property to be cleaned and vacated no later than Tuesday March 31st, 9:00AM. We will make arrangements to collect all keys no later than March 31st, 9:00 AM.

Please let us know what you decide as soon as possible.

In legal terms, if you have not cured the breach by removing the dog from the property by Friday March 16, 2012 (5:00 PM), we will formally terminate the lease pursuant to Paragraph 22 (iii) of the Lease agreement effective March 31, 2012.

Sincerely, we are happy for your family, but simply put, pets can bring a lot of damage and liability for property owners. It is simply a risk we are not able to take. We wish you guys would have talked to us about this before taking such an action.

We have emailed a copy of your lease to [renter's] email account for review.

Thank you in advance your understanding and cooperation.

Kind regards,

Thanks again,

Our lease is for 1 year (expiring June 30, 2012). They began renting from a previous owner, and we resigned with them when we bought the house.

The attorney is reviewing my letter today. Not sure if the 7 days is too strict as well. However, from the lease, it reads,
"Breach of Lease: In the event of Tenant' breach of any term of this lease, Owner may pursue all remedies available at law, including but not limited to the following:

(ii) demand in writing that Tenant immediately or some specific future date, surrender the Premise to Owner and if Tenant fails to do so, Owner may bring an eviction action.

Regarding Brian's 'Quit or Cure' comment above, I'm hoping this letter to serve the "Quit" not interested in "curing".

I understand it is sucky to live in one your rental units, believe me I understand. Like I said, we are starting off landlords, and this is just for the short term. Ideally buying a single family for ourselves this summer.

Thanks again for all comments and insight.

Thanks Just, that was a big concern of ours. We are having our attorney review tomorrow.

Thank you Joel, I appreciate your insight.

I would like to communicate again, I am not interested in remedying the problem. We would like to call them on the fact they have breached their lease, and ask them to move prior to anything that will cause severe headache (i.e. calling animal control on them-- these are upstairs tenants).

I appreciated your advice to :

"give the notice and NOT wait a week....
If you don't do this and the dog bites someone an attorney will have a field day with you saying you didn't give an immediate notice to get the tenant and dog out and because of that their clients child was bitten and tramatized."

I am planning to send a version of the letter posted tomorrow AM for attorney review.

Still planning to give them 7 days notices prior to eviction to avoid costly processes and again, headaches.

Just looked into further, 'quit or cure' is not required prior to eviction in my state.

Thank you John and Greg,

We are not interested in them remedying the problem. There has been occurrence after occurrence with these renters, so would prefer to stick to to item II of the Breach.

Though your insight makes me wonder if we could get into trouble for not offering such a "quit or cure" option.

Thanks, and more insight is appreciated.

Hello Bigger Pockets Community. Thank you in advance for your insight and discussion.

We are beginning Landlords and living in one of our investment properties (duplex). Our upstairs tenants decided to buy and bring home a baby pit bull.

They informed us about this last night, (coincidently my birthday). The baby pit is currently learning potty training on our wood floors upstairs.

Our current signed lease specifically mandates “Pets are not allowed” .
Under section 22 “Breach of Lease: In the event of Tenant’ breach of any term of this lease, Owner may pursue all remedies available at law, including but not limited to the following:

(ii) demand in writing that Tenant immediately or some specific future date, surrender the Premise to Owner and if Tenant fails to do so, Owner may bring an eviction action.

We would like to give them 1 week to vacate the premise, following eviction if necessary. Is this reasonable?

I know we should consult an attorney, but had crazy days at work, and feel we need to email and get letters posted by first thing in the morning.

We live in Minnesota, a consumer protection state.

Any insight by RE attorneys greatly appreciated.

My letter currently reads as follows:

Dear [Tenant]:

Last night, [Tenant] informed us you guys have and intend to keep a puppy/dog at the house/property.

Simply put, this is not allowed and breaches our lease agreement. We have had no conversations of a new puppy dog and will not allow it for several reasons including property damage, breed/pet aggressions (can increase our insurance and liability), and other.

Consequently, we are formally requiring you to vacate the premise within 7 days (property to be cleaned and vacated no later than Tuesday (March 20th, 9:00AM). On Tuesday, March 20th at 9:00 AM, we will plan to meet you outside the front door of your unit for a final walk-through and for the keys.

If the premise is still in use past Tuesday March 20th 9:00 AM, eviction proceedings will immediately begin. Our attorney will be handling this process, and please be advised fines of up to $100 per day may be assessed beginning Tuesday March 20th and each day thereafter you remain on the premise.

Furthermore eviction proceedings are very damaging to one’s credit, and very costly for both parties. We do not wish to pursue this route, but are prepared to if necessary. As said, we will not be handling this matter, but our attorney.

We write this not to be aggressive, but to be very clear, this is a serious matter for us, and are prepared to take legal action. Our requests are reasonable.

Sincerely, we are happy for your family, however this is a home we have worked very hard for – we are working to improve and take good care of the house, and pets can bring a lot of damage and headache. It is simply a risk we are not interested in taking and wish you guys would have talked to us about this before taking such an action.

To avoid any miscommunications and to remain as professional as possible, our lawyer will be speaking for us going forward. The March 20th 9:00 AM deadline is non-negotiable.

Thank you in advance your understanding and cooperation.