State Specific Question About: FLORIDA (FL)

Hello LL friends,

This morning, I went to my rental property to take a look outside. I saw a cat inside between blind and window. Our contract is 100% no pets. They all checked the box and signed lease. This is 12-month lease with 5 month to go. All are young people. They have paid February rent. Do I evict them because they broke the lease? I think this kind problem might happen to LL very often. How do you deal with it?

I’ll email them today; first thing is demanding go there for an inspection immediately. If no damage, I’ll charge the pets fee (what is usual fee amount?). I will definitely not renew the lease at the end of contract.

Thank you all.

They will likely tell you they are "pet sitting". I had to change my lease to stop this nonsense. Below is an example of my lease clause for someone with one permitted pet. It can be modified to say no pets as some of mine do.

You know what you saw, but even so they might play that,"No, I don't have a cat" game. Try to get pics. Just don't be surprised when you do your inspection, that all signs of hello Kitty have temporarily disappeared.

Except for service animals, I have "no pets at any time and for any reason" in my lease, and the fine is $50 per day. I really just want them to move the cat out. I have emailed them and asked an inspection done. I'll keep you posted. Thank you for all the input.

Serve them with a Cure or Quit notice per your state laws. Then follow up with an inspection after the cure time is up. Except no excuses. Use the "broken record" response if they attempt to negotiate or explain ("This is a no-pets property. This is a no-pets property")

The notice we use has a notice to vacate right at the bottom. Being the nice person that I am, I write "not at this time" for first offenders -- but I let them know, that the next time they will be gone.

Good advice give so far....a couple of things for "housekeeping".

You said you charge a "fine." You're not a law enforcement or government authority so you cannot "fine" people. You CAN charge a fee. So change a few letters on that and you're good.

$50/day sounds nice, but if it ever goes to court a judge would likely toss it as excessive. I like the one time fees ($300 or whatever). Otherwise, they'll swear on their Dear Old Aunt Tilly's grave the cat just showed up the day you drove past. Why only get $50 when $300 is doable?

What you do depends on whether or not you want a turn over. I allow renters to have pets because--as we have discussed here many times before--over 60% of renters have pets. I don't want to eliminate over half of my pool of renters. But if you do, that's fine. If you are determined to have no pets, then the only way to do that is get rid of these folks. The "my pet is my family" mentality is strong these days...and even though Mr. Fluffykins may move out today, he'll be back soon. Remember the song? "The cat came back, the very next day..." They already sneaked him in once: they'll do it again. If you don't boot them out, they'll know you are bluffing and will just keep doing what they want to do and ignore your fee.

Any time you add something to the lease, be prepared to use the nuclear option, or don't add it to your lease. It's like our laws: anytime the Govt passes a law, at the end of it, somewhere, is a gun. Might take a while to get to that point, but a gun is the end result of all laws.

R(FL),

I have a similar clause in my lease as Lisa(FL). I am "pet friendly", however I still have to watch for unauthorized pets and pets that don't meet my Lease and/ or Pet Agreement as far as breed and weight.

Hi Sid, I always appreciate your advice and feel they are very helpful.

My lease said "If at any time Tenant allows other pets into the Premises, Landlord may charge Tenant a penalty of $50.00 per day, plus the costs of any damages.". I hope this is ok if we eventually go to court.

I'm still new and leaning, so at every turnover I do complete screening ($25 screening package plus my own web and court check), I knew that I have no chance for a match against a professional renter.

In this case, I'll send another email to them asking to remove the cat or sign a pet agreement today, if no response I'll post a 7 day note on their door.