Landlords, pets, and running around desperately thinking what to do about them

If your tenancy agreement stated "no pets" then technically you are in breach of that, though I would suggest that you write a very nice (i.e. grovelling) letter to your lettings agency and point out that since your cat has been there for three years and the neighbours haven't complained, would it not be possible for him to stay with you for the rest of the duration of the tenancy if you (a) agree to make good any damage to wallpaper or furnishings before you leave and (b) pay to have the carpets professionally cleaned and treated at the end of your tenancy. This 'flea treatment' for carpets is a fairly standard requirement after having had a pet in a property, and is not a suggestion that your cat is flea-ridden (which I'm sure he isn't!).

Do you have your landlord's details? Can you write to him directly instead (if you were to point out that the agency had done several inspections over the past three years, had knowledge of the cat, and had never asked you to remove him then it may shift the blame for this onto the agency)?

I suppose that looking for somewhere else to live for you and your cat is not an option?

The landlord is going to make another inspection, personally, in a couple of weeks. I will make sure to tell him that the agency have never asked me to remove him before.

To be honest, I wouldn't mind living in a nicer neighbourhood. I'm not sure I can afford to, though.

Plenty of tenants change the door locks themselves, to make sure people cannot just let themselves in whenever they feel like it.

They can always claim they gave me prior notice, but the letter got lost in the post or something.

I'm not sure about Scottish law (I know it can be different), but it's certainly the case in the UK that you have to have 24 hours (minimum) notice in writing of an intended inspection visit. If you don't have a letter, you are within your rights to refuse them entry to your property.

When I got my current apartment, the landlady was very displeased to hear that I had TWO cats, but she grimaced and said, "Ok 2 is fine, but not THREE! And no DOGS!" This is one of the few things that keeps me from picking up another kitten.

He is such a beautiful cat! I don't think your little family should be torn asunder by some grim old buggers at the Letting Agency.

Anyway, once the actual landlords/owners had to come in to look at the hot water and *they* saw my cat and said "well we have no issue, you obvioulsy keep the place well and the cat seems fine".

But some time later the estate agency, while on the phone to me about something totally unrelated, said to me casually "oh and you might want to get rid of that cat, the upstairs neighbour complained to the body corp about smells out in the stairwell".

All this was news to me (and as my cat never leaves my flat, probably not even my cat), so I just stayed calm (even though I was shitting myself) and insisted she put any specifics in writing.

And I never heard another word about it.

I guess the point being, make sure everything's covered in writing - the lease terms as others have stated, and any supposed correspondance where they claim to have told you before. Talk direct to the owners if you're able (you'd be amazed how often they have no clue what their own agency is doing "on their behalf").

And good luck, because your kitty is gorgeous!

My boss mentioned previously that they want to get a cat, but they're not sure because his girlfriend is sometimes allergic to them. I'm going to bring the cat over to the office in a couple of days and see if she's allergic, and if they can at least look after him whilst I'm looking for somewhere else to live.

I wonder if anybody knows laws regarding landlord responsibility when a gas line to an apartment gets shut off by gas co. because there is a leak somewhere. Gas co. said leak was out of their jurisdiction (eg it's probably in the walls of the house of something), so i'm going on day 5 with no gas - no heating in winter, no way to cook food. landlord is finally getting someone to come out and look at it tomorrow, late afternoon, so it will be dark before they find the problem, i am pretty certain. so it seems like it's definitely gonna go on for another few days. tried to google this question, but am wondering if i have a right to expect him to shell out for a motel or something. landlord isn't being negligent per se, but sure hasn't impressed me with making this a priority and getting somebody out here the day after i called him. uggh

ah man I can't help you with the legality but our boiler broke down 2 weeks ago and we went 7 days without heat and hot water, it sucks. We were lucky I suppose that it was easy enough for the plumber to fix and it was relatively mild that week

thx for commiseratin. have a feeling leaky pipe is in the walls and downstairs apt. is gonna get torn up in order to fix. guess i need to get over my feeling that landlord could've gotten someone out here sooner. gd, it freezing in the desert this morning.

Where are you again? At the very least good landlords should reimburse space heaters or provide them.

Most places, there is a certain temperature that has to met within housing. We had our cooking gas/gas (summer) shut off by con ed for two weeks for the entire street once. Out of landlord's hands.

oh, space heater is good idea! am stuck in Inland Empire, east of LA these days

My boiler died in the middle of NYC winter once. Even the little space heaters put out a good amount of heat.

well, it was not the total disaster to repair that i was led to believe it might have been. just waiting on the gas co. **ckers to come out and turn gas back on. i learned that shaving with ice cold water is awesome though! gonna do that from now on