PETS FOR LIFE NYC

LANDLORD ISSUES
917-468-2938 www.nycacc.org/safetynet.htm

If your landlord says you must give up your dog or cat, under New York City law you may have rights to keep your pet. If you have had your pet openly for 90 days (3 months), you have the right to keep your pet if your landlord has not formally served you with a summons or petition prior to the 3 months, EVEN IF YOUR LEASE DOES NOT ALLOW PETS.  There are also other ways we can help you to possibly keep your pet.  The Safety Net Program can refer you to free landlord/tenant resource centers and/or tenant advocates who can help you with the paperwork needed to present to your landlord and/or with your case in court. CALL US IMMEDIATELY if your landlord makes any kind of complaint about your pet. YOU DON’T HAVE TO GIVE UP YOUR PET UNTIL A JUDGE ORDERS YOU TO DO SO! DO NOT GIVE UP YOUR PET MERELY BECAUSE YOUR LANDLORD SAYS YOU MUST!

Below is more detailed description of the “Pet Law” mentioned above:

The Administrative Code of New York City § 27-2009.1 is most commonly referred to as the “Pet Law.” It describes the rights of tenants to keep their pets under certain circumstances, despite lease provisions to the contrary, in order to prevent abuses by building owners.

The following is excerpted from “Keeping Spot and Fluffy Home: Companion Animals in New York City Apartments 2003 Edition,” provided by The Association of the Bar of the City of New York (www.abcny.org).

Question No. 1. What is the Pet Law?
In its plainest reading, the Pet Law provides that once a pet lives in a multiple dwelling (a building with three or more residential units) for three or more months, open and notoriously (not hidden from the building’s owners, their agents, and on-site employees), then any no-pet clause in a lease is considered waived and unenforceable.

Question No. 2. What does it mean to keep your pet open and notoriously?
“Notorious” does not mean that your pet is an outlaw. The words “open” and “notorious” have been interpreted by the courts and have generally been held to mean visible and apparent (i.e. not hidden.) Most judges have tried to determine simply whether or not the pet was hidden in any active way.
You can keep a house-bound pet openly, if you do not hide the pet. When building personnel come to your apartment for repairs or inspections, keep the pet, as well as evidence of the pet (i.e. toys, dishes) in plain site, or where you normally keep them.

Question No. 7. When and how must the landlord start a legal action under the Pet Law?
Under the Pet Law, a landlord must actually commence a suit within the three-month period to enforce the landlord’s rights and not simply serve notice that he or she intends to bring suit. Commencement of a lawsuit means service of a “summons and complaint” or of a “notice of petition and petition.”

Note: The Pet Law does not apply to pets who are proven to be a “nuisance.”

(The above information was provided by the ASPCA (www.aspca.org).)