After 8 years, tenant’s dog gets the boot

Question: I have lived in my apartment complex for eight years on a month-to-month agreement. I have a large dog that is well behaved. Recently my landlord told me I couldn’t keep my dog because it might bite someone. He gave me a 30-day notice to remove it. I paid a $200 pet deposit at move in. Is there a law that protects tenants with pets?

Answer: It depends. Under certain circumstances, State of California Civil Code Section 798.33 allows for pets in mobile home parks and in public housing (for tenants who are over age 60). Also, Civil Code Section 54.1(b)(5) allows for pets if the pet is a designated “service animal.” A service animal is a properly trained animal for the blind, deaf or physically or mentally disabled.

If your living arrangement is not one of the above, or your dog is not a service animal, there is no law that provides a tenant the right to keep a pet. A property owner has the discretion to disallow pets of any size, shape or demeanor.

Even if at one time a pet has been allowed, a landlord can change this condition with a properly served 30-Day Notice of Change of Terms of Tenancy. This change is only allowed for month-to-month tenants. To help your cause, you may want to offer your landlord an additional pet deposit. This deposit plus any pet or security/cleaning deposit already paid cannot amount to more than two times the rent for an unfurnished unit or three times the rent for a furnished unit.

Other suggestions are to offer to obtain a renter’s insurance policy to cover any liability that may arise.

Some local rent control ordinances limit landlord rights to impose pet prohibitions on tenants. If this is your situation, check with your local rent control agency or city housing department. Even if civil code or local ordinances allow pets, no pet may be kept in violation of humane or health laws.

Single mom is told

to get a co-signer

Question: I am a single mother. When I applied for an apartment, the manager told me that my children’s father would have to co-sign my rental agreement. I have sufficient income to qualify on my own and don’t want a co-signer. What can I do?

Answer: Under federal and state fair housing laws, it is illegal for a housing provider to treat you differently because you have children or are married. As long as you are independently qualified for the unit, you do not have to co-sign with anyone. Fair housing agencies can explain to the manager that you cannot be treated differently because you are unmarried or because of your children, and they can also investigate whether all single mothers are receiving similarly discriminatory treatment.

This column is prepared by Project Sentinel, a rental housing mediation service in Sunnyvale, Calif. Questions may be sent to 1055 Sunnyvale-Saratoga Road, Suite 3, Sunnyvale, CA 94087. For housing discrimination questions, complaints or help, call the state Department of Fair Housing and Employment at (800) 233-3212 or the Southern California Housing Rights Center at (800) 477-5977.