Should we tell our potential landlady that we have a cat or try to hide her?

Hmmm… Maybe ask her before hand if pets are allowed. Maybe you won’t lose the apartment by having a cat. Find out first. Otherwise it is risky business. My sister lives in San Fran and I know how hard it was for her to find a place.

Yeah, I’d DEFINITELY find out before I signed a lease, made the transition, and began the payments. She may not know for the next couple of months, but she’s bound to discover your “little secret” eventually. Just imagine, if you have a finicky neighbor that just so happens to decide to despise you, and he/she finds out you have an “illegal” pet, they’d tell just for spite, then you’d have to endure the excruciating process of moving back out, terminating your lease, on top of finding another place to live… Not worth it… Just not worth it. Plus, if it was on your application, and she reviewed it thoroughly (which I’m sure she did given the current state of the housing market) I bet it’ll be absolutely fine. Why go through the trouble of hiding something that may not even have to be a secret?

I’m with these guys!

If you wrote in your application that you have a cat, it seems very likely that she already knows.

I would just cross out the section of the lease that says you don’t have a cat, initial it, sign on the line, then send it back.

You know I’m living in an apartment complex that does not allow pets I didn’t know it at first. We were looking at the place and asked the manager and he said “Just don’t tell anyone that you have a cat.”

Ygr day we moved in we found out our neighbor has a puppy.

My thinking is that maybe she won’t even care as long as you keep everything clean, are quiet and pay your rent on time.

That word was supposed to be OUR…

please see this post for tips

Try and hide her. (we are talking about the land lady right?!)

i had a friend who had a cat that she was not supposed to and when someone came over to inspect or whatever, they put one person in the bathroom (with said cat) and told the guest that so and so is in the shower.

a lot of times, with apartments, the official word is that they don’t accept pets but if they like the tenant they’ll look the other way. a good tenant can be hard to find, too (pays rent on time, clean, quiet, etc).

honesty is the best way tell the landlord, it will save problems later.

Explain to me why you are considering hiding your landlady???

Or it could be that you get a cool landlord, ours said NO PETS, NEVER!! rawr! And we had a dog, a cat, like four hamsters at times those multiplied to 30 or so. Eventually, he figured out we had pets, shocking, I know. And he was like well…. fine. :)

Plus. My dog is adorable. How could he have said no?

what’s wrong with having a cat?

I would go w/ LaChica’s (and others’ advice) above. Two other thoughts spring to mind.

1) I would make a photocopy of the altered lease for your records.
2) Keep in mind that people can come in your apt even when you aren’t there….e.g. water leaking to apt below, bug spraying, etc. You aren’t going to be able to “hide” the cat forever.

Tell them now. You don’t want to be evicted for breaking your lease. The lease is what binds you legally, not the application.

Better to fix this BEFORE you move in than later. You may get charged an aditional deposit, or have to find another place but it’s better to find out now than have to move again.

Keep your cat hidden in a bag. Schrodinger proved that a box is not a good place to hide a cat because your cat will enter a quantum state of being both alive and dead at the same time. Prepare ahead of time, if the Landlady discovers the cat, soften your angry cursing with phrases like “Cat Damn It!”

I’d line through the section of the lease that says you don’t have a cat and initial it. Then sign the lease and turn it in. If you sign the lease as is and then you get caught having a cat it is grounds for eviction. AND since the lease is a binding contract…the landlady might be able to force you to continue to pay rent even after you’ve been evicted (at least until she can find a new tenant), as well as you’d lose whatever security deposit you paid.

I have apartments and I hate it when my managers forget to look at the “pets” part of the application. kimbobx had a great idea though.
It will save your butt if the manager doesn’t look at the returned lease any better than she looked at the application.

i had the idea first

Sorry La chica! Fluve to you too!!!

<3

I did that once and got busted – had to move out or give up the cat. Expensive lesson.