Is there anything I can do to help myself in this awkward pet/lease situation?

It seems pretty clear that your landlord doesn’t like cats, and is not pleased to have them in his rental. (It’s hard to imagine that some people don’t love your little fluffy as much as you do, but there it is.) It is his place, you lied, and I think you should be happy he is not throwing you out.
ps. I expect that you know that some cats (not yours) can leave a smell that is almost impossible to get out of a house?

Well, I don’t think he can raise the rent on you during your lease. As for the pet deposit, the deposit is usually for after the tenants move out to help pay for any damages the pets may have caused, such as urine stains or claw marks on the walls or doors. Plus pets leave an odor that can be hard to get rid of. If the urine stain is too difficult to get out of carpet, the carpet would have to be replaced.
I feel he should just ask for the pet deposit and be done with it. Ask him if you can just pay the pet deposit and see if he’ll nix the raise in rent. If not, you may have to find somewhere else that accepts animals.

It’s difficult to fault the landlord. All it takes is is one pet horror story experience to set a landlord’s mind in concrete. I’m unclear as to whether the landlord jacked the rent up $200 or $400 a month, but unless you’re prepared to accept his terms, I think you & the boyfriend should negotiate with the landlord for time to either find good homes for the cats or locate another rental. Why not offer up the refundable deposit until you find another place, then negotiate for time?

All of our opinions are great but the bottom line is what are the laws in your state? Google landlord tenant laws, rental laws, etc. for the state you live in. If you can’t find an answer, call someone high up in the state (not sure what department it would be) and talk to them. You probably have some rights, the landlord might have rights, and he will always have the right to evict you if he doesn’t like the answer you get, if it’s not favorable to him, but he’ll have to follow the law if he wants to evict you.

Is it only for a couple of months? If so, can you get someone to board your cat for that time? If so that would eliminate your responsibility.
We have no idea how much rent you are paying, so we don’t know how unreasonable the landlord’s demands are.

Ideally, you need to start looking for other living arrangements ASAP. Get out of the living room, get away from the EX, and find a place that tolerates your cat. The landlord has essentially said he’s holding you individually responsible for your lease agreement, and that he’s willing to break that agreement.

How long have you been living there with the cats, and how much longer is the lease? The landlord may be more reasonable if you can show explain that the cats have been there since the beginning, and that the lease is over ½ past?

The landlord is greedy. But he is also 100% legally correct. You broke the lease with the cats, in the first place.

Technically, he could toss you out of there tomorrow (or 30 days).

@ibstubro is correct. Get the heck out of there. Don’t waste your time ‘negotiating’ with the landlord. You won’t win.

If I owned a property that I was renting out and the tenants lied to me like they way you did, not only would I be pissed, I’d be worried that they were violating the lease in other ways. His request sounds reasonable to me. I think you’re lucky you’re not being evicted. If the rent is too much, then look for a different place.

What state do you live in? It will effect my answer

I live in Colorado. My rent was 550 and it will now be 650. For a living room

To all of you – I would prefer he kick us out. I don’t want to live here anymore but I can’t move out because no one is going to sublet a LIVING ROOM.

A couple other things I want to mention – in the new lease he wants us to sign which includes the extra non refundable deposit and the extra pet rent per month, he also states that, basically, if my roommates choose to live here another year or two or five which i think they are going to, i will not get my original deposit back (it was refundable as usual) until EVERYONE moves out. i have never heard of this and do not think that is fair – i plan on moving out of state and see no reason why my personal money should stay here. our lease that i originally signed is up may 31 so obviously when i move out i was expecting to get it back within the normal 60 days.

Also when we moved in the carpets were supposed to be professionally cleaned (which in my experience with rentals is normal) but they weren’t so he told us we wouldn’t have to do them either. Now in the new lease he says we will have to have them cleaned which is another 100 dollars. What i don’t understand is why he was okay with two dogs living here, that go outside and get muddy all the time, come in and soil the carpet, and even then no carpet cleaning would be necessary and no extra deposit and no pet rent. But now, two indoor cats that don’t spray or have accidents or do anything all day literally, require carpet cleaning.

I am so frustrated, and honestly just want to move out.

He’s hedging his bet. He rented you the place at some price that you all agreed on under certain terms. Now he’s discovered that you guys have been lying to him. He is understandably upset and can’t trust you guys because you violated his trust. How is he supposed to believe you that your cats don’t go outside, spray or have accidents? Take your word for it? have you sign a contract? You’ve already demonstrated to him that you’re willing to violate that.

This means that his risk has increased substantially, and like anything in business, more risk = more money. He’s rolling the dice that people who have previously deceived him are going to now do the right thing. He made a special exception for the dogs because of a letter from a previous landlord that showed you guys were trustworthy, and now that confidence is broken.

As far as the safety deposit, you should try to get your share from your other roommates if they stay on later than you.

I“m not a lawyer, and there are strict laws about these situations, so my advice is just general principles of business, risk, fairness etc. You could always consult with a real lawyer in your area to get actual legal advice.

Then just more out.

What was your part of the security deposit? Surely not more than the new non-refundable cat deposit?
He can either throw you out, or he can force you to sign a new lease…he can’t do both. Honestly, him trying to squeeze another $1100 non-refundable out of two people sounds to me like he just wants you all out. If you can accommodate, do it, and move out.

It’s 5 to none that the landlord allowed an exception to his lease by allowing pets.

How many units does your landlord have? How deep his pockets are, and how much experience he has, can make a huge difference. The difference between putting the bluff on you and already ‘having people’. I’m betting bluff.

I was hoping there would be a maximum security deposit in your state like there is in California but it looks like there’s not ugh. If you are in a lease he may not be allowed to raise it in the middle of the term though unless the lease provides for it. If you would prefer he just kick you out you can always refuse to pay the added deposit.
Does each resident have a separate rental agreement or are you all on the same one? How long is the lease?

Cut your losses and just find a new place which does allow your cats.

Obviously that reduces your options but that is part of the deal with being a pet parent. It just means more phone calls and extra work for you to find the right place.

Yes, it will cost more since someone willing to sublet a living room for a rock bottom price is unlikely. But you need a secure situation where your kitties are welcome also. Trust me, I’ve been through this multiple times and a place which is ok with cats does exist.

Fortunately, in this day and age, we have Craigslist so your options are greatly increased. So get busy on the phone and find your place.

Hopefully this will be a lesson for you to NEVER move to anyplace which doesn’t know about and accept your pets. The stress of having their possible discovery hanging over your head like the Damocles sword just isn’t worth it. Plus, it just puts you in a very bad bargaining position if you’ve already lied to someone. It just isn’t worth it.

Whatever your plans, there’s also the matter of your fellow housemates. You’re in a bad spot, but you do have some leverage. If the 4 of you could manage to present a united front, you have it within your power to render your landlord’s life unbearable.

If I move out I lose 550 dollars that I already gave my landlord which I would most likely get most of back this summer after we move out. If I stay I lose 850 plus carpet cleaning plus whatever portion of the original deposit he does not refund. I guess I just don’t understand why this new deposit can’t be refundable

Regarding non refundable pet deposits in Colorado

I would say everyone should move out and then you get your deposits back and be done with the whole thing.

Did you all agree to sublet in the beginning, or did just one or two sign the lease and let the others move in as a separate agreement/arrangement?

@jca we are all on the lease. My roommates do not want to move, so that’s not even an option D:

If you all put money toward the safety deposit, and only some of you move out, if he gives up half of the deposit, it leaves him in a situation where, if the remaining tenants (your friends), leave a mess, he’ll be at risk of not having it all covered by the deposit. The only thing that I could see might rectify that is if the remaining tenants pay you and then risk getting it or not getting it when they move out.

When I moved in with my two cats, I had to pay a deposit, and I pay an additional amount per month. So the increase in rent (although extreme) is not unwarranted. as a lot of places charge extra rent for pets. Perhaps he was willing to look the other way initially on the dogs, but now, especially with you not having disclosed that you were bringing the cats in, he feels justified in charging a good bit more. After all, if no pets is the usual policy, he probably could evict you upon discovering that you had other pets living there against his knowledge. Often landlords have to bomb for fleas after pet owners move out, whether or not their pets had fleas, because they can’t run the chance of the next tenant moving in and having an infestation.

Maybe you could try talking to him, but he is within his rights (Although $400/month is a bit high of an increase.)

@deni Is your room a setup where you have to go through the living room to get to another room?

@dxs no luckily it’s not but you do have to go through it to get out our back door where my roommates sometimes take the dogs out.

They have been incredibly difficult to deal with lately and it doesn’t help that my ex and I both just wish we could move out. They are kinda keeping us here and I don’t want to end up resenting them but it’s already happening.

@deni Are you sure you’re not making the room sound worse than it is? The room isn’t treated as a living room, is it? What I mean is you’re roommates aren’t there at night watching TV or playing Parcheesi in your room, right? There are better ways of wording it. “Bedroom with deck. Pet-friendly house. We’re friendly roommates, so my other roommates use the deck for the dogs.”

Anyways, there are more important things you must deal with in this situation right now. I suggest you take pictures immediately. Take pictures of the rooms, the carpets, everything. If your roommates understand what’s going on, then they should understand why you would want to leave. Maybe you can do month to month at a place for now and work to find people you know who’d want to move into a new place eventually.

I’m not a lawyer. If you haven’t already, you really should look at the Colorado renting laws. Like, now.

That “non-refundable deposit” is a contradiction. Rewording it means he’s basically charging you a fine for having the cats, which I doubt he has a right to do. He’d have to go to court for a shot at that. When you say the rent is going up $100/person, you mean that it’s going up on the next lease, right? If you mean now, that sounds like something he won’t be able to get away with either. I wish I knew what your lease says. That would be the only backing for any of this, but even then leases still should be “reasonable.”

Here’s how I would reason with him: Apologize. Talk with a remorseful tone. I realize you’re pissed but irritability will only make your chances of a decent outcome significantly slimmer. You need to pick your battles, and this isn’t one. Tell him you are working on moving out ASAP and are willing to break the lease. Tell him you and your ex-boyfriend are willing to forfeit the security deposit. $550 is not as big of a loss as the other options. I think it’s a good compromise. You did not abide by the lease, and any other opposition will probably land you in Small Claims. And that really messes your credit up, you may lose out, and it’s stressful.

I think negotiating is worthwhile because he may be taking advantage of you if you don’t know your rights. Remember, the law is always slanted in favor of the tenants. That’s why there’s all this first/last/security shit to begin with. Second, it costs him money to evict you since the only way he can do it is through court. It costs hundreds of dollars. I know someone who owns a place he rents out. A few years ago, one of the tenants stopped paying rent. It had been three months of no checks, and my friend (the landlord) passed him on the stairwell. The tenant said to my friend “Listen, I know how the laws work. It’ll cost you $700 to evict me, so how about you just give me $500 instead and I’ll be gone in a month.” My friend replied “I’d rather give that money to a lawyer,” and he evicted him.

P.S. If you do want to move out immediately, I can help you with an ad. I have a lot of experience with apartment searching on Craigslist. Just PM me.

@dxs Well, I wish I’d read your answer before last night but I didn’t. I agree about the non-refundable deposit and thats exactly what I was thinking…“hmmm…it’s not really a deposit then is it?” Yeah…well anyhow yesterday was the end of the 3 day window so he came over and we signed everything and it’s over.

Part of my giving in is that I don’t think I’d be able to sublet this room. No it’s not that bad but there are no walls and the kitchen is right beside my room and there is a like bar type of thing with a big window from the kitchen looking into my room. And I have curtains up but it still provides no privacy. And I think most people would have an issue with that. Otherwise, as far as I am concerned, it’s a not too bad situation. My plants have tons of light and the ceilings are high and my 10 foot tree fits happily!