Condo Association Management Blog

 
 
PETS 
 
 
 
1. An application to house any pet must be submitted to and approved by the Board of Directors. 
 
 
 
2. New owners or tenants shall be limited to one dog or cat, 20lbs. or less. If a present owner or tenant has  
 
more than one per unit, the deceased pet cannot be replaced. 
 
 
 
3. The housing of pets is subject to termination by the Board of Directors if the pet becomes a nuisance 
 
or the pet’s owner does not follow the rules regarding pets as listed below. 
 
 
 
(a) Pets must be kept on a leash and under proper control when they are outside the apartments. 
 
 
 
(b) Specific areas are designated as “PET WALKS” and must be used. The pet owner is  
 
responsible for the immediate removal in a sanitary manner. 
 
 
 
(c) No pet may be left in an apartment, unattended, for any period of time if the pet creates a  
 
nuisance to other residents. 
 
 
 
(d) The only exercise areas for pets are designated “PET WALKS” 
 
 
 
(a) Pets are not permitted in any other areas of the complex. 
 
 
 
We consider a 20 lb. pet to be a small breed 20 lbs. or under by the classification of AKC. We know that some small breeds may go over the 20 lbs. as they grow older or because of medical reason, but if they are in the "Small Breed" classification,it is acceptable.

These are pretty much what we have, however, if someone believes the guidelines do not apply to them, there is nothing the board can do. Renters arrived with a 120-pound boxer. Federal government's Fair Housing Act says it's ok because it provides emotional support. Can't get around it with a no-pet rule either.

" No pets shall be allowed in the Condominium, except for small, domestic birds and fish - which shall be allowed within the private units - and seeing eye dogs for blind persons." 
 
Exceptions added through the years: Owners may have one or two 20 lb. dogs, subject to wearing barking collars if needed or cats. Tenants are not allowed to have pets.

I suggest you make pet rules reasonable and more importantly - enforceable. 
 
A good place to start is to limit a number of pets per unit. I would suggest limiting it to two pets not one. You'll often find that two dogs living together are much quieter than one when left alone. 
 
Here is an example of language for that:  
 
"Pet Limitation. No animal of any kind shall be raised, bred or kept in any Unit, except that usual domestic dogs, cats, fish, and birds may be kept as 
household pets. No more than two dogs or two cats, or one dog and one cat, may be kept as a household pet. No animal shall be kept, bred or maintained (i) for any commercial purpose, (ii) in unreasonable numbers, or (iii) if there would be involved any odor, noise or other nuisance which would unreasonably disturb the use and enjoyment of any portion of the Project by other Owners. The Board may set additional restrictions, rules, and regulations regarding the kinds and sizes of pets which may be kept as well as other pet issues.  
 
I would also suggest limit certain dangerous breeds as designated by government agencies agencies.  
 
Here is an example:  
"Dangerous Animals. No animal may be kept which the Board has determined to be dangerous or which has been designated as dangerous by any governmental agency. The following dog breeds are prohibited: Pit bull or Staffordshire terrier, Rottweiler, German Shepherd, Husky, Malamute, Doberman Pinscher, Chow Chow, Great Dane, St. Bernard, Wolf mix 
 
You also may want to limit visiting pets, require that pets be on a leash when outside owners units. You also need to have a language that the board has a right to request removal of a pet that violates these rules and/or causes nuisance. 
 
You must include language allowing pets (even otherwise prohibited) if they are kept as service animals 
 
I would highly recommend not using weight limit for pets as your limitation. Certain dogs that are expected to be under X pounds may grow larger and you don't want to become weigh loss police for association's animals. At the same time if you don't enforce rules for pets larger than X pounds because they are suppose to be small breeds it opens an easy way for another owner to get any size dogs and argue that since you don't enforce weight limits you can't require them to remove their pet. Having a breed limitation is a much cleaner and easier way.

A few days ago I had notices passed to all tenants that there would be no dogs here.The problem was terrible with the dogs going to the restroom on the grounds and barking at night. As time passed there were more and more dogs, some persons having 2 or 3.It has been an awful problem. I have said before that I like dogs.So far I have had no complaints and have heard no barking.It is one thing to take care of a pet but after I happened to step on some dog feces that did it. Birds and fish are fine. Now as for cats we only have one outside and he just sleeps in the shrubs and besides cats cover up their mess.  
I might add that the owners backed me up 100% and voted on it. I expected problems but have not heard a thing. The owners know I care for everyone here and part of my responsibility is to help clean the grounds plus take care of any issues that come up.This is a problem of long standing and unfortunately got out of hand. The kids play on the grass and one time there were feces for every square foot of the grass area which the renter cleaned.Many people have birds and fish.So hopefully no one is hiding a dog in their apartment or they will have to leave.

Mari, first of all you can't require owners that already have pets to remove them. They must be grandfathered in. It's fine if you decided that no new pets may be brought in, but you can force people to get rid of their pets. 
 
Also, I think, you are overreacting. There are probably 1-2 irresponsible owners that are causing problems, but you are punishing everyone. If some neighbors plays loud music at night, will you prohibit all radios?  
 
One of the responsibility of the board is to maintain property and make sure that house values stay high. Prohibiting pets in an association limits a pool of prospective buyers and reduces property values

Prohibiting a pet because of its breed is totally due to ignorance. The list of breeds you posted are only dangerous if they are raised to be that way. I received almost $1000 in medical bills due to injuries from a small dog. Perhaps the board meeting the pet and approving is a better choice. 

Approving each individual dog is not practical. An 8 weeks puppy will turn into a full grown dog with its own personality which you can't see, a new dog purchase doesn't come with money back guarantee if the board doesn't approve.  
 
Also it could be viewed as discriminatory unless a board has a very specific approval guidelines in which case it could just be put in CC&Rs. 
 
As you pointed out you had injuries from a small dog, which just proves that limiting dogs based on size is not helpful. 
 
While I absolutely agree that a lot depends on how a dog is bread and raised you just can't argue that a majority of SERIOUS and FATAL dog accidents occur by certain breeds more than by any other breeds. 
 
I didn't come up with the list above. It is taken from AKC and these breeds are designed as dangerous by them, not by me or anyone on a board.

Our condo association is in FL. Our bylaws limit the number of pets to two, but with no weight restrictions. We also have a prohibition against certain breeds but one of our residents did research and found a FL Statute under Torts. Her interpretation is that the board can't enforce specific breed restrictions but we can enforce procedures and criteria for "dangerous dogs." Our condo association can't trump Florida Statutes. Will we have to amend our Rules and Regulations to meet Florida Law stated below: 
 
FL Statute 767.14 "Additional local restrictions authorized.—Nothing in this act shall limit any local government from placing further restrictions or additional requirements on owners of dangerous dogs or developing procedures and criteria for the implementation of this act, provided that no such regulation is specific to breed and that the provisions of this act are not lessened by such additional regulations or requirements." Any input would be appreciated.

Can anyone provide a sample set of condo association rules governing the keeping and control, etc. of service dogs?

What kind of restrictions are you looking for service dogs? you can't really put much in place as they are required for benefits of a disabled person. Also service/working dogs are not considered pets and therefore most existing CC&R restrictions don't apply to them.

Make sure of your definition of service animal, which only applies of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). These animals have been trained to do a specific task, such as seeing-eye dogs. Comfort pets, as defined by the much looser Fair Housing Act, is practically any animal you can get a doctor to say you need for emotional/physical support. Anyone familiar with just how broad and sweeping this law is is left gasping for the tiniest shred that makes sense to normal, rational, reasonable folks that like pets as well as anyone else, but may expect that normal, rational, and reasonable community rules will protect them from having to live with whatever someone wants to bring in. Think again. I have a lot more to say about that but will hold it for later. To answer your question, service animals or comfort pets must abide by the same rules imposed upon other pet owners such as dog-walking areas, pooper scoopers, carrying the animal in common areas (however, we had one that weighed 120 pounds, well over our 20-pound limit, so since it was a comfort pet and they were not physically able to pick up the dog, they were also exempt from carrying it in common areas). Thankfully, they did not very often except to and from the elevators.