30 Cats Lady - 1 Million Dollars Loss

[RE123RE]

Hi,
A horror true story I heard and wanted to share.
A lady in a 20-plex moved in with a cat or 2. within a few months or years, she had 30 cats in the unit(!)
The building is currently vacant, had city inspections and orders, painting did not get rid of the smell and no tenant can be found.
I obviously do not have all the details but you get the picture. A huge loss.
Especially since this happened to an experienced investor who owns around 200 units in Canada and the US, how do you prevent this from ever happening to you? What can or should a good Property Manager do to prevent this from happening? (the investor is working with property managers who manage his buildings)
Can you evict when you find out a tenant has say 5 cats? I actually have a tenant with 4 cats. She is the best tenant in the world, keeps the unit clean and somehow her apartment even smells good.
The reason I think it is an important question is because it sounds like a relatively difficult case to evict (am I wrong?).. with many animal lovers and (sorry) landlords haters.
I do not know exactly how it got to this situation for him where his building is sitting vacant!
But it is just mind blowing how a cats lover could ruin an investor's life this way.
Thanks

 

[Thomas Beyer]

You can avoid this with a properly worded pet lease, strictly enforced.

 

[RE123RE]

You can avoid this with a properly worded pet lease, strictly enforced.

Hi,
That and a reasonable judge right who is generally satisfied with his/her life.
Thanks

 

[RE123RE]

Hi,
Do you think using one of the following clauses is good enough?
- "Tenants may possess no animals and/or pets in their apartment." Or
- "The tenants covenant that they have no pets and will not bring any pet, animal, bird, insect or reptile into the property."
You are probably right as usual, with emphasis on "strictly enforced"! - Guessing lack of this was the investor's problem.
Strictly enforced means giving the tenant a notice as soon as you learn about it, then taking case to court if not resolved.
Guess some PMs do not like taking tenants to court and this was the main reason the investor lost 1 Million Dollars.
Thanks

 

[ChrisDavies]

It boggles the mind that someone in the building didn't mention anything. A tenant, a caretaker, a maintenance person...someone.

 

[RE123RE]

It boggles the mind that someone in the building didn't mention anything. A tenant, a caretaker, a maintenance person...someone.

Hi,
Right. Guess they did know or mention but at the end of the day it's only 1 or 2 people - the owner and the PM/his rep who can actually seriously do something about it. and for some reason they didn't.
Can we agree that the PM rarely cares about the building as much as the owner her/himself does. But that's not an excuse, the owner is responsible for this, and if she/he worked with a bad PM - for this too.
Thanks