Apt complex "requires" declawing

lawguy

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The apt complex I went with claims to be pet friendly.

When I went through the pet portion of the lease, it mentioned that cats must have their front paws declawed.

I was unhappy and called up the manager. She claims that it's never been enforced and she is aware that many residents of the complex are against declawing. I told her that I will not be declawing my cats and that I am signing the lease with the assumption that they have no plans to enforce that clause as she claims.

She told me that the lease probably just has that in there because the complex is managed by a large company that has the same lease for all of their apartments and that some may enforce it and others may not.

The company that manages the complex is a very large company and they managed by coincidence 3 of the 5 buildings I looked at, and another 2 dozen or more nationwide.

I'm pretty disappointed that some company would just throw that in all of their leases like it's nothing. Declawing is a big deal. They don't seem to treat it as such. It was in the fine print more or less.

Should they choose to enforce it at any point in the future, I will move out before I will declaw Ally or Ollie. There are plenty of other apartments and the housing market isn't exactly booming.
 

momofmany

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Good for you and very wise to write it in the contract. How can they claim to be pet friendly and require a front declaw? That's illegal advertising IMO.
 

Willowy

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You can cross out and initial anything in the lease you don't agree with. As long as the landlord signs it with all the cross-outs, it's just as legally binding as it would be without your amendments.

I believe, on principle, that no cat owner should stand for that kind of thing. Even if they adopted their cats already de-clawed, they should still object to that kind of rule and refuse to live there if the rule is enforced. If cat owners had done that the FIRST time a landlord tried to enforce a rule like that, no landlords would dare to do it now.
 

cococat

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Originally Posted by Willowy

You can cross out and initial anything in the lease you don't agree with. As long as the landlord signs it with all the cross-outs, it's just as legally binding as it would be without your amendments.
I agree!
 

emrldsky

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Nuh uh...might give me away!
I lived at a place that had the in the lease as well, but the manager told me as long as I had something for the cats to claw on other than the apartment itself, I was fine.

I think as long as the cats don't damage anything, or you fix the damage before you leave, you'll be just fine. I can't imagine why they would arbitrarily enforce that.
 

ut0pia

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Wow that's brave of you to call, I'd probably just not declaw and ignore that rule without telling anyone if I were in your place because I'd be afraid that if I oppose it they will decide to enforce it on me (if I really wanted to stay in that apartment complex of course)...
That's such a terrible and ridiculous rule! Declawing should be illegal in the US like it is in most of the world!!!

Originally Posted by LawGuy

Should they choose to enforce it at any point in the future, I will move out before I will declaw Ally or Ollie. There are plenty of other apartments and the housing market isn't exactly booming.
I honestly don't see how they can enforce that! No cat owner would allow some random person inspect their cat's claws to see if they are declawed. I'm pretty sure they can't make you show them your cat's claws...
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by ut0pia

I honestly don't see how they can enforce that! No cat owner would allow some random person inspect their cat's claws to see if they are declawed.
it'd be the rare cat that allowed it, anyway. however, they could require you to show a vet's letter stating a declaw had been performed, or bills for the same procedure.
 

Willowy

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One option, if someone is really stuck with that kind of landlord, is to have Soft Claws professionally applied and present the bill for that to the landlord. Someone on another one of my forums tried that and it worked. They didn't even make her KEEP having them applied, they were happy with one application. Maybe they didn't know Soft Claws are temporary......but it worked anyway.
 

fastnoc

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Originally Posted by Momofmany

Good for you and very wise to write it in the contract. How can they claim to be pet friendly and require a front declaw? That's illegal advertising IMO.
There is no law against declawing cats. in fact, it's considered normal, every day procedure. There's nothing illegal about it.

Originally Posted by ut0pia

I honestly don't see how they can enforce that! No cat owner would allow some random person inspect their cat's claws to see if they are declawed. I'm pretty sure they can't make you show them your cat's claws...
If you have a signed contract, they most certainly can enforce it.

the problem that i see here is that even though we, as conscious cat owners, understand it's painful and bad to declaw, the law, and the population at large do not, and just like allowing one animal only, they have a right to verify their lease isn't breached.

Hopefully some day that issue will change and it will be considered cruel, but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.
 

GoldyCat

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So declawing issue aside, which apartment are you getting? How soon will you be moving with your furbabies?
 

missymotus

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I wonder how many people read that and then go off to get the cats declawed, just because the lease says to.

I'm glad it's illegal here.
 

plainjane

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Ugh...Pet friendly? Nothing about them sounds that 'friendly' at all.

I'd ask for a new lease to sign and mark it out then initial the part about declawing, as suggested. Don't let them have the ability to push you around and force you out later.
 

wellingtoncats

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Originally Posted by fastnoc

There is no law against declawing cats. in fact, it's considered normal, every day procedure. There's nothing illegal about it.
More like what's legal about it:

Here's a list (there are more) of countries where it is ILLEGAL to declaw a cat


England
Scotland
Wales
Italy
France
Germany


Austria
Switzerland
Norway
Sweden
Netherlands
Northern Ireland

Ireland
Denmark
Finland
Slovenia
Portugal
Belgium

Brazil
Australia
New Zealand
Yugoslavia
Japan


[Source: http://www.declawing.com/htmls/outlawed.htm]
 

ut0pia

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I've lived in places where it was strictly no pets allowed and had an indoor cat and hamsters and I never got in trouble....Landlords don't come to look inside your apartment once you sign the contract.
So I wouldn't care - but it's sad that such a rule is in there....
 

mrblanche

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We ran into this issue when we wanted to take our cat, Wickett, on the road with us. Werner Enterprises, our employer at the time, requied cats on trucks to be declawed. We gave them all the information on Soft Paws, and they agreed that that would be acceptable.
 

forensic

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Yeah, my current complex requires declawing... I just said my boys were too old for it to be anything other than abuse and they kinda got a panicked look in their eyes and said that was fine.
 
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lawguy

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My mother and cousin, both attorneys, are advising me not to redact that clause and to take the statement that it isn't enforced in good faith. They are worried that if I redact it, then the apt manager will have to verify with the management company if it's ok for her to sign off, and that it would draw unwanted attention to the issue.
 

fastnoc

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Don't get me wrong, i'm very much against declawing. my point was just that it's not illegal here, therefore there isn't much argument against it. And i was going to say that bringing it up and generating focus on it will do more harm than good, but the O/P mentioned that in his reply.

it's a crappy situation. For all the great that low life org PETA claims to do, why aren't they forcing this to end? They're too busy killing more animals than any other org, last year they killed 97% of the animals they took in. It frustrates me because this issue is a prime example of what a group like PETA SHOULD be doing, using their presence to get cruel actions like this outlawed.

Originally Posted by WellingtonCats

More like what's legal about it:

Here's a list (there are more) of countries where it is ILLEGAL to declaw a cat


England
Scotland
Wales
Italy
France
Germany


Austria
Switzerland
Norway
Sweden
Netherlands
Northern Ireland

Ireland
Denmark
Finland
Slovenia
Portugal
Belgium

Brazil
Australia
New Zealand
Yugoslavia
Japan


[Source: http://www.declawing.com/htmls/outlawed.htm]
 

addiebee

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Originally Posted by LawGuy

My mother and cousin, both attorneys, are advising me not to redact that clause and to take the statement that it isn't enforced in good faith. They are worried that if I redact it, then the apt manager will have to verify with the management company if it's ok for her to sign off, and that it would draw unwanted attention to the issue.
Gotcha. Sounds like good advice.... on a stupid policy.
 

Willowy

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That's probably the best way to handle it. Especially since you have options and can move if they get too snarky on the subject. Most apartment complexes don't enforce their lease agreements anyway. My brother and his roommate had 2 cats in a "no-pets-allowed" apartment, and nobody ever said a word to them.
 
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