Who'd have to get their check book out on this one??? - Page 1

My mom owns a ton of rental property.  She has some tenants that have dogs and never had a problem.  One of her tenants has a GSD, the guys a little "out there" lol but all in all there's never been anyone who's complained about the dog.  Well it appears that yesterday a new tenant was moving in upstairs with her husband and 3 children and the guy with the GSD got a wild hair up his ass because they were making a little noise moving their stuff in and he was trying to sleep after working a longer day and he got a little "shitty" with the new tenants (way to start things off huh?) lol 

Anyhow, in the course of this conversation the lady upstairs apologized to him and he just wanted to be a total jerk and give her a hard time. I'm not sure how this part even came about in the conversation between the 2 but somewhere along the lines the guy told this woman his dog would bite her kids.  The kids had not even laid eyes on the dog at this point or even knew the man had a dog.  The lady not knowing this man, or his dog called my mother frantic because this guy has her feeling like she's living upstairs from CUJO. lol 

The guy claims his dog is trained to "attack on command" his exact words he used....I have a hard time believing the dog has any training other than basic obedience especially because most of us who have dogs with this type of training don't broadcast it and especially make light of any "threat" that our dog will bite anyone let alone a child but that's neither here nor there. 

My question is IF this mans dog did ever bite one of the children especially now that he's acknowledged he knows his dog bites is the landlord held accountable as well as the dog owner?  Can the landlord be sued in addition to the owner of the dog and would the homeowner's insurance cover such an incident?  I wasn't exactly sure what to tell her but if I had to guess I'd assume the landlord would probably wind up getting sued too??

The guys lease is up and I just told her to get rid of the nutt job to avoid a potential problem.  Anybody have any experience in this department?

Absolutely the landlord can be held liable, especially now that your mom is aware of the situation.  Get rid of the guy or at very least make him pony up for renter's insurance that specifically covers the dog with your mom listed on the policy as co-insured. 

I don't know if the landlord would be responsible but that doesn't really matter - your mom should just get rid off him anyway.

He sounds like he is definitely going to do something stupid, and people like him are the reason people are so scared of GSD's.

Just save any trouble that might occur and get rid of him now.

That's what I think anyway.

Good Luck

I agree with Proud Shep, he is an idiot who tried to intimidate this family to get his way = BULLY.  He basically threatened them with his dog!!!!  If I were them I would contact the police also and file an incident report and animal control to ensure his vaccines are up to date & see if there are any reported bites by his dog.  I understand being tired & needing sleep but when you live in an apartment you know things of that nature are going to happen.  The people have every right to move in.  He was out of line and has put your mom and his dog on the chopping block right next to himself and is probably too dumb to even know that.

EVICTION papers would be on his door step ASAP.

Teri 

Agar---I don't think I'd take the word of the new tenant too quickly....that is, heated words might have been exchanged....but threatening that the dog would attack her children..........just don't believe it.  He rents and realizes how hard it is to have any dog.  He may be "out there", but "that far" .....???  I'd advise your mom to have a talk with the gsd owner.  First ask what happened.  He may have said that he'd rather the kids stay away from his dog because the new people just annoy him.  Not too bright on his part. If the new tenant doesn't love dogs....I could see her 'freak out' when she saw him.  I see so many people like this......and they think nothing of starting trouble.  Why not score one for the dogs?  Suggest to mom that she tell BOTH tenants to work it out.  No one else complained about the dog......and until 'substantiated' evidence of a vicious dog has been proven, the gsd owner shouldn't be asked to leave...or worse.....get rid of the dog. ALSO---The new tenant should be made to realize...in no uncertain terms....she doesn't have the power to just get rid of the dog by complaining. She's already going to cost the guy the added expense of laying out money  for renter's insurance.

Just another take on the situation. Something to think about in this already prejudiced world of owning any 'large' breed.  Good luck. 

Unfortunately in today's sue happy world I think everyone is at risk.  Although I commend your mom for allowing pets, if this were my mom I would advise her to see her lawyer regarding her potential liability in regards to ANY of her tenants pets.  I would do some background checking, for instance can she require any tentant to carry renters insurance?  Can she require some sort of liability coverage for the pets regardless of breed.  Can she require evidence of these policies on a annual basis and perhaps make it a part of their lease as well as a hold harmless clause?  I certainly do not want to discourage her from renting to people w/pets, I would imagine that families w/pets for the most part are happier and might be more stable tenants.  I am fortunate to own my home, I remember when we first got married we had to rent for a few yrs, when we bought our first house our housewarming gift to ourselves was our first gsd.  The breeder kept our puppy an extra week so we could move in!

LMH good point.  Sound advice, there are people who lie every day and he has been there for at least a year with no incident if he lease is up.  I agree with getting both sides of the story before deciding what to do but realize there are always 3 sides to every story, his, hers & the TRUTH (somewhere in the middle). 

Teri

AgarPhranicniStraze1 , i OWN A PROPERTY MANAGMENT COMPANY. Give him notice TODAY< NOW! You have an obligation and you have now been put on notice of the type of dog he has (does not matter if true or not). Forget the renter insurance on this one, it will not save you. I can site some really stuipd judgements against landlords for some really stupid tenants and jury awards are out there. I do not know what state you live in, but in California the jury awards are NUTS.

Here is one for the books, Owner shows property allows no dogs in buiilding, comments on the beautiful park accross the street for the prospective tenant. Tenant rents the unit. Kids play in park, dogs attack kids. The tenant sues the landord and wins, because the landlord mentioned the park the tenants had a right to consider it safe and an extension of "his" property.

This also goes farther than just the dog being the issue. You have 2 tenants fightiing, if one gets hurt in another altercation (sp), you were put on notice and can be held responsible. (In this case you would be obligated to throw them both out) I would stand on the dog and give boot to them.

I would also at this pont access your lighting on the buildiing and make sure that darn thing lights up at night, like it is daylight.

Agar I am sorry to hear it. Get him out of there, your mom will be liable 100%. Don't give him any other option. If anything would happen your mom would get chew up and eaten by lawyers. Please don't put yourself in that risk. Usually the way it works first they would go after the owner for the money, if he would not be able to pay no insurance, no asset etc., than thay would turn over at your mom and her insurance. Not a happy scenario. Good luck I am sorry. What a shame idiot's like that give GSD crappy rep., and they make harder for us to rent just because we own GSD. Good luck.

You have knowledge, you have liability.

The lady has option's, sound's like a threat and intimidation.     I got a gun, keep the noise down or your kid's could get shot.

The lady should call the law and make out a complaint.   Ground's for eviction.

Let a lawyer handle it.

The guy give's human's a bad name.