Landlord Can Object to Tenant's Second Dog

Facts: Landlord sued to evict tenants for breaching their lease by getting a new dog. Tenants had moved into the building in 1981 with their first dog, Taffy. Although their lease had a no-pet clause, landlord didn't object to the dog. Some years later, tenants moved into a larger apartment in the building and signed a new lease. This lease also contained the standard no-pet clause. Landlord added a rider stating that Taffy could stay in the apartment until her death, but that tenants couldn't get a new or substitute pet without landlord's written permission. When Taffy died, tenants got a second dog and landlord told them they had to get rid of it. Tenants didn't comply. Tenants argued that landlord gave up its right to enforce the general no-pet clause forever when it let Taffy live in their first apartment. Tenants also argued that the no-pet clause only applied to new tenants. Landlord claimed that the lease rider was enforceable against the new dog because it specifically prohibited any pets other than Taffy, and because it stated that landlord didn't give up its right to enforce the no-pet clause in the new lease. Court: Tenants lose. The lease rider explicitly stated that tenants couldn't replace Taffy. And the general no-pet clause applied to tenants because they created a new tenancy when they moved into the larger apartment.

Park Holding Co. v. Diamond: NYLJ, p. 23, col. 1 (12/21/94) (Civ. Ct. NY.; Strauss, J)