Park rules state that no dogs over 35 pounds. These people have been at the park since take over around 6 months ago. Do you evict based on rule violation or non renew lease? I know its always said to do non renewal without notice to avoid getting sued but wanted to hear the best approach on this. thanks
Why have such a silly rule? The pounds of the dog are irrelevant. The only thing that matters is the breed of dog. So puppy pit bulls weighing 5 lbs. are not allowed in our parks. But 40 lb. black labs are.You can always even offer to allow your residents to keep a vicious breed dog if they get it insured. Kurt Kelley’s website has a lot of information about dogs and mobile home parks ==> www.mobileinagency.com.Good luck,-jl-
Our park rules restrict by the height of the dog (when full grown) at the withers. Weight is not relevant where as size is a very important factor to insure owners are able to control their dogs. Our height restrictions limit all dogs to only small breeds.
Remember it’s a owners inability to control their dog that is the problem not the dogs. You can’t do much about owners that refuse to control their dogs other than evict.
Thanks for the reposes, the issue was to determine if it was better to evict or non renew the lease Jefferson, a dog weight is something easily defined.You can’t say that about a breed. Are you doing DNA tests on the dogs? If you actually new the detail and standards and the many variations of a pit bull you might re think your standard. Here is a test you can do for me how well you do using your standard that I was say is about twice as silly as ourshttp://www.understand-a-bull.com/Findthebull/findpitbull_v3.html
Related to dog breeds, here is great article on the topic, some of you may recognize the authors name:http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/02/06/060206fa_fact?currentPage=all
We don’t do DNA testing. That sort of thing is for anal-retentive attorneys who live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan who want to find out who’s dog has been pooping on the 4x4 patch of grass infront of their million-dollar co-op apartment building.When we see what we suspect is a pit bull (or other vicious breed) we politely tell the tenant we don’t allow pit bulls.The tenant will then either say:1. “Oh little fluffy is such a friendly pit bull. She’ll just lick you to death.” Or,2. "Fluffy is not a pit bull."If it’s #1, then they’ve just admitted Fluffy is a pit bull. And we then say “I’m sure Fluffy is a great dog, but our insurance company does not allow uninsured pit bulls to be on the property. You must either insure Fluffy (call Kurt Kelley at Mobile Insurance), get rid of Fluffy, or move out and take Fluffy with you.” We give them written notice and, of course, follow what the law says - which is usually to allow the tenant a 30-day cure period. If Fluffy is still around and uninsured in 30 days, we non-renew their lease.If it is #2, then we say “I’m sure Fluffy is a great dog, but our insurance company does not allow any dog that even looks like a pit bull to be on the property. Please get us a letter from your veterinarian that Fluffy is not a pit bull, or even partially a pit bull mix.” If Fluffy is still around and uninsured in 30 days, we non-renew their lease.Good luck,-jl-
We let our insurance agent, Kurt Kelley at Mobile Insurance, guide us on these issues, as dog bites are now the #1 liability claim in mobile home parks. Whatever system you use, make sure that your insurance company stands behind it. Since most of the dogs in our parks are mixed breeds (we don’t have many American Kennel Society champions) and not purely one specific breed, we stick with the weight limit, as that’s at least something that can be easily verified when the jury is still out on if a chow/shih tzu/terrier/spaniel/corgi/doberman is a dangerous breed or a circus freak show.
Thanks guys