THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 2, 1994 TAG: 9406300463
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 20 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: LANDLORDS & TENANTS
SOURCE: William Mazel and Albert Teich Jr.
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Q. The tenants in my duplexes have leases that prohibit them from keeping pets. A new tenant, interpreting the lease to mean that pets must stay outside, keeps a pit bull puppy in the back yard to alert her of trespassers.
Rather than evict the tenant, I'm inclined to let her stay as long as she keeps the dog outside. My concern is that he might grow vicious when he gets older, as that breed tends to do sometimes.
If the dog gets loose and hurts someone, will I be liable in a lawsuit. The tenant has no assets of her own.
A. Most likely, you won't be legally responsible to anyone if your tenant's pit bull puppy grows into a vicious dog and bites someone. Still, a biting victim is free to sue you, and either you or your insurance carrier will have to pay the legal fees to defend your case.
Also, you might find your other tenants do not like the pit bull on the property. If the dog remains, you might lose some good tenants.
Generally, when a lease forbids pets, the rule covers both the inside and outside of a duplex or single-family house. In apartments, such a rule would apply only to the inside of a unit because tenants have no rights involving an apartment's exterior.
Renters wish to end lease
Q. My husband works for the Defense Department at the Norfolk Naval Aviation Depot. Because the depot is scheduled to close, he recently received permanent change of station orders to the Naval Aviation Depot in Cherry Point, N.C.
We've been renting an apartment in Chesapeake since August 1989. The lease is up on Aug. 31.
We have been exemplary tenants and faithfully pay the rent on time. In February, we gave written notice that we needed to terminate the lease early.
Unfortunately, the landlord says the lease's early-termination clause does not apply to us because my husband is not in the military. We contend that my husband is covered by the clause because he works for a civil service division supporting the military.
Are we correct?
A. Regrettably, you are not correct. The Virginia Residential Landlord-Tenant Act covers only military personnel and civil service technicians attached to the Virginia National Guard.
The act says nothing about civil service workers. Also, we can find nothing in Virginia's laws that gives early-termination rights to non-military personnel.
The Landlord-Tenant Act
Q. I'd like to get a copy of the Virginia Residential Landlord-Tenant Act. How can I obtain one?
A. For a copy of the Virginia Residential Landlord-Tenant Act, write the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs, 11 Bank Street, Washington Building, Richmond, Va. 23219. MEMO: Albert Teich Jr. and William Mazel are real estate lawyers based in
Norfolk. Send comments and questions to them at Real Estate Weekly, 150
W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510.
by CNB