In California SB 1229 is law; it’s illegal for landlords to discriminate against tenants who have not had their pet dogs and cats declawed or devocalized.
This is simply an update to a post I wrote on 17th September 2012. At that time the law in California making it illegal for landlords to refuse to let a property because a proposed tenant’s cat had not been declawed or their dog not debarked was still a bill. It was yet to be law.
I checked today and was pleased to see that it had been signed off by Gov. Jerry Brown and has been law in California since 28th Sept. 2012 or thereabouts.
Landlords who violate this law could be fined $1,000.
This law is common sense. There are many ways a landlord can seek redress if his property is damaged by a cat’s claws and tenants have always had redress against other tenants who create a nuisance because their dog barks. Leases have standard clauses dealing with this sort of thing and so do tenancy agreements.
Here is a neat website about dogs: http://www.insidedogsworld.com/
Source: California passes law protecting tenants and their pets
How can it have been a law since Sept 2015?
Yes, I thought you’d pick that up! A typo. I have changed it. It commenced 2012 pretty soon after my earlier post.
Sorry, I am programmed to type 2015!