lease with allowed pets, but so confusing

i signed a lease in august for a year, i was thinking about getting a pet
and in the lease it says under \'schedule \'A\'\' that if the rental
agreement does not address pets and smoking, then they are premitted in the
rental premises...and if there is something that says no pets or no smoking
them we must abide to those rules..and so forth... so i presumed that meant
it was pet friendly, i then notified my landlord of the pet which i was
gonna aquire, and the landlord told me i wasn\'t allowed pets, i called
renter\'s board about 5 times, and they all gave me 5 different answers, and
i was wondering, which do i follow, the written agreement or the oral which
was last minute?

[OHlandlord]

Read through your lease agreement thoroughly. I'm betting that pets are addressed in there somewhere. It may be listed under House Rules (or similar named article). Most leases are enforced as "No Pets" unless a Pet Addendum is completed, signed, and added onto your lease, along with either pet fees or deposits. Since the pet issue seems to be confusing to you, and since the landlord has now notified you that you may not have pets, I would not pursue this issue by getting a pet at this time. Wait until your lease ends, then either request a pet addendum be added to your renewal or look for a pet friendly place to live with your new animal.

My other question is why are you calling a renter's board? Your LL has already given you an answer. He owns the building, not any board. If you fail to follow the LL's direction on this, plan to move when the lease ends as I suspect you will be non-renewed.

the lease does not address pets anywhere... no set of house rules attached.... the 'board' is the landlord/tenancy board... which was no help to me.

[OHlandlord]

I don't know what authority the LL-Tenancy board has in your area. There is no such organization here. If they have no authority, it is useless to talk to them. You need to negotiate with your LL. Point out to him the Schedule A addendum and the lack of clause prohibiting pets. Then ask about paying a pet deposit for the pet. If he absolutely refuses, you may be able to get by with having the pet for this lease period (since it was no prohibited in the lease), however, you can be sure there will be a specific no pets clause in any renewal lease. You can be sure that pushing this issue if the LL is steadfast against pets will cause ill will, so he may look for other reasons to get rid of you.