[thesoundguru]

I have lived in the apartment I am now in for 4 years, I have had my dogs for 2. I received a notice on my door Thursday that I have 24 hours to remove my dogs from the property. I paid a pet deposit when I moved in and the landlord knows I have a german shepard and an american staffordshire terrier. She is stating that the dogs have caused multiple neighbors to complain about noise. I have spoken with the current tenants and everyone has said they have not complained and that they would testify in court regarding the matter. The landlord does have a notice in the lease that the landlord can have any animal removed within 24hrs if she sees them as a nuisance, a disturbance, or undesirable. My question is do I have any grounds legally with this statement in my lease if I can prove she is fabricating lies against me. I live in North Carolina and any help would be greatly appreciated.

[FadedMaster]

Depending on how reasonable your landlord is, I would gather signatures from all of the neighbors in the building to take to the landlord. I can't imagine any reasonable landlord would put up a fuss if you had signatures from your neighbors.

It's possible the notice was left on the wrong door. It's also possible that your neighbors are telling you what you want to hear and that they don't want any direct confrontation. I know my neighbors have called the cops on me for noise instead of just knocking on my door (although they've also called the cops on me when I wasn't even home, but that's a different story :-P).

Someone with legal knowledge will be better suited to give you legal advice.

[ScottGem]

Here's the thing. The landlord cannot physically remove the dogs legally. So, if you refuse to comply, then she can file for an eviction order. This means a hearing. You get your neighbors to show up or sign depositions stating they have no complaints about your dogs. Unless the landlord can prove they are nuisances, she probably will not get an eviction.

However, do you want to continue living in a place where the landlord will be unhappy with you? I would tell the landlord that, you can show the neighbors do not find your dogs a nuisance. But since she wants you out that you will be glad to move, you just need time to find new lodgings.

P.S. this is a legal question so has been moved to the proper forum.

[Fr_Chuck]

This is the issue, If I had called the landlord about your dogs, and you come and ask me, I am going to lie and say it was not me.

So yes most likely your neighbors called and don't want to confont you directly about it, This is my opinion. I have called police on several neighbors "barking dogs" late at night but I would not want them to know it was me doing it.

[AK lawyer]

... The landlord does have a notice in the lease that the landlord can have any animal removed within 24hrs if she sees them as a nuisance, a disturbance, or undesirable. ...

Seems iron-clad from the LL's point of view. Suggests it doesn't need to be the neighbors complaining; if the LL doesn't like the animals, they have to go.

[ScottGem]

The landlord does have a notice in the lease that the landlord can have any animal removed within 24hrs if she sees them as a nuisance, a disturbance, or undesirable.

Just noticed the wording here. If the clause states "the landlord can remove.." that would give the landlord the right to call Animal Control to have the pets removed. So you may have to house the pets elsewhere temporarily. But AK is right, even if the neighbors haven't complained, the landlord is finding them undesirable which is sufficient to have them removed or force you to remove them.