Question: Can a Pet Bylaw reasonably limit the number of pets you can have in an apartment?
Answer; I think if you look at what the court said in the Cooper case, that would not withstand scrutiny
That’s a grey area. I do a lot of bylaws that say, ‘If you want to keep more than one pet, we can knock you back’, and it’s reasonable for us to do so, and I think if that ever gets scrutinised, again we’re getting back into the territory of imposing a blanket ban. What we’re really saying is, there is a ban on you having more than one pet in your apartment. I think if you look at what the court said in the Cooper case, that would not withstand scrutiny, because it may well be possible for someone (a responsible pet owner) to keep two dogs in an apartment, or to keep a dog, a fish in an aquarium and a small budgie in a cage in a way that can’t possibly have a detrimental effect on the amenity of other residents.
This post appears in Strata News #478.
Adrian Mueller
JS Mueller & Co Lawyers
E: adrianmueller@muellers.com.au
P: 02 9562 1266
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