The Setting, Part 10

There are – let’s call them – extra factors to consider in rental living in general and senior citizen living in particular.  A landlord (property manager) may not delve very deeply into what a resident might want to do and is legally allowed to do, while said manager may delve very deeply into details about things the management wants the tenant to do.  This varies from place to place to some extent and may or may not be covered by some law or the other.  The landlord may also not be too up front about the actuality of some things openly offered either as amenities or promotional things. 

Case in point:  laws and rules allow for “companion animals” (pets) above and beyond the likes of the seeing eye dogs of blind individuals.  Animals can easily make a mess of a place; landlords may be rather leery about the matter and some don’t mention it.  If the prospective tenant doesn’t know it’s legal to have some animal around, the management sees no sense in encouraging the idea.  If the matter comes up at all, a likely example is something like a small bird or maybe a cat.  A dog can’t be more than twelve inches high at the shoulder (or some such thing). 

People do try to house animals in their apartments.  Usually (not always) there isn’t a problem for other residents with something like a house-broken cat that stays in another resident’s apartment.  Dogs, on the other hand, are usually taken outside to do their business.  So, what other tenants have to contend with is people running in and out of a place with a miniature something or the other attached to a lead (leash) given several yards of walking play even on the elevator.  (Maybe more on this general topic another time.)

Life is a study in humanity.