… other than make it uninhabitable for future potentially allergic tenants.
(if it’s an unfurnished apt with hardwood floors, it shouldn’t be a huge problem as long as the ducts are cleaned. The right set of circumstances, eg a carpet and me moving in after you, would spell disaster. But hey, as long as you’ve moved out, it’s all good, right?)
I have one cat, and if you visited the house, unless he jumped on your head (which he does do occasionally) you would not know he was here. But when I worked as a cruelty agent I once had to seize 4 cats from an apartment. 4 unneutered male cats. I cannot describe how bad this place smelled, it was unliveable. I do not how the owner cleaned this place after the tenant moved, but I imagine it was pretty expensive. So I do understand the no pet rule in some places. I think it sucks that irresponsible people have made it necessary.
Oh, come on. An uncarpeted, newly painted apartment, and you’d collapse because there was once a cat there? If you’re that allergic, you should be in a plastic bubble. I mean, I’m allergic to smoke, but I can move into an apartment that used to house a smoker: I open the windows for a day. Problem solved.
I guess I don’t see what the big deal is. The apartment has a no-pet policy. You have pets. Ergo, you do not need to live in said apartment. The end.
Is this apartment just that perfect for you aside from the one restriction? Have you convinced yourself that your cats are ‘different’ or ‘special’ and won’t cause problems of any sort? Have you given thought to the fact that you are biased?
BTW- Eve, is it okay for smokers to lie about whether they will smoke or not in order to stay in a non-smoking room at a hotel? Smokers can’t smell themselves, I know. Most pet owners I know tend not to see pet hair all over things.
We are not talking about hotels, we are talking about apartments. Smoke (and, yes, animal fur) would remain in the room after a guest has checked out (and smoke will drift to the rooms next to and above).
When an apartment is emptied out, cleaned, aired (sometimes painted) and re-rented, smoke and animal fur will be gone.
Tell you what, when you buy some property and rent part of it out, you can make whatever rules you want.
You should not sneak cats into your new apartment. What a great way to start a business arragement with someone. Just lie to them! Your parents will be so proud.
It’s their property. Why shouldn’t they be able to make the rules? You don’t like the rules, don’t fucking move in. I don’t care how clean your cats are or even if cats are clean in general. They don’t want cats on the property that they own.
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That’s nice Eve but it’s anecdotal and irrelevant. In Bucky’s experience, that isn’t the case. Because something is generally true doesn’t make it universally true.
Haj
It wouldn’t take much for you to be found out. At our complex, if we’re not home and have made a request to maitenance, they’ll let themselves in. How’re you going to explain the cats they keep running into?
The place is unfurnished and has hardwood floors only. Some posters seems pretty hostile. I don’t think cats are special or I’m special. I was just looking for an explanation of the no pets rule as applied to indoor cats. That’s all.
We’ve decided to disclose the cats and ask if the landlord is willing to accept higher deposit and/or rent in exchange for an exception to the rule. If the landlord refuses, we will look elsewhere. Everybody’s happy.
I told the landlord we want cats. He said no. We went out and found a cat-friendly place. Done deal. Thanks!
And the Free Market wins again. Congrats on your new place. And thanks for not making another landlord grumpy. 
I see that the question in the OP has already been answered, but I just wanted to chime in with my story.
My husband and I own a three family house. My husband takes care of the property and if something breaks he fixes it himself, for the most part. He is also highly allergic to cats. In order for him to enter and work in an apartment he has to be able to breathe. If one of our tenants had a cat, he’d be unable to spend more than five minutes in their apartment comfortably.
I’m glad you found a cat friendly apartment, Bearflag70.
Kudos to Bearflag70 for doing the right thing.
Here’s my experiences, non-universal, with cats in buildings:
Damage: I can smell the cats in the carpet (and the silver spooon!) YEARS after the cat has moved out. This is more the owner’s fault than the critters, but the various kitty juices linger pretty much forever if the litter box wasn’t used effectively.
Cats can and do scratch the hell out of furniture, curtains, even door jams.
To get out the allergens from cats requires scrubbing/vacuuming anything which can accumulate the hair. That’s generally more work than a tenant or landlord wants to do.
Eve, your cats are probably well-behaved. Frankly, I picture them having little Algonquin club meetings. Some people’s cats, however, are wildebeasts crossed with manticores.
And Spectre, I think rules against videotaping my tenants in the shower are stupid and unfair, so I secretly install cameras in all of the bathrooms. Is that okay with you?
I am a property manager with more experience with cats and lying tenants than I care to have. Twice in my career, I have actually had to tear up the carpeting, padding and saw the damn floor out and replace it all because of cat pee.
Security deposits do not begin to cover that kind of damage! People living with pets don’t smell them. I can smell them, and I’m a lifelong smoker.
How many threads have you seen here on the Straight Dope over the years from folks asking how to get rid of cat pee stench?
Some idiots think that I won’t find out but eventually I do. My trusty blacklight goes with me on each and every walk through and will detect the tiniest pee stain, even after professional cleaning. In my jurisdiction it’s grounds for keeping the entire security deposit. If I can’t mitigate the damage with that, I will take said former tenant to court for the rest of the damage.
If you are still looking at this thread RickJay, I’m curious where exactly you live, so that I can look up the law that allows one to ignore the terms of the lease. Is anyone else aware of such laws anywhere else?
Yea, the Law of It’s Not Fair, Because MY Cat Isn’t Like That One!
Not here in Minnesota.
I was a landlord of an upper/lower duplex unit. The lease stated, in three places, “No pets.” They brought a cat in anyway.
Long story short: Court-ordered eviction and forfeiture of their damage deposit due to the fact that I had to have the place steam cleaned.
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I wish. Now, I’m a smoker just like bare above ,and my sense of smell ain’t as good as a lot of folks, but it isn’t my nose that functions as the cat detector. It’s my eyes. Then my throat. Then my skin all over.
Oh, I’d know. Probably within 10 minutes.
Listen, you don’t live in new yahk new yahk, do ya? There’s other places to live in town. Look sum moore, u myte fynde som’ting u lahk.
It is the landlord’s property. You have no right to treat it against his/her wishes. Suppose your landlord decided that he didn’t like the color of your car…and slapped some other color of paint on it.
The landlord has invested a lot of money that was probably earned by years of work on someone’e part, and they should be allowed their property rights.
Same principle working here. Be honest and find an apartment where the cat is not a problem. You will be better off, and so will the cats and any neighbors.
Nothing to add about apartments and cats, But I would like to add that I live with my very allergic to cats fiancee. The first time he came over he got watery eyed and about died. So I just cleaned extra good. I vaccuum everything everyday, and change the litter box everytime there is something in it. Now we live together in peace and harmony. Not saying this works for everyone, but the extra vacuuming appears to have helped here.
Yep, someone who is really allergic to cats (as opposed to someone who is mildly sensitive) will know, whether they can smell it or not. In fact, that’s a classic airborne allergy reaction that Rysdad describes.
IANAD, etc., but I’ve had enough allergic reactions to know about them.
And I love my cats BUT I acknowledge that cats can be destructive little critters, especially when they’re bored. I’ve sort of adopted a cat into a no-pet apartment myself, and I came to regret it. Shortly afterwards, we moved into a place that DID allow pets, and we were all much happier.