Tenant (long term) acquired dog without asking

[Kenny Tan]

Hi folks, one of my 2 rentals is long term. They did not skip rent so far, but always late. I raised the rent little, just because I liked them with kids and all. Rent jumped in Sacramento last few years, rent is now at least $300 below market rate. So for several years they enjoyed living at a nice neighborhood at below market rent. For that you'd think the tenant would be grateful. No - last month I dropped by and found a medium sized dog kept there so I confronted tenant and he apologized. Said he will pay pet deposit, etc. I am quite upset, they did not hold up their side of the agreement. There were so other issues, such as junk on the front yard. I feel betrayed, I dont trust them - I want them gone.

The lease ends in spring 2018. I can certainly wait it out. But what if I evict them asap due to keeping the dog. However, I did not specifically put down "no pets" in lease agreement. I used a very simple one page contract that did not mention pets.

Do I have valid grounds to evict since they violated the terms of lease?