Tenant Potentially Hiding Dog

[Wesley Jensen]

Hey all, I live and have a few apartments in Connecticut and I have a situation with one of my units. The lease has 4 people on it, a couple and two of their friends. I got a text from the couple a month ago saying they were thinking about getting a dog and asked how it works with the lease and if there were any breeds rhat were not allowed. I told them I take a $200 non refundable fee, the pet would have to be added to lease and all pet specific terms (already in lease) would have to be complied with, and told him to google “non insurable dog breed list”, but if they had any questions on a breed specifically I would email my insurance company. I hadn’t heard anything else about the dog until I texted about a window issue asking if I could be there to look at it in a few days. They responded asking how to get me the 200$ and that the dog they were thinking about needed to be adopted by this weekend or would be put in a pound. I asked what kind of breed and they sent me a picture of the dog and said German Shepherd. I emailed my insurance company and they sent me a screen shot of the policy clearly stating no German shepherds. I forwarded this along and they have now gone silent. I was at the apartment today to talk to the other tenants of the same apartment (it’s one apartment but two different sections of it), I saw a dog bowl and leash and asked the other tenant if they had gotten the dog and he stuttered and said it was for his parents dog when they stop by every once and a while. I walked around to the other section of the apartment and knocked on the door 3 separate time and waited 3-4 minutes overall with no answer (both cars were there). Called their cell phone and it was off. I left a message saying I hope they didnt get the dog and would look into the legal process of handling the situation, and to please call me back. So I have no proof they have gotten the dog, although it seems pretty clear. Because my insurance I can’t allow them to have it even if I wanted to... what can I do? Theres one lease for all 4 but can I provide a notice to quit to only two people on the lease? Also thinking if I provide to all that could produce some helpful peer pressure. I plan to stop by unannounced within the next day or so but assume they will keep avoiding me. Thanks for the help! -Wes