'We've both breached the contract': Landlord illegally enters tenants' apartment when they're not there, the tenants are keeping cats without his knowledge, and they're all stuck in a stalemate because neither can complain

There is always some drama going on when it comes to landlords and cats.

Listen, we know that finding an apartment that allows cats can be difficult in some places, but it must be done. Attempting to hide your cat from your landlord is a risk that is generally not worth taking. You never know if the landlord you have will be a decent one or not. If they will be humane about the way that they deal with the situation or ask you for insane things. Maybe they will be an understanding landlord, but seriously, we have seen landlords demand tenants leave after finding out about their cats or asking tenants to declaw their cats to protect their property.

In our opinion, it is always better to disclose than to take the chance. Your kitties are too important to take that risk. You don't want to end up in a position of having to find an apartment that allows pets in an emergency, not when you have the time and opportunity to move to a place that allows pets in the first place. Of course, sometimes, things happen anyway. And we hope that your situation with your landlord would end in a way that this one ended - strangely funny.

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via Unsplash / Avi Varma

Picture of a surprised cat peeking from behind a corner.
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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via chronically-iconic
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via Unsplash / Anton Darius - thesollers

Picture of a cat in the dark.
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
What a silly situation. For all we know, the landlord didn't even do anything intentionally wrong. Cancelling on the same day, via email, when there is a chance that the other person won't see it, is not the fairest thing either. He might have seen it after. Also, the fact that you are technically allowed to have cats in the house but chose not to say anything about them anyway. Oh, the whole situation is so silly. It sounds like a bunch of decent people stuck in a situation that none of them wanted to be in. Just confess. Forgive the landlord, because, most likely, all he did was miss an email and fix a shelf, and confess about the cats. We think that everything will be alright.
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via Unsplash / En nn - ennxcii

Picture of a ginger kitten looking confused.
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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via pollo316
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via Unsplash / Hongwei FAN

Picture of a focused cat peeking from behind furniture.
Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
We agree. If the cats had been an issue, you would have heard about it the second that the landlord was in the house, and the shelf would not have been fixed at all. They would have gotten in there, seen the cats, and made it into an issue. It legitimately sounds like this landlord does not have a problem with cats. Although they might have a problem with the dishonesty. Just get the cats into the contract.
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via DruncanIdaho