Example:
1. Assume you are in the management office, signing a lease on a new apartment. You notice that the lease has a prohibition against pets.
You go ahead and sign even though you were planning to get a puppy to keep in the apartment. Assume there is a merger clause.
You ask the landlord as you are signing whether it would be okay to buy a small puppy and keep
in the apartment, and the landlord replies “we have made arrangements for other tenants, just
let us know.”
You buy the puppy a few weeks later and get her settled in the apartment and go down to the management office to let the landlord know.
He says that he charges an extra $500 deposit for animals, and in any event, the dog is too big and he will not accept it.
a) Can you enforce his statement to you when you signed the lease? Why or why not?
b) Look at the list of exceptions to the Parol Evidence Rule on our classroom slides. Find 3 exceptions that could apply here if the facts were slightly different. Then suggest the changes to the fact pattern that would help you argue those exceptions.
