Site Policies and Rules

Overview

Most of the same mundane policies that one would expect at any rental apply here at Lion Canyon and are described in the lease agreement. However, there are some extra rules here that aim to:

• Prevent nuisance to you and your neighbors
• Prevent damage to your home or furnishings
• Keep people and cats safe and healthy

Rest assured that these rules are reasonable and not overly controlling. For example, "no loud music" and "no big parties" doesn't mean you can't have friends over and listen to music. It just means you can't bring an unruly mob in to damage the property and blare music so loud that you bother the whole neighborhood.

Ideally, you would feel these rules would be easy to follow without any real sacrifice, and hopefully see some of them as beneficial. For example, a quiet home can help you get good sleep, and every rule about the plumbing could save you hundreds or thousands of dollars.

However, if these rules seem like a burden to you—if you really want to throw loud parties and set things on fire—then we highly encourage you to look elsewhere, because essentially no other homes in the area have these rules.

Keep Lion Canyon peaceful.

Lion Canyon is designed to be a calm, quiet refuge for both people and cats, which means excessive noise—like loud music or big parties—is not allowed.

If you did not plan on making much noise anyway, then you can see this quiet policy as a pure benefit, since it won’t restrict you and will ensure your sleep, study, work, or enjoyment of your home will not disturbed by your neighbors. (Sleep is important for everyone’s health, especially cats—in fact, kittens need to sleep 16-20 hours a day for proper development.)

On the other hand, if you see this quiet policy as uncomfortably restrictive, then Lion Canyon probably isn’t for you. However, since practically no other housing in the area has such restrictions, you have no shortage of other options.

In general, please be courteous of your neighbors and avoid making noise that would bother them. A few specifics:

• Please take care to open and close the convertible desk/bed gently to avoid disturbing others.
• Please avoid using the garbage disposal between 10 pm and 8 am.
• Please keep the television and music at a level that does not disturb your neighbors.

No flames or vapors.

Smoking, candles, incense burners, and anything that produces smoke or vapor other than steam are all prohibited. In addition to reducing fire danger, this also protects the eyes and respiratory tracts of cats, as well as prevents unnecessary anxiety and irritation, since a cat’s sense of smell is about 14 times more sensitive than that of a human.

Only cats are allowed.

Dogs are awesome and many dogs are wonderful with cats, but the misbehavior of a single dog—or even its scent—could disturb all cats on the property, so no pet dogs or any other pets are allowed at Lion Canyon—only cats.

(We love dogs, and one of the next Haven Homes project planned is for large dogs; however, Lion Canyon is for cats only.)

Cats must be cared for.

To protect the health and wellbeing of all tenants and pets:

• All cats must be indoor-only.
• All cats must be spayed/neutered.
• All cats must be examined by a licensed veterinarian at least once a year.
• All cats must be vaccinated according to the recommendations of a licensed veterinarian.
• All cats must be given adequate food, water, physical touch, and mental stimulation.
• All cats must be given access to a litter box that is emptied and cleaned regularly.

In order to be allowed to have a cat on the premises, you must sign a document promising to follow these rules. (This is not intended to be a legally enforceable document; however, there is still value in making a firm promise and signing your name to it.)

Everyone can use the patio.

Since San Diego has famously perfect weather year-round, you may want to spend much of your time outside. You are welcome to do so on the giant 1,250 sq. ft. raised patio, which has outdoor seating and a 600 sq. ft. covered area with lights and fans, for your quiet enjoyment from 8 am to 10 pm.

Don’t alter the home.

If you want something changed in your home, just ask—please do not attempt to do it yourself. Even if you just want to hang something on the wall, just ask me—I have special hooks that cause minimal drywall damage and I know what’s inside all the walls.

If you are using a hammer, saw, drill, screwdriver, or practically any tool on something that isn’t your own property, then you are almost surely violating this rule.

Avoid plumbing and water damage.

If you want to avoid costly repair bills, pay close attention to this section, because other than causing a fire, almost every way you could possibly cause expensive damage to the home is related to plumbing or water damage.

As of this writing, the pipes are all brand new, so if your drain backs up, the odds are incredibly high that you caused it through misuse.

Never use these products.

Using any of these products can cause thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars in damage.

• Drano
• Liquid Plumr
• Mr. Clean Magic Eraser

Never flush anything but TP.

Just ask any plumber: There is no such thing as a “flushable” wipe, regardless of the lies printed on the label.

The lease says: “Tenant shall not allow any tampons or other hygiene products, cotton balls, tissues, bandages, dental floss, wipes of any kind (including those marked ‘flushable’), sweepings, rubbish, sand, rags, ashes or any other substances other than toilet paper or human excreta to be thrown or deposited therein.” Follow this to the letter.

Never use shower caddies.

Shower arm pipes are not designed to support more weight than the shower head. Heavy shampoo bottles apply constant pressure on the shower arm. Then that weight is suddenly taken away, then put back—and not always gently—by people who have just put soap near their eyes. This will inevitably cause a leak in the pipe behind the wall, which is incredibly expensive to fix, let alone the cost of any other water damage the leak causes. Do everyone a favor and use the multiple shelves that have been built into each shower instead.

Use drain strainers.

In the bathroom, use a strainer to keep hair from clogging the drain.

In the kitchen, use a strainer to keep out everything that shouldn’t go into the disposal, including:

• Fats, oils, grease
• Eggshells
• Used coffee grounds
• Potato peels
• Fibrous foods
• Expandable foods, like rice and pasta
• Starchy foods, like oatmeal
• Corn husks
• Nuts
• Trash
• Celery & onions
• Meat
• Bones
• Fruit pits
• Seafood shells
• Broken glass or metal

Don’t put grease in the drain.

It bears repeating: Do not pour fats, oils, or grease down any drain. It will stick to the pipes, harden, and cause a foul-smelling clog.

Run cold water with disposal.

Always run cold water down the drain when using the garbage disposal. Otherwise, the motor will overheat and burn out.

Don’t let mold/mildew form.

Open bathroom windows and turn on the ventilation fan during and the shower, and keep ventilating afterward until the bathroom is dry. Similarly, always use the ventilation fan when cooking on the stovetop. Clean up spilled water promptly. Failing to take these steps will lead to mold or mildew forming.

Don’t attract ants.

Do not leave food out uncovered, and use airtight containers when possible. Do not let dirty dishes sit very long outside the dishwasher. If ants do invade, remove whatever was attracting them and wash all their pathways with soap and water—this disrupts the scent markers they use for navigation.