RANT- Pet Rent
 

I have always lived in NYC since I have had my yorkies- here it is super easy to find apartments that allow pets and they never require any extra deposits or pet rents of any kind.

I am now planning to move out of the city and it was so difficult to find a place that allowed pets and when I finally did- they request 200/ per pet deposit and an additional 25 per pet per month "pet rent". I kind of understand the deposit in case of damage- but what in the world does each of my yorkies do to require an extra 25 dollars per month. :eek:

I was given the "option" of not bringing them with me... really?!?!?! Is that a serious option. Would an apartment complex tell you not to bring your child along? :rolleyes:

OKay- so I guess this rant has no point whatsoever- but I was just wondering if others pay pet rent and how much it is... just trying to see whether this is normal.

I dont think its fair if you pay a deposit it should be enough but they charge it because they can thats why Im glad Im aa homeowner

Personally, I think your babies are sooo cute that they should pay you for the opportunity to have such cute yorkies live in their building.:D

Aww :D Thanks- the big headed yorkies totally agree.

At the very least I figure I should only pay for one of them since they only weigh 9 pounds combined :p

Way out here (ha, that's a song), they flat tell you NO Pets for apartments and rental houses. It is very uncommon to see a place that says pets allowed. My dd rents a duplex, and we went to visit one hot summer day and I took Moka with her crate. I left her in my dd's duplex, in her crate while we went to dinner. Duh, the other option was a 100 plus degree hot car. Someone complained because they heard her bark and when we got back my dd had the nastiest note left on her door telling her to get the dog out NOW! I mean, it was jut an hour while we ate and she was in a crate so she couldn't do any damage!! I thought I was being very respectful to bring the crate, but I guess not. I always thought it was refreshing to read on YT how people in the big cities are so accomodating for pets. Good luck in your quest.

When I was living in Tucson I had to pay a $20 a month rent for my dog, plus a $300 pet deposit. It's pretty standard, as much as it sucks, mostly because pets have a tendency to mess up a place. My complex allowed dogs but no cats unless it was de-clawed and fixed because some cat owner probably allowed their cat to destroy the carpet, and their non fixed cats peed all over the place...and you know how impossible that smell is to remove. I figure it's kind of a deterrent for people to have pets in apartments as they can cause so many issues for the land owner.

Well around my neck of the woods, you can't find any rental homes or apartments that will allow pets.

It is VERY rare here to find rentals that allow pets. Most large apartment complexes owned by companies have their rules and they won't bend them. What bothers me most is that you can find a few apartments that say they allow cats, but not dogs. I know that dogs bark and cat's don't, but I feel that cats could do way more damage to carpets with their claws, and the smell of cat pee is nearly impossible to get rid of :rolleyes: I would say my dog is smaller than a cat, doesn't shed, and rarely makes a peep, but there was no budging.

Luckily I was able to find two private house rentals in two different cities that would allow Layla. They required an extra deposit, but not extra rent! When I was moving to my current city, I had contacted a few people who said "No pets, but contact me again if you decide to get rid of it" :mad: Obviously not animal lovers!

I am glad to now be a homeowner so I can make my own rules!

I've paid anywhere from $250.00 to $500.00 in pet deposits across three different rental places. I've never had to pay a monthly fee but a lot of places that we looked at did require that. On the one hand, I completely understand why a landlord charges a deposit. I have an aunt who owns rental property and she charged a $500 pet deposit for a house once and the renter had several large dogs that she basically just let have the run of the place. Repairs ended up costing my aunt several thousand dollars so the deposit really didn't help her much. However, few places will refund your deposit which irritates me. I figure a deposit is my guarantee that my animal will not ruin the property. If I leave and you check the place over and all is in order, I should get my pet deposit back just like I get my regular deposit back!!

On a happier note, the duplex we live in now actually takes into consideration the size of your pet. So the smaller the dog, the cheaper the deposit. This seems much more fair to me because on average, a small dog is just not going to be able to do as much damage as a larger dog could. Still...can't wait until my husband and I can finally afford to buy a house!!!
-C

Many, many, many.....,.got the idea~years ago we lived in a rental complex that allowed pets. There was an extra deposit required and an additional $25 monthly charge. If I recall correctly there was also a MAX weight of under 35 lbs. I do believe that the city of Chicago is very welcoming to pet owners. Although I don't live in downtown Chicago I go there often for work as does my husband and we both see plenty of owners walking their dogs. He drives all over Chicago and loves to give me Yorkie sightings~what they are wearing, full coat/short coat, where they were spotted, it's just so sweet when he does this :p There are also plenty of dog parks to be found as well.

That is very sweet of him :) My husband is the same way. They have big hearts :thumbup:!

Having been a landlord years ago, I have to say that I never allowed pets in my rentals. This doesn't apply to anyone here, but most of the people we rented to had no respect for the property -- every time we had a tenant move out, we had to completely re-do the entire place - trash removal, cleaning, new paint, draperies, carpets, and vinyl flooring. A couple of tenants even took all of the light fixtures and everything else they could remove, and one took a sledge hammer to everything he couldn't remove. The last one was because we evicted him after he failed to pay his rent for six (!) months. The no-pets rule was more about liability than about damage since we pretty much knew we were going to have to redo each place. Perhaps the monthly pet rental addition is for liability insurance?

We reached the point where it was costing us far more to own the rentals than we were making on them so we sold everything. And I can tell you some horror stories about tenants. Landlords get a bad rap. There are some really bad ones, but most are regular people trying to make a living. They do have lots of costs that have to be paid every month whether or not the tenants pay their rent.

I could NEVER be a landlord because I know all they go through! My grandma has a basement suite and has always rented it out. One guy had lived there maybe 6 months, and he moved out without telling her, after not paying rent for a couple of months. He had beer bottles lining the walls around the whole place (on the ledge of the foundation) which my grandma had asked him to remove many times before because you could see them right in front of the windows from the street.. He had punched holes through the drywall and even through a door. She had to replace almost everything. She hadn't charged much for a damage deposit and he hadn't even been paying rent so it was all out of her pocket. She did send a letter to him and his parents, and they stuck up for him saying he would never do something like that. :mad:

After that, her sister and brother-in-law moved in for a year until they retired, because their house sold much sooner than they had expected! And when they moved out, her half-brother moved in and he will be staying there for good. So many tenants take advantage of good landlords. I could never do it!

Reading all these post make me so glad that we own our home.
I did live in a rental villa before I got married but most of that time I did not have pets and they had a strict no pet rule anyway. If it was not confined to a cage (bird, fish, lizard, gerbal) then it was not allowed. About 2 months before we moved I got a kitten. She is getting up in age now but she has always been so quiet. They never knew she was there.

Good luck in finding a place.

Most apartments in SF don't allow dogs. It's a real pain, but I guess I kind of understand, because if you get two dogs on the same floor and they don't like each other, they would be barking all day.

Most places around here (Annapolis, MD) are pet-friendly but they do require deposits and sometimes extra fees every month. I think the apartments I was looking into required a $150 pet deposit and then $10 extra per month or something. Rental homes, however, I've never noticed them asking for a deposit... they usually just say "dogs on case by case basis" or "dogs under 25lbs" or something.

Most apartments in Charlotte are pet-friendly, but require a deposit and/or pet rent. The total deposit for our two dogs was a total of $300. We don't have any pet rent, but we did decide on our apartment based on that fact. Several places would have required a $400 deposit and $25/month for Levi and my brother/roommate's dog Dallas. They are both small (5 and 25 pounds), housebroken, and well-behaved. I think most kids do more damage than Levi and Dallas could do to the apartment! I do think it is a bit ridiculous.

Most apartments where I live allow pets, which is surprising since it's a college town.

I can understand your point...I would feel the same way. Private landlords here charge a deposit...some apt complexes have deposits, weight and breed requirements. I can also understand a landlord's point of view. Not everyone are good pet owners like us. For example, some simply don't care about their pets enough to provide flea and tick treatment and in some areas this can quickly become an infestation that the landlord would have to deal with once they move out. What if someone has a destructive pet? Sometimes the deposit of a few hundred dollars isn't enough to cover the damage. Just a thought.

My DD recently moved out to an apartment and her roommate has a cat. He had to pay a 200 or 300 pet deposit and a 20 monthly fee. I remember before owning our own house trying to find places that would let me have my yorkie, Zorro at the time. It was really hard.

Actually, wanting to own pets gave me good incentive to work hard (as much overtime as I could) to earn a down payment to buy my first house. But that was back in the stone ages when caves weren't so expensive and it was pretty easy to find a job. I feel bad for my nieces and nephews who are struggling to support themselves right now.

The pet rent would drive me insane, but another thing that irks me is that our pet deposit was nonrefundable (unlike our security deposit). My boys are on flea/tick/HW prevention all year, they don't have bad potty manners or carpet-chewing habits, they don't scratch on doors or walls. I can see them keeping the deposit, or charging for damages upon move-out, if they caused any damage...but they keep the deposit regardless. I don't mind the deposit so much because I love Levi and my brother's dog and they are totally worth it, but I don't quite understand why the pet deposit is nonrefundable (they repaint and replace carpet after every tenant anyway).

I lived in a rental house that should have been condemned well we paid a $500 pet deposit a $500 security deposit and we needed first and last months rent ($500 a piece) then we wear told we would not have to pay pet rent for our two dogs and three cats but every additional 20 lbs was $25 (this included water in the fish tank we soon discovered) but the landlord was a jerk face anyway he agreed to give back the $1000 in deposits but only if we filled out a card saying where we wear moving to.
(we moved out because we caught him letting himself in the house with a key he was not supposes to have and stealing) this is still in court because he declared bankruptcy

I did not realize how lucky I was to be able to keep Buster in my apartment. My landlord was not going to allow pets after a bad tenant left his dogs alone all the time and they pooped and peed all over the carpets. I felt so bad for them you could hear them howl with loneliness. Lucky for me and Buster my landlord allowed pets to stay. Besides Buster there are 2 pomeranians and a St Bernard in the 8 unit building.

I rent a basement apt . A few months after I moved in I asked if I could get a cat, they immedietly told me no! I was sad and upset but I had only been living there a few months.

A year later, I still wanted a pet. I live alone and sometimes its just lonely. Right out of beauty school, I moved to southern oregon with a roomate. Her mom was obsessed with yorkies! She had a little boy and a mix part yorkie/pom that they had rescued from the animal shelter. Many years prior she also had a male and female and sadly another female that she lost to a severe case of parvo. I grew to LOVE the breed and promised myself someday I would have a little friend of my very own.


So I decided to ask again, this time being a yorkie, because in my heart this is truly what I wanted. So, I drew up a pet proposal. I went off the current rates of pet friendly apartements in my area. I offered a 200 pet deposit and an additional 25 pet rent. I also included facts about the breed and how I planned on taking care of my new little girl. The next day she said YES! I was so excited!!!!!!!

Yes, I truly do understand your frustration when it comes to pet rent/ deposit. But I also can see why in the begining when I asked point blank without offering anything she said no. She still really didn't know me and I am sure she was being cautious to not be taken advantage of. This is bottom line her home. And she will continue to live here when I move on someday. I offered out of kindess and fairness. I do see why landlords are NOT pet friendly. Because so many abuse that privilege, which sucks for the responsible pet owners out there! But like you it is worth it to me to have Taycie in my life. No dollar amount can compare with that.

A few months later.... guess who got a yorkie??? Yes! She did! And She did do away with my monthly pet rent!:) So even though it sucks, I am also thankful she was able to work with me.

That is a very upbeat story with a surprise ending, I'm glad you shared it. We don't all have that kind of luck all the time, but your pet proposal is an excellent idea.

When I lived in an apartment, I paid $200/pet for up to two pets. We now own, and do not miss renting one bit!

Thanks! And I have NO LUCK at all so I got extra lucky:)

Yeah well try being a senior in a retirement community! My grandma moved to a retirement community-not a nursing home-retirement community, they encourage older people to have pets for their health...then they charge $75 extra for the cleaning lady, $75 a month more on the rent and something like a $500 pet deposit-she has a cat. I get deposits-not everyone is a responsible pet owner-but pet rent! Let alone to seniors where pets are almost a requirement for their overall well being-it's just plain rude!
Off topic, I'm so annoyed with the anti pet hotels too-seriously I have hypoallergenic dog because of my own allergies,Yorkies and Mini Schnauzers don't shed, fleas are parasites I'm phobic of them. My dogs are cleaner than most people and I have a super hard time finding a decent (as opposed to the rinky-dinks that are gross) hotel that allows dogs, whenever we go anywhere, it takes twice as long in hotel research-let alone the rate hike.

I agree....a deposit is just that. A DEPOSIT in case of damage done. Non refundable deposits are a fee. Period. My condo required a $250 "fee". When I viewed the unit I asked the realtor about the fee. He looked at Sugar and laughed. What damage can SHE do? THe unit is all tile floors. Chew the baseboards?? lol No fee required :D