Should pet owners be charged additional fees if they live in an apartment?

Yes

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by Annette Bromley

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Should pet owners be charged additional fees if they live in an apartment?

BEING RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR PET

As much as it grieves me to have to say this, yes, an additional fee should be charged to pet owners who live in apartment buildings. It goes along with the responsibility as much as food, medical care, grooming and training and attention does. I'm a pet owner. I live in an apartment and I have paid a pet charge fee for each of my pets. I have two. I love my pets but they aren't always well behaved any more than children are.
We who own pets should be as responsible for the behavior of our pets as we are for the behavior of our children.
Pets can do a lot of damage unless they are well supervised and well trained. Unfortunately many pets are not and the owners take no responsibility for their behavior. Your landlord should not have to. It is not his pet and any damage caused by your pet should be, is, your responsibility even if you think they are just being a dog, just being a cat, a pig, a rabbit or whatever. As much as I wish this were not so and charging an extra fee was not necessary a few irresponsible tenants have spoiled it for everyone.

I am the manager of two large apartment buildings. I have to deal with this problem all the time. We allow pets, though we do not allow exotic pets. No snakes, not reptiles, that sort of thing.
We charge a "Pet Fee" for each and every pet you have and you can't have more than three, less depending on the size of your apartment. The pet fee is a one time charge that is paid at the same time you pay your deposit and your first months rent.

The deposit is 2/3 of one months rent with the additional pet fee of 100 dollars per pet you are moving into the apartment with you. The deposit and the pet fee are refundable when you vacate the property if there is no unreasonable damage done and you have left the apartment in decent order, what we call broom clean; you haven't trashed the place. We expect a reasonable amount of damage that comes from just general living to have to be done, cleaning, painting, minor repairs but I have seen damage that is way beyond reason when we have to replace carpeting, tile, woodwork, blinds, draperies, gnawed shelves and cabinet doors, shower stalls, bushes, shrubs and other plants because of animal behavior and owners who have been negligent in the care and training of their pets and the landlord not only has to pay for the materials to replace all this but he has to pay for the labor. It is very costly. It takes time to do all these repairs and the landlord is losing money, first in cost and secondly because he can't rent to anyone else until the repairs are done. He can lose two or three months rent before he can rent that apartment again all because the previous tenant was not being responsible.

Unfortunately the landlord can no longer assume that all tenants, no matter haw glowing their references may be are responsible people and that their pets are well trained and well behaved. That is a lesson we have learned by trial and error. The owner of the property is in the rental business, that's his job or one of them. That's how he earns his living. Out of the rent money he collects he has to pay fuel bills, utility bills, taxes, insurance, pay inspection fees, pay for general upkeep, pay people to do the yard work, maintenance, management and pay for major repairs that come along every so often. He has to also earn enough to make a reasonable living for himself. When pets cause extra damage, he has to charge extra rent. The tenant who is not a pet owner shouldn't have to pay extra to help defray the cost.
It is the responsibility of the pet owner and that is who is charged the extra fees. Yes, if you own a pet and you rent an apartment you should be charge a pet fee. Be responsible for your pet and your pet's actions and you will get the money back one day.

If there was a law that said landlords could not charge a fee to tenants who have pets I can assure you we would have no pets in these two buildings. However, I do want to make note of something important and I do not know what the law is in all States but we do not charge fees for assist animals like seeing-eye dogs and the like but they have to be registered as such and the papers presented at the time you sign your rental agreement and lease or you will be charged a pet fee.

It is sad that a few negligent people have made this a necessary action on the part of landlords but owning a pet is not an innate right; it is a privilege and a responsibility and part of that responsibility is making sure your pet is well behaved and not damaging property and if they are you need to pay or take responsibility for doing the repairs yourself. It is a whole lot cheaper to pay the fee.

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