by Addie Panveno

Created on: March 04, 2009   Last Updated: October 22, 2010

As a lifelong animal lover, I have often found that finding a new place to live when you are a pet caretaker to be a frustrating and painful process. Open up any newspaper in America and you will often see the phrase "no pets allowed" at the end of dozens of apartment ads. Just as often, you will find landlords wanting to charge an extra deposit, sometimes as high as triple the normal amount of the security deposit.

I realize that the question here is one of liability. Animals can be unpredictable, messy, and destructive when not properly trained or cared for. It is certainly not the management company's responsibility if a dog chews through the drywall or soils the new carpet, it is the responsibility of the animal's owner. But this is exactly what the security deposit is for: ensuring that the unit is left in satisfactory condition when the rental agreement ends.

However, some may argue that pet owners fall into a high-risk category. But I call it discrimination. Pet owners are no more high risk than, say, people with young children. I can feel parents seething. "Are you comparing your dog to my child?" I am, and here's why: my pets are not my property, they are my family. Most animal lovers will tell you the same. And though my animals are not perfect, they are far less destructive than some of my past roommates and less messy than most of my friends' kids. You don't have to pay a "drunken roommate" deposit, or "just bought the kids new Crayola markers" deposit, nothing extra for smokers, nothing for artists, nothing for any other potentially messy, stinky, or apartment altering scenarios. So why are pets and their owners being singled out?

I fully support the idea of a pet "meet and greet", an interview if you will, with a potential landlord. This gives the potential tenant a chance to show off the manners of their furry friend, and perhaps lay on a little puppy or kitty charm. I think that asking for a reference from the pet owner's veterinarian is also a good tactic when determining the commitment of an animal owner. And to be clear, I have absolutely no qualms about coughing up the money for a normal, appropriately-sized security deposit. But charging a pet owner extra fees and deposits is unnecessarily, and frankly just unfair. Pet ownership is a serious commitment that comes from a place of kindness. It should not be penalized or given stigmas like it is a bad thing.

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