by Jeannine Miles

Created on: April 07, 2009

Having a pet in todays world limits you from many things; the biggest one being owning or renting an apartment. The extra fees to move in your lovable little friends are absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary and potentially loses business for the particular complex. Renting an apartment myself, I had to to pay $125 to move my cat in, and I have to pay an additional fifteen dollars a month on top of rent to house her. Both of these are non refundable. My cat is thirteen years old, de-clawed and fully litter trained. She's quiet, calm and sleeps throughout most of the day. To pay an extra $125 deposit when I myself probably do more damage than she does is ludicrous.

Many household animals have a bad reputation for destruction; cats and dogs being the most popular. It is true that a cat could claw up the furniture, walls and carpet but this is 100% preventable. The cat may be declawed or claw caps can be bought at a local pet store to prevent any destruction of the apartment. A cats natural instinct is to relieve itself in a litter box or outside, as is a dogs; therefore, "accidents" inside the apartment are also preventable and shouldn't even be considered a problem upon moving in. Taking an extra 100-200 dollars more a month is, in my opinion, a ploy from the apartments to make more money. At the very least, these fees should be refundable after the apartment is fully assessed after move out. If there is no damage to the apartment by your pet, the apartment complex keeps your deposit for absolutely no reason!

What I find ironic is the pets that seem to do the most damage/are the noisiest do not even require a pet deposit! For instance, I also own a small parrot who screams and hollers through out the day while I am work, knocks seed out all over the floor, and likes to nibble and poop on everything. While I do have to notify the complex that I have him inside the apartment, there is absolutely no fee to house him. Also, there are many apartments that absolutely ban exotic animals from living inside the apartment such as snakes, lizards and turtles. Animals like these make absolutely no noise and do practically no damage to an apartment or house, yet they are banned from most apartments complexes. This in itself makes no sense when a cat and dog are allowed inside the apartment.

In conclusion, if the apartment complex wants to charge a fee to house an animal, the fee should only be given out after move out and if there are noticeable damages to the apartment by your pet. If not this, then the fee required upon move in should be 100% refundable if there are no known damages. Otherwise, the apartment complex is cheating their tenants out of money, losing business from pet owners, and treating their complex unfairly and with bias.

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