Pet deposit for renters

[KnittingHappy]

We are talking about getting a kitten. I just emailed our landlord and found out there is a $250 non-refundable pet deposit. Does that sound right????? It seems weird that it would be non-refundable. Plus, if we get the kitten, I have to give the landlord all the curtains back in the house. That will add a significant amount of money to what we'd need to purchase to have a cat.

[Rabbit]

Yes, that's typical. Some places charge even more than that.

[cindergretta]

:yes Quite typical.

Like Rabbit said, it is often more than that.

:hug2

[Marsha]

VERY standard. Yes, and reasonable, as Rabbit said.

[Abibigail]

Yeah. A lot of places break it up and make it part of your rent, like an additional $25 a month, but yeah, that's about normal.

[Rabbit]

Some places even charge pet rent in addition to the deposit.

[racheepoo]

Mine was $250 and $25 a month. :shrug

[Marsha]

Most I've seen and trust me I've seen a lot lately :-) have the $250 deposti plus pet rent. Or a higher deposit and no pet rent.

[MaybeGracie]

Hmm, interesting. Our pet deposits (three different landlords) have always been refundable if no pet damage is apparent.

[Aerynne]

Yeah, I've seen that. The way some people take care of their animals (not saying you would be like that) it makes sense. Probably if your cat doesn't ruin anything, they'll use your money to pay for someone's cat who does ruin something. New carpet for one apartment is really expensive, for example.

[Quiteria]

I'm guessing that saying "nonrefundable" upfront helps when it comes to people who are argumentative or sneaky, or situations that are just hard to notice until it's too late. For example, maybe things look okay, and don't smell obvious thanks to powdered carpet deoderizer and open windows, but the next time someone tries to shampoo the carpets or mop the floor, it suddenly stinks like wet cat pee. Then the landlord would have to argue with the tenent as to whether there was or wasn't damage, possibly after already approving the return of the deposit. So, better off just making it nonrefundable in all cases, and keeping toward others in the miracle of nothing being wrong at all.

[mommylove]

Yep, typical & reasonable.

Perhaps nitpicky to mention, but deposits are refundable, pet fees are what non refundable upfront costs are called (or should be called.)

If the rental agreement does not charge an additional amount for carpet cleaning between tenants, the pet fee is likely eaten up with a professional cleaning. And it's a guarantee with pets that the carpets will have to be cleaned. (Although a good landlord would always clean them inbetween tenants, IMO.)

[Johns_Gal]

While officially it's nonrefundable, I've known many a landlord to go ahead and refund it when the pet has done no damage.

One thing I wish we had done when we had a kitten in an apartment was duct tape over the carpet threshholds. They love to destroy the carpet where it turns into tile, then you have a thready mess.

Other than that, I bet if you trim her nails and teach her to use a post, she'll be fine. I don't blame landlords, a friend's two chihuahuas absolutely destroyed the drywall in her apartment. I was just :jawdrop that two three pound puppies could DO that!

[OnlyBelieve]

Hmmm, I never heard of it being non-refundable. I do not have pets though, so I have not been paying close attention to that.

[momofmany]

I've never heard of the nonrefundable deposit either. We lived in a townhome where the deposit was $1000!:jawdrop So $250 seems pretty reasonable to me.

[Dana Joy]

We had a fee of $300 and had to sign something say we are responsible for damages up to twice our security deposit which was 1500.

[BarefootBetsy]

We've had about 1/3 of our rentals require a nonrefundable pet deposit and IIRC every single one was $250 :giggle One was in CA, another was in SC, and the others were in WA. So the pet deposit amount stayed the same regardless of COL in the area and the fact that our rent has varied from $500-$1200/mo depending on the house/area.

[Cat]

agreed, typical, though this apartment and the one we are moving to have no fees/deposits/rent for kitties:rockon

p.s. might i be so bold to add-what about not getting a kitten and opting to adopt an adult cat from the shelter?:shifty:heart

[racheepoo]

Agree that if you are going to go ahead and get a kitty, please please consider an adult cat, even one 10 months and up. Everybody wants the kitties, and they ARE cute. But a cat's real personality comes out IMO about a year old, and there are millions of them dying every day in shelters (how's that for a guilt trip?) that would be perfect pets. Two cents :giggle

[Quiteria]

(She's taking a specific kitten from someone who already has a litter that needs homes. ;) Not seeking one out. )

[LeeDee]

Mine was $300 and technically refundable, but everyone I've spoken to from this same housing authority has said they didn't ever get it refunded. They're totally strict on what they count as damages. We don't expect to ever see the money again.

[hopeforchange]

in our recent apartment search, we've run into everything. from $300 per pet ($150 fee, $150 deposit) to $500 per pet (deposit). considering the fact that we have 3 pets (although we usually just say 2 :giggle), it's one of the big reasons why we're staying with our current place...we don't want to have to pay those fees/deposits again. and some places charge pet rent on top of the fees/deposits.

[Cat]

(She's taking a specific kitten from someone who already has a litter that needs homes. ;) Not seeking one out. )

:heart

[racheepoo]

:rockon

[KnittingHappy]

agreed, typical, though this apartment and the one we are moving to have no fees/deposits/rent for kitties:rockon

p.s. might i be so bold to add-what about not getting a kitten and opting to adopt an adult cat from the shelter?:shifty:heart

Agree that if you are going to go ahead and get a kitty, please please consider an adult cat, even one 10 months and up. Everybody wants the kitties, and they ARE cute. But a cat's real personality comes out IMO about a year old, and there are millions of them dying every day in shelters (how's that for a guilt trip?) that would be perfect pets. Two cents :giggle

Yep. Mom adopted a stray and the stray had kittens. Mom doesn't want to keep all these cats, so my younger sister took 2, a friend took 2, and DH is letting me have one. That leaves Mom with Mama Kitty and one baby. Mama Kitty got fixed already and the baby kitties aren't far behind. When Mom took Mama Kitty to the vet to get fixed, the vet told her that she had "Sucker" tattooed across her forehead.

[TestifyToLove]

I think the highest fee we've ever had for pets was $300 and about 50/50 refundable versus not. But, when we rent, we intentionally seek out pet friendly landlords because we have never been without pets since we've been married.

Supposedly, we have a pet deposit in our current house. But, they never mentioned it and Dh only found it later when signing the lease. We've never actually paid it, and they've never actually asked for it. We just paid the normal deposit and nothing additional for the pets.

With everyone in my house, I assume my entire deposit is going to be gone, and consider myself lucky if I get anything back at the end. But, I also have a firm requirement that we have hardwood floods with the kids, and especially with M.

[Rabbit]

I do recommend two cats at a time. With two, you get better behavior, and not much in increased costs. They teach each other how to be gentle, and can take out their inexhaustible energy at odd hours on each other, instead of you.

[Cat]

Yep. Mom adopted a stray and the stray had kittens. Mom doesn't want to keep all these cats, so my younger sister took 2, a friend took 2, and DH is letting me have one. That leaves Mom with Mama Kitty and one baby. Mama Kitty got fixed already and the baby kitties aren't far behind. When Mom took Mama Kitty to the vet to get fixed, the vet told her that she had "Sucker" tattooed across her forehead.

not sucker-wonderful person!

[Rabbit]

All of our cats are our own kitty rescues. One feral kitten, one feral momma that had to go to the shelter in the end, but we got to keep two of her kittens, and then Tabitha and George, rescued mom and her only baby.

[BarefootBetsy]

That's awesome! Rescue pets (regardless of how they're rescued) are the best :heart

Our dogs would've probably ended up in a shelter had we not chosen one (as a puppy who's an awesome mix of "undesirable" breeds - never would've made it in a shelter - her mother was a rescue dog that a friend took in) and cared for the other (a very old dog whom nobody wanted and who isn't around anymore). Not shelter animals, but close enough, IMO :yes

We did adopt one of our cats from a rescue organization, but the other came to us through a friend like our puppy did.

[afternoonrain]

I am a total and complete animal lover and feel incomplete without my animal companions. That being said, we charge our tenants a non-refundable pet fee of $200 in addition to monthly pet rent of $30 per animal. In our experience, pets always cause damage to some extent. :shifty The fees seem to really deter people from from bringing in pets that they aren't serious about caring for/spending time with/training. Of course, we have a 5 bedroom house downtown, so it has always been occupied by a group of college students. If everyone wants a dog and cat, well...you can do the math.:P~ Our insurance company refuses to cover 4 breeds of dogs, and after these breeds being snuck in,a scratched up back AND front door we decided to ban dogs from this residence with our newest group of tenants. I think the fees are reasonable. :shrug3 Actually, we've had families (which we would prefer to rent to) turn down the house simply because of the remaining dander even after shampooing. The worst damage we've had was from cats..."scratching" the kitchen cabinets, urinating on the carpeted bedrooms, etc. :giggle That smell just doesn't come out.

[KnittingHappy]

not sucker-wonderful person!

That's what we say, but the vet has seen her walk in with entirely too many strays over the years. We always had a lot of cats and with the exception of one, they were all strays. The only one that wasn't a stray was one my Mom got from my babysitter when her newly adopted stray had babies. We live in really rural PA, so strays are just a way of life. Word just gets out among them that they can have a really cushy life if they go to my Mom's house. :giggle

That's awesome! Rescue pets (regardless of how they're rescued) are the best :heart

Our dogs would've probably ended up in a shelter had we not chosen one (as a puppy who's an awesome mix of "undesirable" breeds - never would've made it in a shelter - her mother was a rescue dog that a friend took in) and cared for the other (a very old dog whom nobody wanted and who isn't around anymore). Not shelter animals, but close enough, IMO :yes

We did adopt one of our cats from a rescue organization, but the other came to us through a friend like our puppy did.

We love strays! They have always been excellent pets for us.

[hopeforchange]

I am a total and complete animal lover and feel incomplete without my animal companions. That being said, we charge our tenants a non-refundable pet fee of $200 in addition to monthly pet rent of $30 per animal. In our experience, pets always cause damage to some extent. :shifty The fees seem to really deter people from from bringing in pets that they aren't serious about caring for/spending time with/training. Of course, we have a 5 bedroom house downtown, so it has always been occupied by a group of college students. If everyone wants a dog and cat, well...you can do the math.:P~ Our insurance company refuses to cover 4 breeds of dogs, and after these breeds being snuck in,a scratched up back AND front door we decided to ban dogs from this residence with our newest group of tenants. I think the fees are reasonable. :shrug3 Actually, we've had families (which we would prefer to rent to) turn down the house simply because of the remaining dander even after shampooing. The worst damage we've had was from cats..."scratching" the kitchen cabinets, urinating on the carpeted bedrooms, etc. :giggle That smell just doesn't come out.

i LOVE animals but i would never rent a place that charged me $30 a month per animal on top of my rent. :no deposits/fees i can understand. possibly $10 a month per pet, but IMO $30 is pretty high. :) and i've been a landlord before, so i understand that POV, but that's just really high to me.

[kiloyd]

I"ve had non-refundable and refundable pet deposits, usually either equal to 1 month rent or 1/2 month rent.

The curtain thing is odd though.

[afternoonrain]

i LOVE animals but i would never rent a place that charged me $30 a month per animal on top of my rent. :no deposits/fees i can understand. possibly $10 a month per pet, but IMO $30 is pretty high. :) and i've been a landlord before, so i understand that POV, but that's just really high to me.

*sorry If I double post...I posted last night but my response is not here.*

$30 is kind of high. I certainly wouldn't WANT to pay that much, but if I really wanted to live in that house badly enough and really wanted to bring my pet badly enough, I would. The people rent :giggle is $1200, and it's over 2600 sq. ft. A lot of damage could be done in that amount of space. Before we didn't charge pet rent at all, and the animals added up quickly, even with a "no more than x amount of pets policy." The monthly rent goes toward wear and tear. :shrug3

[Sparrow]

I'd pay the extra. For us, it was really, really, hard to find a good home that would accept our dog too. He's part of our family - our first kid.

When we were renting the damage deposit was refundable, and it was 1/2 the rent - $750. I live semi close to maybegracie, so maybe it's a canadian thing?

[Cat]

That's what we say, but the vet has seen her walk in with entirely too many strays over the years. We always had a lot of cats and with the exception of one, they were all strays. The only one that wasn't a stray was one my Mom got from my babysitter when her newly adopted stray had babies. We live in really rural PA, so strays are just a way of life. Word just gets out among them that they can have a really cushy life if they go to my Mom's house. :giggle



We love strays! They have always been excellent pets for us.

our kitties are always strays too.:( that we find them that way but:)for them and us!