Pet Rent

[LewisLegion]

This came to mind thanks to a thread on the main site, and I just have to vent.

I absolutely cannot stand the practice of apartment complexes charging pet rent. And I'll tell you why:

They already charge a security deposit: Ok, everyone gets charged this. They hold the amount in a bank account (which, btw, they make interest off of) until you move out, wherein they go and inspect the apartment, deduct (from the original amount) any funds needed to repair/fix up apartment, and then refund the rest to the renter. Or, if the funds don't meet the amount of damage, charge the renter the difference.

They already charge a pet "deposit": Ok, fine. An apartment that has pets in it are more likely to have more wear and tear, things like urine stains from accidents, scratched up doors, etc. And they have to flea-bomb before they let another tenant move in. Ok, great. I understand that. Btw, deposit is put in " " because usually, most if not ALL of this amount is actually NON-refundable regardless if the apartment is damaged or not...making it a fee no matter how much they refer to it as a deposit.

But then they ALSO turn around and charge you anywhere from $20 to $50 dollars OR MORE PER qualifying pet PER MONTH that you're a tenant. So say you have a two year lease with two dogs. At $20 a month for each dog that lease, you'll have paid the complex an extra $960 for that apartment. At $50, you'd be paying an extra $2400!

Keep in mind, you've ALREADY paid a security deposit for damages (that they make and keep interest on). You've ALREADY paid a pet deposit (that they keep most if not all of, whether it's required for damages or not, and...that they make and keep interest on). Now they're tacking on an extra thousand dollars, or two...for what?

It's not applied to damages. Anything the original deposits doesn't cover, they bill you for. So, why??

Yes, some complexes offer 'poop stations' they keep stocked with pick-up bags, but you can't tell me that keeping those maintained justifies the extra charges. I mean, take my last complex. Five hundred units. At least two or three hundred of those people had dogs. Each dog was an extra $20 a month in pet rent. So, 20 x 300 x 12 = $72,000 a YEAR in extra revenue. You cannot tell me that those pick up stations cost that much to stock and maintain in a year. Oh, and that's only if you count each family with a dog as only having ONE dog. I myself had two, and many of the others had two as well.

[HYHYBT]

Never, so far, having been a renter, I have to ask: do they charge two people more rent than one? If so, is *that* reasonable.... and if it is, how is a pet different?

edit to clarify: I'm not saying they do this. I'm not saying it's reasonable, or not, to do this whether they actually do it or not. These are, at least for now, just questions.

[Boozy]

I have to assume that laws and practices vary from state to state.

I know that things are different in Canada. Security deposits are illegal in Ontario - although landlords try to get around it by calling it "last month's rent", due at signing the lease.

But they can't help themselves to the last month's rent to cover damages. They have to sue for those.

"Pet-friendly" places may also charge more than others, but you can't be evicted for having a pet. I live in a non-pet-friendly rental, and we have two dogs. There's shit-all my landlord can do about it.

[Bronzebow]

Never, so far, having been a renter, I have to ask: do they charge two people more rent than one? If so, is *that* reasonable.... and if it is, how is a pet different?

At least in my part of the world, the apartment stays the same price whether or not one or more people live in it. That's why people room up in multi bed apartments to split up the cost of rent. Assuming you like your roommates, it's a very good deal. The apartments in my area do have pet deposits and pet rent though.

Personally, I don't think it would be fair to charge more for more people living in a place. Maybe more for a security deposit...maybe. I don't think it is fair to have pet rent either. Security deposits and pet deposits ought to cover it. I think that pet rent is just getting greedy.

[Gravekeeper]

Odd, never heard of pet rent. Around here its fairly common to have a pet deposit with your damage deposit, but thats it. But its really hard to find a place around here that will even rent to a pet owner. Its been a big issue around here for years.

[LewisLegion]

Pet rent is becoming more and more common around here, usually applied to dogs (though some places apply it to cats, as well). My last apartment charged 20 bucks per each of my dogs. The only reason I agreed is I was desperate at the time. This was on top of the security deposit, the pet deposit (which was so much PER pet), and first and last month's rent. For the record, when I moved out I got a good portion of my deposit back...didn't see a dime of the non-refundable pet 'deposit'.

[Andara Bledin]

Security deposits are illegal in Ontario - although landlords try to get around it by calling it "last month's rent", due at signing the lease.

First and last are separate from the deposit, and very common.

Thankfully, I've never encountered a place that charged more for having a pet.

^-.-^

[Aethian]

thankfully mine is only 10 dollars but the county limits someone to three pets. You can have multiple fish as long as they are in one tank. So yea it's a extra 120 a year and I could use that 120 elsewhere but I can understand it a bit.

If it was per pet I would be looking somewhere else.

[Boozy]

First and last are separate from the deposit, and very common.

So two month's worth of rent plus a security deposit due at signing?

I can't imagine how difficult it must be for some people to come up with that - even without pets.

[JustaCashier]

There's one reason I can see some logic in charging more monthly rent for extra people, and to a much lesser degree, pets, although I don't know that I agree with it, in either scenario.

In my area, it's fairly typical in multi unit properties for each renter to pay their own electric, as meters are generally provided for each unit, at the point the main power supply enters the building. Makes it easy enough to bill to individual units/renters.

However, there is usually only one gas meter per building, and only one water meter. The water bill, incidentally, includes sewer service, which is calculated in conjunction with water usage, and well as garbage/recycling, which go into communal dumpsters/bins.

So, the building owner usually pays for water/sewer/garbage, and the general cost is incorporated into the tenant's rent.

Because of that, I can understand a landlord wanting to charge extra, within reason, since more people will use more water, dump more in the sewer, and generate more garbage.

So, at what point should they start charging for extra people? Let's say you have an apartment building where all of the 1BR units are the same size as each other, and all of the 2BR units are the same size as each other, and all have equal same view, or lack of. All have dishwashers, or none do, etc. So basically, there are two rent rates throughout the building.

Now, I think it's reasonable to assume, that any average sized 1BR could easily accomodate up to two people, living there full time who like each other enough to share a bed. Each 2BR could reasonably accomodate up to 4 people (Mom, Dad, and two happy kids).

After that, I can see charging extra, for the third and more person, in the 1BR, and the fifth or more person, in the 2BR. Sure, it sucks for those like me that are single in my 1BR, and I pay the same rent as the married couple in the 1BR next door, but such is life.

As far as using that logic for pets? Assuming the landlord, or even the Municipality would have a limit on how many pets each apartment could have, it doesn't seem to me that a Fido or Fluffy here and there, or even several throughout the entire building, are going to generate enough extra water usage, or waste, (other than kitty litter by fastidious owner that dumps the entire litterbox contents out every other day) to where it would drive the costs of those utilities up drastically.

Mike

[Cats]

My apartment allows cats, but not dogs of any kind (not sure about other small pets such at rabbits or ferrets). There is a $200 deposit plus the shot records, but no extra rent is required.

Now I don't know much about dogs, but I do know about cats. I can see from a certain standpoint getting an extra deposit. The damage a human can do to an apartment and what a cat can do are different. Cat urine is hard to get out if you don't know the right combination of products on the right surface to use. And in the event of a personal emergency (say, you perish or are severly injured in an accident), presumably the money could be used to care for/shelter the cat (or other animal) short term until a long term arragement can be made. Plus the aforementioned flea-bombing, which would NOT ordinarily be required if a pet didn't live in the apartment (IMO, that isn't included in with the normal 'wear-and-tear' stuff the security desposit is for; it's extra).

Now as for charging extra monthy rent for pets, I agree that's stepping over a line, for the reasons that don't need repeating.

[LewisLegion]

I fully agree with the pet deposit...though if they're going to keep it regardless I wish they'd just stop beating around the bush and simply call it a fee.

It's the extra rent that gets my goat.

Oh, and in the complex I lived in, the utility cost was spread through the building, but there was NO extra rent for extra bodies living in each apartment. Two people living in a one bedroom paid the same as one person living in a one bedroom.

[JustaCashier]

Oh, and in the complex I lived in, the utility cost was spread through the building, but there was NO extra rent for extra bodies living in each apartment. Two people living in a one bedroom paid the same as one person living in a one bedroom.

Lewis, are you talking about the actual utility bill being divided amongst the the individual units, in addition to the monthly rent?

I almost brought that point up in my earlier post. A former co-worker and her husband lived (and still do, AFAIK) in a four-plex. The water/sewer/garbage bill that goes to their building is divided amongst each unit.

For a time, back when we still worked together years ago, her upstairs neighbor, who already had a few kids, always had a boyfriend (not on lease) and I believe others staying there on a regular basis. So yeah, she and hubby, and the tenants of the other two units helped pick up part of that chick's share.

If I lived alone in a situation like that, I probably wouldn't be so non-chalant about the disparity as I am under my current circumstances, as a single person, living in a building with at least two people in each of the other units.

It's more real in my ex-co-workers situation, since they were actually paying out of pocket for it during each two month billing cycle, where as under my own situation, it's paid for by the building owner, so they absorb any bill-to-bill fluctuation based on usage, and only adjusting (raising) the rent as they feel costs are significant enough to justify.

Mike

[telecom_goddess]

Well I think pet rent is pointless, as it was pointed out it's just extra revenue for no real purpose. My place has a pet deposit, but I didn't have to pay cause I could claim my cats as companion animals. As for charging more rent cause there is more than one person in an apartment...no that doesn't happen, it's not like double occupancy in a hotel. Here the general rule, and possibly law, is that the apartment can't have more than two people per bedroom...so I can't have more than 6 in my 3 bedroom place. Right now there are 4 people in it.

[LewisLegion]

The rent included water, sewer, and garbage. They told me when I signed the lease that they averaged all the apartments in the building and divided them evenly, then added that number into the rent for each unit. She said unless consumption raised drastically for a particular building, nothing additional would be charged.

So my basic rent was about 840. Add in the utility charge brought it to about 910, then add in my two dogs brought it to 950 that I paid as 'rent' every month. If I wanted an assigned, covered parking space that would have been 20 extra, and if I wanted a garage that would have been 50 extra.