Can Landlords Charge Non-Refundable Pet Deposits?

Yes, I noticed that it’s now more difficult to find a place for me and my pets with all these fees involved. Politicians don’t seem to be helping. Maybe animal right groups will, what do you think?

I used to have a landlord who charged $500 for pet fee. It was outrageous, right? And he said it’s actually pretty low. Isn’t he insane? Well anyway, I have a toy poodle and he’s really small so that would remove all possibilities of extensive damages. Even if I’m not at home, I keep him in a box so he couldn’t climb out. I say, there should be like a clause in the lease agreement wherein pets are identified on their size and characteristics before fees are charged.

Well, whatever we say that still doesn’t change the fact that we’re tenants and we have to pay the rent or we’ll get evicted.

I’m saving as much as I can to buy myself a home soon! I can’t wait to be a homeowner again. Even today, I am imagining what life would be like to own a home and just witness how my pets would have freedom to move around.

If the fees are outrageous, would you consider renting pet-friendly spaces instead? I mean, it’s either you pay the high upfront fees first or you pay the high monthly rent in these pet-friendly apartment complex. So which would you prefer?

Right. The reason landlords charge hig amounts could be because of previous experience. After all, the law does not really limit landlords on how much they charge?at least in my state. I don’t know in yours. So I would say I’d go with the option with the higher upfront costs than pay soo high every month until my lease is up.

Reading all your comments, I’d say I’m lucky then. In the apartment complex where I live here in Dallas, we get charged $250 for pets but that’s it. There are no rent fees or any other pet fees included.

As a landlord, I would like to explain why I’m charging pet fees. Pets do not really do normal wear and tear. They do damages. Period. So as a businessman, I would need to protect my business. Thus, I charge a pet deposit and pet rent. However, I don’t charge a non-refundable pet fee because I think it’s already an overkill. But in most cases, the pet deposit is not even enough to cover all the damages pets leave. In most cases, we would still need to charge our tenants extra, especially if the damages are really, really extensive.

Yeah, I understand. Landlords got to do what you need to do but I just hope other landlords could be as reasonable. We love pets and I hope we don’t get punished for loving them. Anyway, our pets are domestic so they can be trained. It’s not like we?re keeping wild gorillas or elephants in our apartment.

If you can afford, go for rent to own properties. Soon, you’ll have your own home and your pet will be free. That’s the only advice I can give to a similar homeowner like me.

I have a question about the non-refundable fee – we paid it and at move out (they did the walk through without any of us present) then sent us a bill for $384 to replace the carpet – i called and was told their carpet people had “special” urine detector tests that our carpet failed – however they will NOT apply the $250 upfront fee to the damage – we have pay out of pocket – is this legal?