But jokes aside, I really dislike pets. It surprises me, however, that the majority of all tenants have them. I grew up not having pets, so I thought it was normal to not live with a cat or dog. Seems like 85% of the people I see as tenants ask about pet deposits.

Honestly, if you do not have children, I don’t know why you think you know how they truly behave. But any child that acts the way you describe is clearly not being raised right, and probably won’t change that much when they grow up.

I would rent to a couple with children anytime – pets would require a deposit.

I Googled “Advocates for tenants with pets” and found your article. Thank you so much for posting this.

As many here, I am struggling myself. I have a very small, well-behaved dog. I work from home on my computer and she pretty much either sleeps next to my feet all day in her bed or sits on my lap. She never leaves my side. For personal reasons, I have her with me constantly. I am needing to move to a new apartment and have difficulty finding anything reasonable. It seems like most landlords/leasing companies have learned they can cash-in on the “pet owner lotto” so most accept pets, but the fees and rent that they charge are so astronomical, I don’t know how anyone can afford them.

While I realize the Fair Housing Act could assist me, I have learned that a landlord can STILL charge an initial deposit or fee, just not pet rent. The fee that would be charged to me would be $500.00, and it would be non-refundable. I simply cannot afford this, but my problems have been unrelieved by every other measure that I have taken to relieve my issues. The dog has afforded me the closest thing to a normal life than anything else has.

As you can see, I am afraid to get a letter from my medical provider in order to have her placed on my lease. I am terrified that by following the rules, I’m actually going to hurt myself because I’ll be “red flagged” and will either have to pay $500 (I don’t know how since I don’t have it) or fight a bitter and possibly expensive court battle with my landlord. I do not have the emotional capacity to deal with a fight right now.

Aside from my personal circumstances, I would like to say that I realize animals can do damage. However, like many of you are saying, there are no bad pets or children, just neglectful/bad parents and owners. Even still, occasional damage can take place by either one. This is why we can be charged for damages. This is why landlords have the right to take people to court for destroying property. Unfortunately, they have learned how to abuse their “rights” and the court system. If they are collecting fees, deposits, rent, and in the case of a friend of mine… charging for damages (that were non-existent) on top of all of these charges and refusing to apply fees to the alleged damages, they are just cashing in.

Some people can’t have children for physical, economic, or other reasons. They choose to have an animal or two. I’m not saying we should give animals legal fair housing rights, but I AM saying that the humans who want/need these animals shouldn’t be required to jump through hoops mentally, legally, emotionally and financially (and STILL have to worry if they’re efforts will be accepted or if they will worsen their situation) just because they aren’t in a position to have their own home for one reason or another.

If damage is incurred, regardless of who/what caused it, the person on the lease should be responsible for it, period. If no damage is incurred, I cannot see the justice in paying in advance for it, especially making it “non-refundable.” That would be like me, as a tenant, saying “since you are directly debiting rent from my account, I’m going to make you give me a $2,000 non-refundable fee in case you debit more than you should at any time. But I still won’t give it back to you when my lease ends… because I don’t want to. It goes both ways here, folks.

I would be more than happy to be part of the group who starts advocating for the rights of animal owners.