Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2014 · 18 posts · 7 votes
Hey, BP!
I thought I would post this question here since I'm planning to own rentals myself.
I'm planning to move after I get married later this year so my fiancee and I are looking for potential places. We found a community we really liked, but they charge:
$250 non-refundable fee per pet $250 deposit per pet $??? pet rent /pet/month.
Their website didn't specify how much the pet rent is but if I had to guess, it would be $20-$30.
I understand the need for paying extra for pets, but that feels like overkill. Especially since we have two lazy adult cats. Is this common or am I just overreacting? If it matters, I'm from Houston, TX and we're planning to move to the Woodlands / Conroe area.
We found this to be the case in the larger apartment complexes when we had to move for work several years ago. We have a large dog so were extremely limited in choice, so we ended up paying the ridiculous fees until we found our own home. In our investment property, we actually looked for single family homes with large fenced back yards to cater to this segment as it was so difficult to find when we needed it, and we only charge a higher refundable security deposit, no pet fee and no pet rent. I wish I could charge a higher security deposit for each child, as they do more damage than pets, in my opinion, but we'd get in way too much trouble for that.
@Jerry Ta. I didn't think so. I've lived in apartments pretty much my entire life and when it comes to commercial multifamily properties, they always do everything in their power to keep any deposits so I just consider them lost as well.
Good luck with your move! I think you and your wife will like this area. Those fees do seem a little excessive (some more experienced landlords might disagree). I can understand the deposits, but the monthly rent is uncommon, in my experience with rentals.
I just do 250 pet fee. That is per pet. Not any increase monthly. Many SFR owners here don't even allow pets so I still manage to have plenty of interest and so far all of my tenants have had pets and have not had an issue with the fee. I do think all three is excessive and almost sounds like they really don't want pets. I have found my pet owner tenants to all be conscientious.
I've rented for about 10 years and moved almost every year until we finally bought a house last year. I had a small dog that was potty trained and I rarely got my deposit back. With that in mind, having to pay this much and PER PET seams like an overkill. I would consider other options. Good luck!
We found this to be the case in the larger apartment complexes when we had to move for work several years ago. We have a large dog so were extremely limited in choice, so we ended up paying the ridiculous fees until we found our own home. In our investment property, we actually looked for single family homes with large fenced back yards to cater to this segment as it was so difficult to find when we needed it, and we only charge a higher refundable security deposit, no pet fee and no pet rent. I wish I could charge a higher security deposit for each child, as they do more damage than pets, in my opinion, but we'd get in way too much trouble for that.
When I allow pets (cats only) I prefer to charge a pet deposit, usually $300 or less if rent is less than $600. I have purchased properties with tenants who pay a pet rent of $20-30 per month which I think is excessive and silly. The tenant doesn't have the opportunity to get the extra money back (since it is rent and not a deposit) and therefore are less motivated to clean up after the animal. And when we purchase the rental, the pet rent collected in the past belongs to the previous owner, whereas a deposit would be transferred so that it could be used for cleaning... Plus charging them monthly means they have less incentive to be long term renters there.
I've had 3 tenants with pets move out so far- the two with cats meant additional cleaning/ disinfecting where the litter boxes were and I vacuumed up a lot of hair from the corners and off the walls. Nothing I didn't expect or consider chargeable against the deposits.
The one that had 2 little dogs (rented from previous owner) had a lot of hair everywhere, pet stains, and scratches in wood work. I would have charged for the latter 2 but had no way of knowing what condition the place was in when she moved in since the previous landlord didn't appear to clean or make repairs between tenants.
I generally allow only two pets (cat/dog) max. I prefer to have no cats or dogs, but when I do allow them ...
I charge a $250 non-refundable fee.
I charge an additional $25/month for pet rent.
I have been considering altering my leases to include another $250 as a refundable pet deposit, but I don't think it necessary for me at this point. Usually, tenants with pets will bypass my properties and keep looking. That's fine with me. I'm not trying to make them give up their pets -- I just don't like taking all the risk of having pets in my rentals.
One current tenant has two aquariums, one set up for turtles, the other for lizards. I don't charge him a pet fee. I don't care about animals locked in a secure environment, and who couldn't actually damage my property. Dogs and cats, on the other hand, can end up costing me money when the tenant moves out.
I live in a Class A multi-family community in the Houston area, and this is exactly what they charge, with the pet rent being $15/month. The $250 deposit is just like your security deposit, which if you leave the unit in good shape, you will get back. The $15/month is to cover the cost of an additional occupant in the apartment (which technically your animals are). The non-refundable fee seems excessive. I can only guess it's to help offset their insurance costs for allowing animals, the "poop scoop" bags they provide onsite, and the cost of maintenance cleaning up after those who don't use said bags. Since you have two cats, most of that doesn't apply to you. Sometimes these one-size fits all rules don't make sense.
A SFH landlord will probably charge you less than an apartment. I know I only charge $250 refundable per animal for my rentals.
Check state laws regarding same. In Massachusetts pet fees are not allowed.
Dan look into recent rulings in MA. Pet fees have been ruled to be allowed in MA as long as they are not considered a deposit. In other words, a landlord is permitted to charge a monthly pet fee as long as there is no expectation that the fee will be returned at any time. Essentially, the landlord can charge whatever rent he wants and if some portion of the rent is called a "pet fee" it is permitted. The landlord can still only charge first last and security along with a key changing fee but charging a fee on a monthly basis for pets has been ruled to be ok in MA.
I lived in a high rise in Denver that charged a $500 non refundable pet deposit, then $50 per month on top of that. For the one year I lived there, it cost me $1100 to have a dog.
However here in Denver you could charge almost anything you wanted to, as just finding an available apartment in the prime areas of town that allow big dogs is next to impossible.
@Grant P. is absolutely correct. I've had tenants come to me after paying $450 pet fee, and $35 per month pet rent. That is on a per pet basis as well. My fees of $150 and $25 seem a bit light compared to the competition here.
I look at pet fees and pet rent as a form of dollar cost averaging for pet damage. I screen heavily for pet ownership. I know that heavy pet damage is not covered by a security deposit even if you add more too it. Pet damage can go in the thousands so my hope is to improve the odds by screening and then if I do ever get stung by heavy pet damage the added income from all pets over the years will fill the make up for the loss. We'll see how that pans out.
I will say this, if you don't charge extra, you will end up with almost exclusively pets. I want my mix of pets to match the general population so if 40% own pets I want my properties to have about 40% pets. After saying that, I think I should up my pet fees as I'm probably about 75% with pets.
@Mike Hurney the case below is what I was referencing. Essentially what the ruling says is that charging a monthly pet fee is ok since it is not covered under the security deposit law.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS CIVIL ACTION NO. 12-10779-RWZ BRIAN PERRY, KIM PERRY, and CHERYL MILLER, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated v. EQUITY RESIDENTIAL MANAGEMENT, L.L.C. MEMORANDUM OF DECISION August 26, 2014 ZOBEL, D.J.
The goal of the deposit is to encourage responsible care of the unit and pet. I used to charge a non refundable fee but there was no incentive to do better. I now charge $350/dog $250/cat refundable deposit + $25 pet rent.
The reality is, on average even good pets cost property owners more than not having pets. This is merely a way of recovering those costs. By charging monthly pet rent I get to actually utilize the money rather than having to return it or account for major damages.
We charge $250 non-refundable deposit total, and $25/month per pet up to 3 pets.
Most pet owners are great, but we do this because some pets will destroy the property and because of this we need to good pet owners to pay for the bad ones. This way we can have a much larger rental pool.