For those who rent...

rahma

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How much do you pay to keep your cat in your apartment?

We have to put down a $200 non refundable pet fee, and pay $10 a month extra in rent. Since we're planning on moving when our lease expires in 6 months, it just seems obscene. I can understand that a lot of pet owners aren't responsible and their pets will cause a lot of wear and tear, but if you do a good job, they shouldn't cause much damage at all, certainly not $200 worth.
 

carolina

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nothing - the contract says $150.00 I think, but the landlord loves cats, and she doesn't care for charging it... She rather see me happy!
 

cruisermaiden

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My complex is really strict on pets, and they have a max of 2 per apartment. Pets have to be listed on the lease by name, description, registration ID, photograph, “non-resident emergency contact” and veterinarian. Also – I am responsible for giving them copies of their shots records every year or they can fine me. If my cats are caught outside, there is only one 'warning', followed by a $100 fine every time they are spotted outside after that.

I paid an additional $600 ‘pet deposit’ when I moved into my apartment which I found ridiculous because the ‘security deposit’ was only $200. Technically I paid $300 per cat, and I can get ½ of it back when I move out. I pay no additional ‘Pet Rent’.

I found fees/deposits from $200-$500 per cat to be standard all around the area I was looking in, with varying degrees of being refunded. Those places that charged less deposit usually charged around $15-25 per cat 'pet rent'. I guess there have been some BAD experiences around here.
 

mai_kitties

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Some apartment complexes are very bad when it comes to pets. They see it as a "you want a pet, you have no choice" situation. Since there are no laws governing what you can and can't charge for so called "pet rent" the truly greedy ones will indeed rip you off.

When we were living in apartments we literally shopped around. Any place that wanted a non refundable "pet deposit" was told sorry you won't be getting our money every month. We did have one place call us back the day after we told them no thanks and why. They tried to get us to consider them by cutting the "pet deposit" in half. We did consider a place where the pet deposit was refundable but the last time we rented with a complex we went with a place that wanted $25 extra a month, no pet deposit, and we could have up to 3 cats at no extra charge.

So if you can, shop around. You are bound to find some place with a better policy.
 

mews2much

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My old place made a deal with us so we could have 4 cats.
We paid 600 for the pet deposit.
They also had to have pics of all the cats and the vets phone number.
They started pulling that last Jan.
My sister can not even find a place to move to because they will not take her pets.
We are in a house now.
 

twstychik

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I don't remember how much our pet deposit was or if it's refundable but we par $15 per month per pet. We haven't moved in over 3 years and our next move will be to a house that we're hopefully buying so we won't have to worry about it.
 
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rahma

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Originally Posted by Mai_kitties

So if you can, shop around. You are bound to find some place with a better policy.
I did a little digging last night and found that our policy, minus the additional rent, was pretty much typical for our area. I did find one apartment that I'm so close to breaking my lease to move into ASAP - close to where we work, all new interior, and only $100 refundable pet deposit!
 

vampcow

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I'm lucky...Thanks to my realtor who helped me find my apartment I found a cat friendly place!!

My lease says no pets but my realtor made them work out a clause saying I can have my cats as long as they dont get into any trouble (they are strictly indoor cats) so according to my lease I can have my cats at no additional charge or any additional deposit.

When I moved in...I was happy to find out EVERYONE has cats!! LOL the only difference is I'm the only one "technically" allowed to have them!! Apparently the landlord looks the other way since EVERYONE has been sneaking cats in for years!! I was talking to a lady who has lived in my complex for YEARS and she said its aamzing it went from a stictly NO PETS place to Cats Only!! Because everyone was sneaking the cats in...even though the leases still say no pets she said I was smart to have the clause added. That way if the landlord DOES decide to do something about the cats then under the law I can have mine with no problem
 

littleraven7726

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Our last apartment didn't have a specific pet deposit (for cats anyway, I think dogs were a different story).

The apartment we lived in previous to that, for 3+ years had 2 pet deposits, 1 refundable, 1 nonrefundable. I think it was a total of $300 or something like that. Plus $25/month pet rent. They also had a vaccination and declaw requirement with written proof from your vet.

In another post I couldn't tell if you live in the Twin Cities area? My sister used to live in Eden Prairie and had found 2 different places that had refundable pet deposits. The second one had no pet rent.

One of the apartments I looked at here, before we decided to buy a house, wanted $200 (nonrefundable) per cat with a limit of 2, declawed required, AND had the nerve to say it was for the "privilege" of owning a cat.
Needless to say we didn't rent there, and my hubby thought it was beyond ridiculous (and it was--especially if you had seen the apartment
).
 

cruisermaiden

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I walked away from one apartment on the day I was supposed to sign my lease and move in because when I got the lease to sign it had a "no pets" clause and no pet addendum. They wanted to collect my pet deposit though...


I agree that if you shop around you can find more pet friendly places, though in some cases what you save on deposit may not be worth additional rent/distance to work/etc. What I found in my search (this may be a local thing, I'm in Atlanta) was the places further away from the city and more out in the suburbs were more likely to accept animals with lower fees, and the ones inside the city were more likely to say "no pets" or be very strict on their rules.
 

cdubbie

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$150 non-refundable pet deposit + $30/mn extra per pet is the norm around here.

I got lucky...when the owners came back to run the place they waived it - because they have a huge problem with mice. I stated I need a cat to deal with it because they are not. They agreed.
 

laureen227

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i haven't rented for 10 years... but back when i did, i paid a deposit - no extra rent. i had 2 cats.
 

clpeters23

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I've lived in the same place for 25+ years, so I may be wrong, but I believe I paid a one time $75 deposit and do not pay anything extra per month.
 

chris10

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I got lucky and found a landlord that loves cats. Paid a $200 pet deposit, which I was happy to pay since in my area its almost impossible to find rentals that allow pets. He always asks me how my cats are doing.
 

aileen06

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I live in NJ and I have always lived in apts and have never paid a pet deposit or extra rent. I never heard of such a thing till I joined this board.
 

celeste8540

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OMG it's ridiculous here, our place has a $1,000 pet deposit plus $300/month extra in rent... That's why we're moving, I can't possibly afford that.
 

rapunzel47

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I don't have any difficulty with the concept of a pet deposit, as long as it's handled the same way as the security deposit. It's for the same purpose, and as long as there are no damages to take from it when one moves out, it should be refunded.

That said, I have always been fortunate in having landlords who did not require one. More than once, the ad I responded to said no pets, but the place was sufficiently attractive to do a reality check and, once the matter was discussed, we came to an agreement which included my cat. When we rented this place 18+ years ago, they actually wrote her into the lease. When we accepted Gryphon and Nibs a couple of years later, they assented on the condition that we'd have the vents cleaned before we moved out. No biggie. When the house was sold and we signed a new lease, the current cats were written into that.

Some landlords will take you for all they can get, but with the ones I've dealt with, just being up front with them is all that's needed.
 

yam102284

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We don't pay anything extra for our 2 cats in our apartment. I know of a couple places around here have something in place, but not sure what.
 
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