Can Landlords Require both additional Pet Rent and a Pet Deposit from a Tenant?
Question
Can I require both additional pet rent and a pet deposit?
Answer
Some landlords charge not only pet rent, but also a separate pet deposit. This is legal in most states, however, in many (perhaps most states) the total of all deposits, whether called security deposit, pet deposit, cleaning deposit, or any other
name, must not be greater than the legal maximum security deposit allowed in that state. Although the majority of states do have a statutory limit, some states do not. In practice, however, the higher the total amount of all deposits, the
smaller the pool of qualified applicants. Furthermore, if the matter goes to court the judge could decide that it was an unreasonable amount.
From a practical point of view, it’s a bad idea to segregate the deposits into categories. When specifying that a portion of total deposits will cover damage caused by the pet, the landlord may not be able to use that money for anything else,
including unpaid rent, damages, or cleaning. Thus, the landlord could end up having to refund the entire pet deposit because the pet caused no damage, even though the remaining deposit won’t cover the cost of repairing damages caused
by a careless human tenant or back rents for a non-paying tenant. Accordingly, it’s far better to charge the legal maximum (or as close to that as the market will bear) as a security deposit and have the entire pot of money available for
cleaning and repairs, no matter who soiled the carpet.
Landlords must be careful when marketing a rental for which a pet deposit and/or extra rent is required. It’s risky business to advertise a rental as pet-friendly, state the rent in the ad, and then inform inquiring applicants that the rent will be more than the ad indicated if they have a pet. Doing so may constitute false and deceptive advertising. It’s best to state from the beginning in all ads and conversations that the rent will be a certain amount more if the tenant has a pet. The landlord must know which, if any animals (usually certain breeds of dogs) will not be covered by his insurance policy and refuse to allow those types. Landlords must retain the right to explicitly approve of the pet. It’s very dangerous to imply that any tenant who’s willing to pay the extra rent can bring any pet he chooses. Careful landlords adequately screen the applicants’ pets.
If and when the tenant speaks the words “service animal” it can become a totally new ballgame. It’s against federal law to charge more rent or deposit when an applicant has a service animal than would have been charged an applicant who doesn’t have one. A service animal is basically a specially trained to assist a person with a disability. How to confirm that the animal is indeed a “service animal” is another question entirely and is beyond the scope of this answer.