Is charging an extra $150 rent a month for a dog common?

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

The per month cost is a little steep. Perhaps try to negotiate them down to a deposit and a lower monthly payment, maybe 50/month. I'd also negotiate an inspection after 6-12 months to prove that your dog is causing no damage. At that point, maybe they would feel comfortable dropping the pet charge.

[Herodotus]

You almost always will need to replace the carpets after dog and cat owners move out. Pet owners may no longer be able to smell it, but animals have odors. When I'm renting out a place where dogs or cats lived, prospective renters can usually tell by the smell, and for some, it's a deal breaker. Everyone is not a pet lover, and there are many people who will not move into a place that has a dog or cat smell. Replacing wall to wall carpets in a house is not cheap. Keep in mind that your dog does not pull out a roll of Charmin after he does his thing outdoors. He comes back in and sits down, leaving small amounts or residue on the carpet. After a while, the amount of feces in the carpet is substantial. You won't notice it, but people who don't own pets will.

[gg]

I would never rent to pet owners anymore. Did it once and got burned REALLY bad. $150 a month wouldn't be nearly enough for me. I wouldn't do it for $200 either.

[Pitt Chick]

Originally Posted by trlstreet

The per month cost is a little steep. Perhaps try to negotiate them down to a deposit and a lower monthly payment, maybe 50/month. I'd also negotiate an inspection after 6-12 months to prove that your dog is causing no damage. At that point, maybe they would feel comfortable dropping the pet charge.

Negotiate?
This post is 4 1/2 years old. I think the OP is past the negotiation stage.

[ackmondual]

Originally Posted by Pitt Chick

Negotiate?
This post is 4 1/2 years old. I think the OP is past the negotiation stage.

If City-Data keeps these threads around for posterity, as opposed to purging them sometime soon, it's helpful for folks who wander upon these threads through a Google search or whatever to read these posts, as while it may be long past for the OP, it won't be for them.

[RonSantoRules]

I'm currently apartment hunting in Pitt and have found that it ranges depending on the property:

- A few owner rentals are pet friendly and require no additional pet fees (found these on cragslist). These people are awesome.

- Others require a pet fee (nonrefundable) of a few hundred dollars ($250 seems to be the most common number in my nonrandom sample of 12 or so places I've contacted)

- Other require both a pet fee (non refundable) and a pet deposit (refundable) of a similar amount to the pet fee (few hundred dollars, have seen as high as $500)

- Other require the trifecta of the pet fee, a pet deposit, and additional pet rent (most common seems to be between $25-35 per month). The fees + deposit + pet rent seem to be more with larger property companies, but it's been all over the map for me in my current apartment search.

Hope you find a place, as I have a large dog (70 pounds) and its amazing what random restrictions landlords come up with. In my time living in pet friendly apartment complexes, I've found that smaller dogs are the ones that bark, lunge at other dogs, and generally raise havoc, yet for some reason larger dogs are kept out of rental buildings based on weight restrictions. Probably just because they could cause the most damage based on size, but bigger dogs are often more laid back.

[Sealtite]

Originally Posted by Hillrunner

I could see a one time deposit of maybe $300 dollars but no more that. Quite frankly this says alot about your potential landlord, you may wany to think about it.

Ditto. $150 / month seems excessive and opportunistic. That's an extra $1,800 / year. While I certainly don't blame the landlord for trying to line his / her pockets a little, Hillrunner does have a point. Is this landlord going to be "Johnny on the spot" if your furnace stops working, roof leaks, etc? Are they just a savvy businessperson or are they a cheap scum ball (HIGHLY common in that industry) who's all about the money? You've got to feel them out a little.