Negotiating Pet Fees with Apartment Management?

Is the $300 fee a refundable deposit if there’s no damage ?

Did you ask them why the extra $40 every month? It’s not as if you’ll be using extra electric or heat just because of the cat.

If this is the prevailing practices in most buildings in that area, that definitely doesn’t bode well for negotiations but it’s always worth a shot.

Why not call any shelter or rescue groups in the area to see if they know about how others have dealt with this. Make an appt. to speak with one of their counselors or staff to see if they may have some helpful suggestions. This is obviously a situation they deal with frequently with potential adopters for their animals.

They might even know of an animal lover attorney who is willing to offer expertise or help out on a volunteer basis.

Also post this Q in the pet adoption section of the local Craigslist. Animal lovers tend to stick together and help out with advice etc.

Most of this revolves around your specific locale and what may or may not work in that specific place.

The more knowledge you can gather BEFORE the negotiation attempt, the greater the likelihood of some measure of sucess.

My personal opinion is that those fees are extraordinarily high. But they are the ones holding most of the cards here unless there are high vacancy rates. And I’m sure they care little for the opinions of me or anyone not in that area.

There are so many variables here that are location-specific that it’s difficult to know how to best advise you other than what I’ve suggested above.

But props to you for being willing to do whatever is necessary to keep your pet. I’m so tired of reading all the ads of people giving away their pet because they’re moving to a place that doesn’t allow pets or the fees are too high or whatever. Where there’s a will there’s a way. Good for you for being willing to do that rather than give up a member of your family.

Good luck and keep us posted.

If you are successful that info might come in handy for someone else in a similar situation.

I don’t know if this helps, but if you have pets, you’re better off renting an apartment in a private house than a big fancy apartment complex, regadless of the fees ands surcharges.

I have no advice, but I’m dealing with the same thing. A $200 pet fee and $25 extra dollars a month for rent, if they even allow us to adopt a kitten. It’s fucking ridiculous. I hope you find some answers soon.

And yet you can have a large bird that can, literally, chew the place apart without any fees.

The extra fees are because they do extra damages, and no, none of these are refundable. Of course the argument is BS and a larger deposit can easily cover a cat’s destructive behaviours.

Sounds like no one has been able to get these fees to go away. I’d love to find another place, but finding affordable housing in my area is near impossible.

You could try offering a larger deposit as long as it’s refundable.

Dogs generally have more poop and pee accidents than fastidious cats.

As long as an owner is attentive to litterbox maintenance a normal cat causes no problems in that regard.

And cats are far more likely to claw your furniture or a scratching post than to bother with doors as dogs sometimes do.

But see what you can find out in your neck of the woods or see what they say to a larger deposit (refundable)

Why should you have to pay for damage caused by other peoples pets? If your cat doesn’t do any damage you should be able to get your money back.

I’ve lived in several apartment “communities” and in my experience, negotiating any sort of fee with these kinds of places isn’t an option. If it were a smaller company, or an individual apt with a landlord, you might have some luck, but not with these companies. I also never got the pet deposit back either, even when I got the regular deposit back. No idea why they charge an additional monthly fee… extra insurance for them in case your cat claws up the carpet or your dog makes messes all over the place, I guess.

I’m having a similiar situation. Just moved in and didn’t think the $300 non-refundable pet fee, meant per cat. I didn’t have a cat then, but went to get 2 kittens today, so they keep each other company, and they want $600 non-refundable, plus $100 registration deposit for each cat, which is refundable, totalling $800. What?!? That’s crazy! I’ve never had problems with cats like I have with dogs ruining things. Then they only charge $10 extra per month, per pet. Ughh! It just doesn’t seem fair. If they would give at least half of all those fees back, then it may not be so bad. But $600 of that is non-refundable. Why? Isn’t there something we as tenants can do?