It was too good a day to last

[uberreiniger]

Yes, yesterday was too good a day to last. I finally got around to calling the apartment office to let them know we'll be getting a couple of cats. What did I find out? I found out that the pet deposit is not $125 as we first thought. No, it's $175 FOR EACH CAT! Needless to say, this seriously threw me into a panic. It's my own fault as I should have made this call a really long time ago, but still...

Long story short, after a morning of stressing, futilely calling the guy who offered to buy one of my guitars, and poring through the binders of L5R cards recently given me by kakita_shisumo looking for rares to sell in a desperate bid to raise deposit money, Mel came home from work and we talked her mom into giving us the rest of the money we need. So we are able to get our kitties after all. I hate having to ask other people for money. I know, who doesn't, right? The whole situation is infuriating, even though her mom was really sweet about it. I offered to mow the lawn and trim the hedges when we go down to visit.

Has anyone else ever encountered a pet deposit this outrageous? Is this the kind of astronomical fee I should be expecting every time I rent an apartment?

Comments

[donkeyjon.livejournal.com]

I offered to mow the lawn and trim the hedges when we go down to visit.

You dirty dog you. "Mow the lawn"...."Trim the hedges"...I know EXACTLY what you mean. *wink*

That does seem a bit excessive for a pet deposit. Though often I've heard that cats are much more expensive than other pets due to the cloying and absolutely undestroyable odor of cat urine pretty much requiring the replacement of carpet in any apartment that has had cats in it.

Around here, it's something like $75 or so per cat. But it can get higher, dependsing on how much the landlord wants to charge.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

Well, it's $175 regardless of whether it's a cat or dog, but nevertheless they guarantee they'll keep at least $50 of it after we move out for deodorizing and whatnot.

[ysathora.livejournal.com]

You dirty dog you. "Mow the lawn"...."Trim the hedges"...I know EXACTLY what you mean.

Dude, that's my mom you're talking about :P

[donkeyjon.livejournal.com]

Hey! Moms need lovin' too!

[ysathora.livejournal.com]

I'm sure my dad takes care of that. Now excuse me, while I try to think of something that doesn't involve my parents getting it on.

[ghaidin.livejournal.com]

Sounds incredibly high, I think in my old apartment dogs weren't allowed and cats had to pay an extra of about $50 :S

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

I dimly recall it being similar at my last apartment too. No dogs and cats for a fairly modest fee. I didn't really pay much attention at the time since I had no pets. But surely it had to be less than this.

[rosered32.livejournal.com]

I know I live in CA but that is reasonable. I have heard of the deposit being $250 per cat. Most places say no pets at all. So yes it is not TOO bad, but still if you didn't know, it can hurt.

Enjoy you r kitties and please post pics. Thanks!

[uawildcatgrl.livejournal.com]

I love when you have to pay a pet deposit AND monthly increase in your rent...um...the cat doesn't earn anything!

[cherith.livejournal.com]

That's really high. Most places it's not 'per animal' either - it's one for however many is their limit.

[stitchedsutures.livejournal.com]

That's how it was in my last apartment in Denver. It was I think $125 deposit for the pet, and half of it was refunded unless there was serious damage. I had paid it in full and when my roomate got her cat, she just paid me back for half of it since her cat was sharing the spot (and the paid deposit privilage).

[poorheather.livejournal.com]

Ouch. Yeah, my pet deposit for Zelda is going to be $300, which is freaking insane (especially as one of the requirements for having a cat is that it has to be declawed -another thing that bugs me), but I love my baby.

At least at the new place they don't charge you for pet rent- in Camden Passages I think the pet rent is 10-20 a month or some crazy crap like that, which absolutely steams me. Yeah, cats can be destructive, but children are far worse. I think multiple children households should pay the extra deposit. At least I know that Zelda's not going to try to flush a grilled cheese sandwich down the toilet or anything, and she SURE as hell isn't likely to egg the cars in the parking lot, unlike the little shitheads living here.

(Sorry, I got to ranting there. I can't wait to move out of the suburbs.)

[catlin.livejournal.com]

Sadly, this concept went to court already, and got deemed unconstitutional. Apartments that rent to adults (nonsenior living centers of course) can not discriminate against parents. Even as a Parent I can see why someone would prefer to live in an apartment complex without kids. They are loud, and if you work nights it sucks to wake to little Jane and Johnny screaming outside cause Johnny found a snake...

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

You just described a scene from my life. I never got ANY sleep at my old complex because it was the gathering point for all the complex's children. I'll never forget the day I finally got tired of the racket and went outside only to find all three stories of the place literally covered in children, using the stair and balcony railings as a jungle gym. Not a single child was to be seen anywhere near any of the other buildings in the complex, just my own.

[batchix.livejournal.com]

The apt complex down the street charges $150 extra every MONTH per pet. But yeah, pet deposit is super expensive. If you're in a large complex, they're not going to keep track and I wouldn't worry about reporting multiple cats. but in a small complex it's best you do. :/

[rustie25.livejournal.com]

My pet deposit was 1/2 months rent..so it was almost 300 bucks. Thats about what you have. I think its a little high, but I encountered places here that were 1/2 month rent PLUS and extra $25/month. So...
I would expect about that for every place that you try to rent, with cats or dogs. I had problems finding a place here because I had 2 cats. If I had 1, thats ok, but 2 is too many. I love my cats, so its not an option to get rid of them, but its a lot easier to find a place to live when you don't have dogs or cats.

[kakita-shisumo.livejournal.com]

That's high, but Amy and I have seen higher. We had to do a flat $250 for ours (plus the pet rent), but I've seen $150-$200 per animal before too.

Because it's Amy, of course, she asked about pet deposits during our apartment hunting, and we stayed away from the ones with the outrageous asking prices.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

I don't mind doing a flat fee. I just think charging by animal is a little stupid.

[freyjas-child.livejournal.com]

Wow...pet deposits!!?? That's something I've never had to pay...period! Bloody hell! That would be enough to make me move OR be a bitch and sneak the animals in. Because there are ways to keep a cat litter sans the smell. And well if they're quiet enough which I've always had with my cats.

insane deposits

[catlin.livejournal.com]

600. To my inlaws.

Re: insane deposits

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

Well, I can understand needing a large deposit if you're going to keep a pair of inlaws ;P

[germsama.livejournal.com]

Pet deposit and rent is one of the reasons I had such a difficult time getting back on my own again. Every apartment I ran into required a minimum 200 deposit per cat, plus 50 extra on rent each month... also per cat. They're milking the cow a bit, don't ya think?

Fortunately, I was able to find a condo owned by a cat lover, or I'd be catsless. =(

[megiloth.livejournal.com]

The Bob leaves his pet deposits in the yard.

[zombiecowboy.livejournal.com]

Rock on, Bob!
We have plenty o' depsosits as well.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

You guys are like the Zurich bank of such deposits :)

[fadedsecret.livejournal.com]

....pet...deposit?

I have never heard of that. In my apartment they don't ask for such a thing.

[ysathora.livejournal.com]

Where do you live? We might move there....lol.

[fadedsecret.livejournal.com]

Canada. LOL. But perhaps there are pet deposits in bigger cities.

[yaqui.livejournal.com]

$350.00 deposit for my cat...

[chade66.livejournal.com]

Having always rented and moved around the country a lot, I would say that $300 is about the average amount I have paid. That's the deposit that I paid for the house I am renting now, but there is no pet rent. The one exception was in Seattle when we had 5 acres (I hesistate to call that a farm, but we had rural zoning). I had no deposit for pets, but the plan was to subdivide the land. The landlord offered to give me the triple wide trailer we lived in there. She also told me to buy goats and later offered me her goats too!

I have on two occasions paid "pet rent". Its very common on the west coast. I would hunt around it when I could. Seattle was the hardest market because most places would except no pets at all. Several people suggested that I either give my OES away or put her to sleep (she was older then) and I ignored them and hunted until I could find a place that would take her.

[blkhmster.livejournal.com]

um WOW! we've never had to pay more than $50 bucks for a pet deposit and we had two cats. that's ridiculous. we had some nice apartments too ($825 a month for two bedrooms, hence why we bought a house for $100 less a month). i'm just floored at the amount of that pet deposit. i'm in the wrong business.

[uberreiniger.livejournal.com]

From the comments I'm getting it looks like it runs the full spectrum, everything from what I have to pay is normal to what I have to pay is ridiculous... which is a good sign it's somewhere in the middle. A good sign... I guess.