There's probably a complicated reason as to why the pet fee exists, but yeah, I personally won't disagree with you, I just hate seeing people shit on children all the time
I mention below in my comment the main reason- a deposit exists to protect the owner. It can be hard and expensive to get money from someone who has moved out, tracking them down, lawyers, court, so on. Then even if you can prove the damage was done by them, if they are broke, unemployed or under employed, or work on a cash basis- actually getting your money may be impossible. So a deposit is calculated based on the assumed number of human occupants of all ages (since 9.9/10 there will be at least 1 human occupant,) and the overall value of furnishings and work to the property. Pets are common but less common than humans only. So the pet fee is an extra deposit instead of charging everyone a higher deposit under the assumption all tennants will have the highest number and risk of pets allowable. It’s a numbers game and it makes more sense to only charge more where a pet is involved.
Also- it's illegal in most places to charge more if you have children.
Honestly, I don't have a problem with pet deposits. They probably should exist. I just think they should work like other deposits do. If your pet doesn't ruin anything, you should get your deposit back. But most pet deposits ( atleast here) are non-refundable. Which feels a little less like "we want to make sure we can cover damages" and a little more "we just want an excuse to take more money from you".
I dislike pet deposits. That said- this logic is highly flawed. Charging a deposit for children only hurts those in lower income brackets and not those who have healthy finances and a higher income. Not charging for pets hurts everyone. The current deafualt assumption most places is that a certain number of human occupants will live in a place. Most renters have a limit in the contract for additional adults and children, and rules for how many guests may stay for how long. The security deposit is factored off that assumption. Pets are not included in the default amount. If a renter can’t charge for pets on a case by case basis, they simply must raise the default security deposit. That expense is passed to everyone, but especially hurts low income people without pets who now can’t afford the deposit at all when before they could. It’s unfair to ask a renter who doesn’t know you to carry financial responsibility for a pet. When you get a pet it’s life is in your hands and are responsible
I’m late, but....... when one of my neighbors moved out they found that he had never once taken his dog for a walk. In the 3 years he’d lived in that two bedroom apartment. Instead he let the dog use the carpet as a bathroom. It was so bad they tore out everything in there, scrubbed the concrete (for
dayyyyyys), and fumigated it. However, after all that it still smells like piss and shit all through the house to this very day.
Because when you leave, they may very well need to have carpets replaced and walls repainted before a new tenant can move in due to allergies. People may be socially allergic to children, but it rarely actually causes illness.
I think the point is children also do a lot of damage to apartments if the parents can't parent that may result in needing to repaint, fix walls, or replace certain things that were too damaged.
A standard commercial unit, rented with proper planning, assumes that things like carpets and paint have a lifespan. For instance the “standard” for residential rental carpet tends to be 3-5 years regardless of how well it is kept. A unit should also be repainted in most any circumstance when someone moves out, because walls and other surfaces age and suffer wear and tear even from “expected responsible use.” As such- things like drawing on walls, or spilling on carpet are expected and “normal” as long as they aren’t extreme cases. Things like feces or urine sitting on the carpet for 8-14 hours or more while you work or what not are not expected and tend to cause more and longer lasting damage. The unsupervised time of young children and hence their ability to create extreme damage tends to be less that than pets which are often home most of a day every day and don’t go to school or day care while you work.
Honestly, I don't have a problem with pet deposits. They probably should exist. I just think they should work like other deposits do. If your pet doesn't ruin anything, you should get your deposit back. But most pet deposits ( atleast here) are non-refundable. Which feels a little less like "we want to make sure we can cover damages" and a little more "we just want an excuse to take more money from you".
dayyyyyys), and fumigated it. However, after all that it still smells like piss and shit all through the house to this very day.
Kids are more important than pets.