I see their point
(midwest.social)
LadyButterfly she/her
General Memes & Private ChuckleI have done a lot of residential work over the years a lot of sales work a lot of things where I've been in a lot of people's houses. Nothing smells worse than a person with cats who even goes a week or two without taking care of their litter box. And that smells sticks in everything. I have pets and I agree that a pet deposit is something needed because damn they do a lot of damage.
But isn't that literally what the deposit is for? You don't just assume someone will have excess damage when renting.
And sure, have a higher deposit for pet owners. But why am I paying a monthly cat fee on top of a one time "non-refundable pet deposit".
But isn’t that literally what the deposit is for?
The deposit is for the damage you expect done by the human.
The pet deposit is for the damage you expect done by the pet in excess of the human.
I don't begrudge any of this on its face. Where I have issue is landlords to refuse to give the deposit back, regardless of the condition of the unit after you leave.
But why am I paying a monthly cat fee on top of a one time “non-refundable pet deposit”.
Because if you can't find a landlord with more generous terms.
The pet deposit is for the damage you expect done by the pet in excess of the human.
Sure, I agree with charging a separate pet deposit. But a lot of times it's just a fee being called a "non-refundable deposit".
Because if you can’t find a landlord with more generous terms.
At least in my area, it just seems like a standard charge apartments do now. If anything, corporate rental properties seem to be charging these fees more than landlords. Private landlords either say no pets or just have a larger deposit. Which indicates that it's about generating additional revenue for these corporations, not purely covering pet damage.
How do you go a week without cleaning the litter box?!?
Having said that, my cats do do a fair amount of damage to the carpet and some doors with their claws, so an extra fee makes sense.
They also do a fair amount of damage to furniture; but that generally isn't the landlords.
A lot of times it's due to a disability or a mental illness
If this way of thinking became more widespread, all it would achieve would be the addition of child fees, not the removal of pet fees.
I bet you could take it to court and get all those fees removed, since the precedent has already been set.
Apartments charging pet fees: 🫸
Apartments charging child fees: 🫸
Landlords being charged with crimes: 👍
Landleeches being charged at with the nearest blunt object: :3
This sounds like someone that has never seen what cats can do to a property when the owner doesn't take care of them.
Piss drenched carpet and moldy walls are a pain in the ass to fix.
You ever seen what half-arse parented kids will do? All of the above + holes and pest infestations
If you don't like what the kids can do, wait until you see what the grown-ups can accomplish.
when it smells like cat piss, but they have no pets
Hey, drugs are expensive.
Grew up low income in a comission area, currently live next to a halfway house i'm wellllllll aware
That's how onr apartment of mine got flooded. Kid 2 floors up was playing with the plumbing
I worked retail for many years and I consider children pests as well
As someone who rents our previous two places out (at cost, don't shoot me) cats are by far the worst. Dogs might chew on things and be generally destructive, but there is no way to get cat smell out of a place quickly. Even if the cat doesn't actually piss on the floor, just that lingering litterbox smell takes months to fade in my experience.
If you run into the issue again, an enzyme cleaner works quite well in my experience. Nature's Miracle makes a decent one, I've had to use it before
When the owner takes care of them too. I'm sure their downstairs neighbors disagree on what the cat does all night.
... oh, wait, the post was about the day, they may agree on that.
I’m sure their downstairs neighbors disagree on what the cat does all night.
Sleep?
Cats are crepuscular, which means they're most active at dusk and dawn.
I've had indoor cats for 19 years, and most of the time after the kitten phase, they basically slept through the night.
A cat might get up for midnight snacks or get the zoomies every now and again, but adult cats sleep up to 16 hours a day so they really shouldn't be up all night.
Had two cats who did zero things.
Had two kids who drew crayolas on the wall and floor and stabbed the walls with pencils.
My kids marked up the walls pretty bad too. Owners said they'll be painting when we leave anyway (original paint job was horrid), but I patch up the holes as they come up.
I had a friend whose small dogs ripped up the carpet and scratched a bunch of doors to the level that I'd rather replace them. Sweet dogs, though.
You never really know how the dice are going to fall hahaha.
Excuse me, but the bigger scam is the entire Landlord concept
Social housing, which is “owned” by the community as a whole, is the answer. Not only for people who are not yet ready to own, but also for housing in general.
Vienna is a prime model for this, where social housing is frequently much cheaper than ever owning a home. Most families that start out in social housing cling to it their entire life because it is just so much more financially responsible.
Last time I was charged a pet fee, I asked them "So if my wife gets pregnant, do we need to plan to pay extra on the rent?"
The leasing agent looked at me like I was crazy and said "Of course not, that would be ridiculous!"
And then she realized... Like I could literally see it flash across her face. She dropped it.
Nice, in Poland landlords wants to be sure if you dont have kids, because they wont rent you apartment.
When my gf moved to me, my landlord increased my rent by 20%. Rent only, Im not talking about bills
Interesting, I've known people to increase rent for just a guy or guys living, vs a couple because they don't keep things clean
His argument was that the equipment breaks down faster
Just landlords gouging every cent.
They would absolutely charge a "children fee" if they were legally able to.
You all understand that the children fee is literally paying for enough space to house children? Do your cats have their own room? ;)
My cat has their own apartment. They just let us live there.
My cats think that my rooms are their.
No, you think the cat's room still belongs to you.
Yeah, but all of them. ;) no matter how much room you own.
All it takes is one untrained dog with separation anxiety to chew through walls and tear trim off of door frames to trigger rules like this.
Or one elderly pet with severe incontinence peeing in the closest carpeted corner instead of the litter box.
With that said, children certainly have a much greater capacity for damage, especially when they get older. Infants? Not so much.
Yes and what does that fee have to do with it?
Security Deposits are already double rent, and the entire legal system including property insurance still exists.
The $100/month isn't going anywhere except to profit.
I once toured an apartment that charged pet fees and for dogs REQUIRED A DNA TEST so they could fine you for not picking up poop.
Someone out there is dna testing literal dog shit.
No one is actually doing that, they're charging a fee to do nothing until someone complains enough that they'll send out a strongly worded letter hoping the person not picking up their dog poop will admit to it out of fear.
I lived in a complex that required such samples from dogs. They still never did anything about all the shit lying around
Same here. lol
Wholeheartedly support, I wish my apartment complex did that. Dog poop all over the place.
Don't give them ideas
I vaguely recall reading that such child fees would likely be illegal (in the US)? I think it might also be illegal to exclude families with children from being eligible to rent a given location. Don't quote me on either, though, because I don't have sources on hand.
In Florida you are allowed to age restrict a community to 55+ only, which is effectively a child ban plus anyone younger than the moon landing.
In Brazil is illegal for landlords or apartment buildings to charge or prohibit pets on their units. They are some laws around, like it should be as big as you can charge it on your arms, can't use the common areas unless designated pet areas and can't be loud at night.
It's also illegal here in the UK. Additionally it's now also illegal to refuse to let to someone who has a pet on the basis of that pet*, however, if two parties applied for the same property but only one had a pet, then how could anyone possibly be able to prove why the party with a cat wasn't accepted...
_ *if it's not currently law, it's on its way through to being so.
It's provincial here in Canada but I vaguely remember some building having a no child rule and then losing a court case when the strata tried to evict folks who ended up having kids.
I would love to live in that utopia. No children allowed in an entire suburb would be heaven.
Do people being outside really cause you that much of an issue? My neighborhood has tons of kids. They're just there existing. The closest thing to being bothered is just making sure I don't back in to anyone if they're playing. Which isn't that hard, nor does it add any issues to my day since you know I look behind me when I back up.
If you had said apartment complex or condominium I'd get it, but like in a suburb everyone has their own detached home.
I don't mind all kids, but it's highly dependent on the children and the parents involved, and especially in anything aside from single family homes, you can't really tell what you're going to get. If it were an option, I would pay extra for an apartment in a child free building just to completely avoid the possibility of having my peace and quiet at home ruined because the building gets new tenants who let their kids run wild and make insane noise at all hours. Kids can be incredibly disruptive if they have inconsiderate parents who never tell them to behave when they act out, of which there are far too many.
If the just existed quietly then that would be fine, but kids are loud
In the US, many mobile home communities require tenants be over the age of 55.
I’ve seen weird rules too, like 50% of the household must be over 55. So like if your spouse is younger but you are older than that is okay. This pretty effectively does a good job of restricting children just based on math and family dynamic without explicitly stating “no kids”.
One of my parents used to live in such a community. It was quiet as hell at night.
So restrictions like that are clearly legal and not considered ageism. (I might have considered living in that same community if I were old enough.) But apparently restricting children would be illegal?
Fair housing act makes it illegal to deny housing or charge more based on having children.
Senior aged restricted housing is legal because seniors vote. The exception is a different law and explicitly makes it okay.
It's not legal to charge pet fees if it's for a service animal so it's probably related to that in some.
For services animals they cannot even enforce size or breed restrictions. I have in laws that used this to get a pit bull for their child with Down Syndrome. It wasn't a fee dodge, the apartment had a blanket no pet policy.
Kids don't pee in the same corner every day for years.
don't you kind of hope that they do, though? most apartments only have one bathroom, and the toilet is always in a corner
I try to pee in the same location every time.
Sorry you missed out dude, I did this all the time as a kid
I lit my mom's apartment on fire once. In my defense, I was four and left unsupervised while she took a nap.
...
You've clearly never fostered.
Society rather wants people to have kids and not pets for self-preservation reasons
Encouraging renters to have kids is a rare long-term investment strategy by the landlord class
Children are members of society. They're imperfect, but still. As other members of society, we have a duty to at least tolerate them.
I find it very sad that some people treat them like a different species. You wouldn't hear people say, without being countered, "I don't want to see old people" or "I don't want to have to interact with women". It's fucked up, you don't choose the other members of society.
I do agree with you as a childfree person who doesn't like children. Most of the time I blame/hate their parents instead. Like the parents of the kids upstairs. One of them has a "band". For the past year he's been trying to learn 3 songs almost every day in the evening. It's incredibly annoying to listen to this musically untalented kid when I'm tying to relax. Put some goddamned headphones on him, for fuck's sake.
Have you ever met your upstairs neighbors? Talking to someone is the only way to let them know you want something. Maybe they aren't aware of how audible their kid is to other people in the apartment complex
Yes! They (or at least the SAHM) are rich assholes who could have bought a house, but instead chose to buy an apartment in a building so the breadwinner's job is 5 min away. They let the kid play with the windows open so the entire neighborhood can enjoy the sounds of the same 10 notes on repeat.
Noise canceling headphones? Cheaper than parenthood or soundproofing
Why does your intention to do nothing take priority over his intention to do something?
A worrying number of people have somehow become detached from the fact that children - even the tiny, shitting, screaming ones, are fully equal people to them.
Your comment is disingenuous at best. How would you like to listen to a kid trying to learn the same 3 songs for a year, almost every day, and failing at note 10 each time? Why is my moment of peace after work so valueless that it can't be respected with a SMALL change of the kid using headphones to reproduce the sound of his instruments? I'm not saying ~~don't~~ stop. I'm saying have the common sense to understand your child isn't the next Mozart and put some headphones on him. I already can't enjoy a nice sunny day on the weekends on my balcony without them running and screaming above me. At least give me a break after work.
(edit: incorrect double negation)
- You want something to happen - silence
- You are aware of how it can happen - something in someone's ears
- You have the power to make it happen - earphones and earplugs are incredibly cheap
- You instead want someone else to do something about it - him not you.
You are 2026
Has it occurred to you I don't live alone and would like to hear my partner? Or should I adjust all the time to someone else's whims when they could reduce their noise towards all inhabitants of the building?
Has it occurred to you
Would you be offended if I said absolutely not?
Go buy some soundproofing off AliExpress and/or go find something you enjoy doing without the expectation that those around you think you're good at it.
Found the entitled parent.
People just don't want to be annoyed. It's in the same vein as 'I don't want to see drunks'. Spoiled kids and the uncontrollable alcoholic are almost identical in how annoying they can be. On that note, 'I don't want to see someone's racist, demented grandpa piss on the doormat' would also be pretty popular. Would be better for everyone involved if human kids were raised in creches by professionals instead of whichever rando managed to have unprotected sex at the right/wrong time.
Our experience with children being raised in a group setting by professionals is too full of rampant abuse for this to become an acceptable reality. Even those programs that haven't propagated systematic physical and sexual abuse soon fell into dangerous neglect through lack of funding or corruption and embezzlement.
As if children raised by 'parents' aren't abused on the regular, sexually and otherwise?
The post isn't criticising the kid, it's criticising that they have to pay extra for their cat.
My cat is a member of society too. And she's a better person than any human of any age
No, it's a cat.
I know antropromorphization is at an all time high right now. But no, your cat is not people.
Both are animals. And a cat is at least as intelligent as a 4yo. Even some 8yo kids can't claim that.
One is human, which is what you are.
One is an animal that you attempt to humanize by thinking of them as having human-like emotions.
By comparing them to a human 4-year old, you show your own delusion.
Humans are also animals
Not the point though, is it?
No, that's entirely the point
That's awfully speciest of you.
Tough one. I've never wanted kids and my God are they so goddamn loud...
But, as more of my friends have kids I feel more and more for parents, it's damned tough to raise kids and finding housing, especially in my city is brutal.
Still, not like a fee helps anyone beyond the landlord.
don't spread this pro landlord bs
My current complex does this, and while I rather doubt the authenticity of the service, I support the threat of it if for no other reason than to make some of the nasty bastards around here actually pick up after their pets for a change.
How is charging someone $100/month extra in rent going to cause them to do anything except be poorer?
I replied to the wrong post, my mistake; I meant to reply to one talking about DNA sampling dogs to prevent neglectful owners from leaving pet waste everywhere. I'm certainly not in favour of the sorts of fees mentioned by the original post.
Eventually they will find the exact dollar amount that is the threshold for someone to burn down the leasing office, and then everyone's rent becomes free.
Literally.
Change the appartment.
Neighbors aren’t using enough melatonin
Get a emotional support animal bagde from Amazon. They cannot charge you for the pet AND you can sue them if they give you shit. Fight landlord bullshit.
You still need medical documentation and they can demand proof.
I worked in building management for a few years, obviously rules are going to be different depending on the region but I can say that I was quite surprised to find out that no in fact, if the building is not pet friendly, a person does not have the automatic right to bring in a support pet. Because a lot of people choose NON pet friendly buildings due to allergies, etc. nobody has the right to override the rights of those other tenants. If it's essential, they'll be asked to move. At best the medical need would grant them the right to break their lease early. If it comes down to it, it will be argued why that person did not find a pet friendly building to begin with.
That is not how that works at all. For starters only dogs and miniature horses are even recognized as valid protected service animals. And there is no valid badge or certification for that.
While emotional support animals can have a protected class for housing in some circumstances it would at a minimum require a recognized medical disability and documentation from a medical professional confirming your need for that animal medically.
Buying some worthless patch off Amazon is going to hold absolutely no weight whatsoever legally. Even after all of that you would most likely just be asked to move there is a reason that certain places are not pet friendly and it's to give people with allergies and other issues with pets a space
Kids generally don’t spread rancid piss everywhere, though.
Cats generally don't either
It’s not an uncommon thing for some male cats that haven’t been neutered…
Yes, have your house cats neutered
They do though, especially as they get older.
Lol where does this knowledge come from? If you really think that it's normal that cats spread piss at the place they live, you're wrong. If the cat is in heat, yes. Or sick, yes. Or the litter box is never cleaned, yes. Or if the cat is driven crazy, yes...
