If you are one of the hundreds of thousands of Floridians that rent and you happen own a pet you may be looking at additional expenses either upfront or on a monthly basis.
More rental communities and landlords are requiring an additional fee to keep an animal in your residence. Sometimes this fee is required upfront. This is often referred to as a pet deposit. Most renters assume the word deposit means that the money is being held in case their is damage. However, renters should be careful when reading the language of a lease in whether this fee is truly a deposit, meaning you may recover the amount upon moving out if your animal did not cause damage to the property, or if it is simply a one-time non-refundable payment that the Landlord never plans to return. Another way that Landlords require owners to pay for their pets is adding a pet fee to the rent each month. These fees can be very expensive.
Most of the time these fees are meant to protect the community, or landlord, in a case where a dog causes severe damage to a rental unit. What happens when there are not additional expenses and you leave your rental apartment or house in the same condition it was left in? It really all depends on the language of the lease and the wording of the pet deposit. This is why potential renters should read their leases very carefully so they know exactly what they are facing in regards to the money being spent to keep your animal. If you lease calls for a pet deposit, don’t think you’ll automatically be entitled to that money back as it might, in reality, be a non-refundable fee.
Has your Florida landlord withheld your pet deposit unfairly? Are you entitled to recover?
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