Pet Rent??

[arrenlex]

I don't understand the issue. Pet rent makes perfect sense to me. Lesser mammals are noisy, high-maintenance, leave waste, and are potentially destructive to property. If a building were to allow them it makes all the sense in the world to charge people extra for allowing them into the building. That way you can pay for damages that arise from them if one decides to claw out all the carpets or maul a little girl to death in the hall. Gotta have the cleaning bill covered. What's the issue?

[CheddarCheese]

pet rent = pet penalty = we'd rather not have furry shit demons on our property, but we like money

I like cats but cats have wicked dander that stays around even after the cat is gone; a lot of people may not be able to rent the apt. when you move out becuase of the dander. Dogs just suck, so I can understand that one too.

[Spongiform]

Shut your mouth! Dogs kick ass!

[Search4Lancer]

I paid a $250 deposit for my cat, which is in addition to the similarly sized personal deposit. I think the real issue here is that a pet deposit and pet rent at the same time are quite obviously a uselessly redundant method of getting your money. One, or the other, not both. To have both would be lacking logic

[arrenlex]

[quote="Spongiform";p="560689"]Shut your mouth! Dogs kick ass![/quote]

I'm definitely (defaintely, Greg?) going to go with CheddarCheese on this one. About both species. Dogs are nothing more than purchased love for those who feel too insecure to rely on real friends, with whom you might grow apart.

[Martin Blank]

You don't buy pets. You rent them, because in almost every case, you don't have the chance to keep them for the rest of your life.

In SoCal, it's not uncommon to pay $15-$30 pet rent per pet, max of two. In many cases, they consider an aquarium or a hamster cage to be a single pet, and many places strictly forbid the use of an aquarium because of the potential water damage.

[ChozSun]

I came on to talk about the very same strip but I think that my experience with pets vs kids is quite different from the rest of you.

Greg's strip was totally logical and I found it hilarious that Greg was questioning the renter's reasoning.

My experience is that pets are incredibly destructive and kids are not. My kid is a 3 year old boy and as much as he could tear up stuff, his "destruction" is fixable easily. If a pet decides to forget his training and pee on the carpet, are you really ever going to get rid of the pee?

Seriously, the worse thing that my kid has ever done is drawn on the walls with crayons and that came off with soap/water. My dog... let us say while I was sad to send her off to grandma's farm, I wasn't sad to see her go.

Get rid of your pets and then get a kid. Pet rent makes total sense.

[Spongiform]

arrenlex, Just because I like dogs doesn't mean I think they're better than cats. I like skiiing, but I like bicycling too. Bah.

[Mae Dean]

Sorry, but I'm still calling bullshit on the issue.

For one, the statement that kids OR pets are necessarily destructive is patently false. We have three cats and a small dog - I say to you here and now, that in EVERY place we have lived, not one of these animals has done damage. The cats use the litterbox every time, and the puppy is housetrained, and does not scratch or chew on anything but her toys. The cats have a scratching post, WHICH THEY USE.

If you want to talk about who's really destructive, it's us. I put holes in the wall to hang pictures. I might accidentally drop something heavy on the hardwood floor, or spill something on the carpet, or any number of things.

AND, I submit that the comparison between pets and children is a very valid one. They are both living beings, and they can both POTENTIALLY damage the house. That's not a guarantee that they will.

Frankly, pet rent is a bullshit way of rental agencies to get more money. I completely understand the purpose of a pet deposit - combined with a normal deposit, it's there to pay for potential damages. Everywhere we've actually rented with has charged it, and we're happy to pay it. But I will be damned if I'm going to shell out extra money to have my well-behaved pets live with me. And there are more than enough places out there that aren't on this bullshit pet rent bandwagon that I'm not worried about it - out of all the places in San Francisco we looked at, Park Merced was the ONLY place that charged pet rent. And we told them flat out that it was one of the main reasons we were not interested in pursuing renting a place with them.

You have to remember who's in control - there are tons of places to live out there. If you refuse to deal with the places with business practices you don't agree with, it sends a message. That's what I have to say on the issue.

Added: As a response to people saying pet rent is a valid way of compensating for the fact that animals make noise constantly, the way I would expect any landlord to deal with it would be a warning, and then if it becomes a problem, telling the tenants they have to get rid of the noisy animal in question. If, on the other hand, the animal is not bothering anyone, I see no reason to penalize the owner. And frankly, I'm probably one of the most understanding people around about it - our neighbors have two small dogs that bark INCESSANTLY from time to time... but it doesn't really bug us, and we let them be. I'm just glad our animals are, for the most part, nice and quiet. I never have to worry about getting kicked out.

[erik_otaku]

Its a hassle for them to have to deal with pet owners constantly as such. Thats why most places dont allow pets in the first place.

Animals CAN be trained properly, but seriously, they arent going to give a pet training evaluation. They have to assume the worst for pets, and even worse, that the pets will be alone.

Now, lets say, you have a 1-7 year old child. Yes, they can be noisy, but at least you will be around for it. If you are leaving your 1-7 year old child alone, you might have wanted to reconsider children. Pets will be left at home unsupervised all the time. Regardless of how well the pet is trained, all they have to do is accidentally knock over something that YOU leave out, and we are all guilty of leaving things out in the open (soda, bleech, etc cleaning stuff), and then that liquid sits there eating away at the floor for the next 3-8 hours. Now, your 1-7 year old child is not only less likely to do this, but can be monitored, and even if they do so, it can be cleaned up/attended to.

Now if the child is old enough to stay home on their own, they should be responsible enough to know to stay quiet and/or be careful. At least when something happens, they can call mommy or daddy to tell them. And yea, if the kid knocks over bleech, god help them, but the point still remainds that the child can contact people, or at least be smart enough to know that they messed up.

[Bigity]

There's the rub. When you own a property, you can do whatever you want with it, and that includes what you charge for rent. Bottom line, buy a house if you want to be free from hassles property owners can come up with.

And dogs rock. Cats are ok, but I can't take them hunting or play tug-o-war with cats.

Both pets and children can cause damage, but you know what? One is a human being, and one is a pet. Just a pet. I love my dogs, but they don't get the same value as my family, or even friends.

[thanoseid]

[quote="erik_otaku";p="560846"]Regardless of how well the pet is trained, all they have to do is accidentally knock over something that YOU leave out, and we are all guilty of leaving things out in the open (soda, bleech, etc cleaning stuff), and then that liquid sits there eating away at the floor for the next 3-8 hours.[/quote]

If you have pets and leave open bottles of bleach sitting around, I imagine you must go through a lot of pets.

[quote="erik_otaku";p="560846"]Now, your 1-7 year old child is not only less likely to do this, but can be monitored, and even if they do so, it can be cleaned up/attended to. [/quote]

On the other hand, pets don't play with matches, or color on the walls, or flush toys down the toilet... And, what, no one else has ever heard of a young kid peeing on the floor?

[Bigity]

Like intetionally pissing on the floor? No, only in movies.

It's called discipline, look into it. Goes for children and pets really. And some adults.

[Mae Dean]

I'm not making a value judgement between children and pets. Seriously now.

I don't have children yet. Thus, my pets mean a lot to me. So I choose not to deal with people or companies who are not like-minded.

But my stance on pet rent is unchanged. Either you allow pets, or you don't. Pet rent is a bullshit middle-of-the-road fee.

[adciv]

Greg Dean, What breed is the dog?