Landlords can generally charge for pets
Outside of a qualifying service animal or emotional support animal — which the Fair Housing Act treats as a disability accommodation, not a pet (42 U.S.C. § 3604(f)(3)(B); 24 CFR § 100.204(a)) — a landlord is generally free to charge for the privilege of keeping a regular pet. Nothing in federal law caps what a landlord can charge a pet owner, so the terms come down to your lease and, in some places, state or local law.
Pet deposit, pet fee, and pet rent are three different things
These terms get used loosely, but they aren't the same charge:
- A pet deposit is meant to be refundable, at least in part — like your security deposit, it's supposed to come back to you (minus documented pet-related damage) when you move out
- A pet fee, sometimes called a nonrefundable pet fee, is a one-time charge you don't get back, meant to compensate the landlord upfront for wear and tear
- Pet rent is a recurring monthly charge added to your rent for as long as you keep the pet
A lease can combine more than one of these — for example, a one-time nonrefundable fee plus ongoing monthly pet rent for the same animal — and that combination is generally legal unless your state says otherwise. Say your lease lists a $250 refundable pet deposit, a separate $150 nonrefundable pet fee, and $30 a month in pet rent. All three can apply to the same animal at the same time: the deposit is meant to come back to you if there's no pet-related damage, the fee is gone the moment you pay it, and the rent keeps being billed every month for as long as you keep the pet.
Multiple pets, size, and breed can change the price
A lease can also charge differently depending on how many pets you have, how big they are, or what breed they are — a second dog often adds its own deposit and its own monthly rent on top of the first, and a large dog may cost more than a small one under the same lease. None of that is capped by federal law either. If you're planning to add a second pet later, or your current pet is still growing, ask how the numbers change before you commit, since a lease that looked affordable for one small dog can get expensive once a second pet or a weight threshold is added.
What might limit this
Some states and cities restrict how landlords structure deposits and fees generally, including pet-related charges — for example, by capping the total amount a landlord can hold as any kind of deposit, or by requiring that anything labeled a "deposit" be at least partly refundable. Rules like this vary a lot by state, so check your state's security deposit law rather than assume a number you saw somewhere else applies to you.
Read your lease closely before you commit to a pet
Before you agree to keep a pet, look for exactly what you're being charged, whether each charge is refundable, whether it's due upfront or monthly, and whether it changes if you get a second pet or a bigger one. A lease that just lists "pet fee: $500" without saying refundable or nonrefundable is worth asking about directly — get the answer in writing before you pay, since it's much harder to dispute after the fact.
What to do if the numbers seem excessive
There's no federal cap on pet charges, so "excessive" is mostly a judgment call. Compare what similar buildings in your area charge for a similar pet, and check whether your state or city caps deposits generally in a way that would apply to a pet deposit too. If you think a charge is being mislabeled — for example, called "nonrefundable" when your state requires deposits to be refundable — that's worth raising in writing before you pay it rather than after. Honestkey™'s lease review can flag pet-related charges in your lease and note which ones may be worth questioning before you sign — including whether a charge is properly labeled refundable or not.