Landlord Question and Answer Forum

When do you make a pet deposit refundable or nonrefundable? What are the limitations?

In my opinion pet deposits should never be refundable, however check your state and city laws there are a few states that require the pet deposit to be treated like a security and is refundable. If you search your states name and landlord-tenant law pet deposit you should come up with the actual laws for your state.

Posted by Patty H, on Thursday, February 4, 2016

I charge a one-time, $100 "pet fee", not a pet deposit, so it's non-refundable and there has not been any confusion with my tenants requesting reimbursement.

Posted by Trumbull R, OH on Thursday, February 4, 2016

This is the same problem I ran into in Montana. If you say "deposit", it is considered a refundable item. I never called mine a deposit either,( 100.00 non refundable pet fee) but had someone go all crazy on me( they weren't even renting from me, they jumped onto my on line advertisement and started misquoting a lot of state statues...but I ended up calling an attorney to make sure I was not doing anything illegal. I was told that you can charge a refundable pet deposit ( you have to check with your state, but in Montana it can be up to 1500.00) and then I also am charging a 100.00 pet administration (or application) fee per pet.

Posted by KIMBERLEY M, MT on Friday, February 5, 2016

How do I check the laws in Hawaii???

Posted by michele k, HI on Sunday, February 7, 2016

It appears that Hawaii has a residential landlord/tenant code that can be found here: http://files.hawaii.gov/dcca/ocp/landlord_tenant/landlord-tenant-handbook.pdf Hopefully it can help answer specific questions about renting in Hawaii.

Posted by Trumbull R, OH on Monday, February 8, 2016