Renting with Pets

Finding an affordable rental takes a bit more planning when you have pets. Many landlords will simply refuse to allow pets, while others will charge a premium price for allowing you to move in with your critters. To give you an idea of how much more you should expect to spend, we’ve tapped into some new data from Zillow.

According to the online real estate company’s HotPads rental analysis, urban renters with pets can expect to pay an average of 3.5% more vs. renters who don’t have pets. However, the amount will vary by location.

For instance, the analysis finds that renters with pets pay an average of $300 more per month more in Manhattan, while renters in Los Angeles typically don’t pay any additional cost vs. their non-pet-owning counterparts.

In addition to these higher monthly rents, pet owners may also be asked to pay a bigger deposit. This, too, will vary by location.

For a complete rundown of pet surcharges by metro area, go here.

The key takeaway, though, is that renters who have acquired pets since their last move should plan to spend a bit more time finding a rental accommodation than they may have had to spend in the past – and they should expect to pay a bit more in rent than they might have been used to paying.