Conversation of the day
We’re going to move. We’ve put down a deposit on a place. But to be sporting, casually checking out other places.
Phone call from roommate to check out “very spacious” two-bedroom apartment in the hip part of town, listed on craig’s list.
It didn’t specify cats/no cats, so Heather wanted to get that out of the way before wasting any more time.
Jerk landlord (JL) : Cats? I can handle one cat.
H: No, she has more than one.
JL: How many?
H: Three.
JL: THREE? One’s OK. I can handle one cat. Three! It’s an apartment, not a farm.
H: Man, that’s rude. More discussion with JL. No, I can understand. That’s your property. You have the right to not allow animals. But you didn’t have to be rude.
Discussion. Does three cats constitute a farm? Do cats count as livestock? No.
I’ve always maintained that being over-the-top cat lady is exactly one to two more cats than I currently have. The number of the counting is three, not five, nor two, and the counting shall be three. Oops. Monty Python sneaking in there.
Three is probably about one more cat than I need to have. But I do find it insulting that three constitutes a farm for some a*hole, snooty, absentee landlord from LA.
I have no plans to get any more cats, probably not until my 40s, when the youngest ones will be elderly. They’re children.
I’ve meant to ask, on this apartment search, and others, why kids are OK but pets are not.
In my opinion, kids have the potential to do far worse damage.
And special thanks to Heather for standing up for my cats.
Children are much more destructive, but to charge a kid deposit would be discrimination under the Fair Housing Act.
Actually, what I meant to say was that to deny housing to a family with a kid under 18 would be discrimination. Landlords do already charge a deposit, though it isn’t aimed specifically at families. See here for more information: Fair Housing Laws.
My point being, no point in charging a pet deposit. You can’t go outright and charge an extra amount for kids. Why pets? Because they can.
And landlords love to charge obscene amounts for deposits and often tack on an additional pet rent. Why? Because they can. And to discourage people from deciding they can get pets.
A couple of listings we’ve looked at included pet interviews. Any place that wants a pet interview can kiss my ass. Cats don’t meet people well. Those things are probably aimed at dogs. But I still find them offensive.
Pet deposits are definite opportunities for the landlord to take advantage. Personally, if a landlord charges a pet deposit equal to or greater than the security deposit, I’d look elsewhere. It’s ridiculous. Don’t you pay a security deposit as insurance against damage? Why the need to pay a separate deposit for pets? I’ve also read that some landlords will keep your pet deposit no matter whether your pet did damage or not. They have some kind of testing kit they can use to detect the presence of urine in the carpet, and if they find urine, they keep your deposit. So my opinion (and advice) is don’t do business with landlords who require a security deposit AND a pet deposit. That may be hard advice to follow in the city–in fact I know for a fact it’s hard advice to follow–but I’d try to find a landlord that only charges a security deposit but still lets you keep your pets. To me, that kind of landlord is the kind you want to do business with anyway.
A pet deposit is a little silly when I know I am capable of making more of a mess that Sophie or Cleo. Be careful of the places that require an initial pet deposit and monthly “pet” payments. Beware . . . these jokers are out there.
I suspect that cat or pet paranoia increases in direct proportion to the degree of urbanization: in Fresno three cats just might seem like a farm because farms are so far away.
What will happen to all your blogging on the shopping cart neighbor if you move away? How will you keep from disappointing your readers who hang on every word that you let drip from those beautiful and precise fingers about Mr Shopping Cart Man?
Actually, Fresno is nothing if not a big old farming community in denial. They are more serious about their crops than back in Indiana, and farm on a completely different scale, where corporations own huge (huge) tracts of land, and depend on migrant, likely illegal (so they can pay them next to nothing) labor to harvest their oranges, lemons, almonds, grapes, avocados, peaches, tomatoes… (you can get so many fruits and vegetables fresh here it’s not even funny.) In fact, the big deal here is water, cause another level of denial is that we live in a desert. The farmers, and by farmers i mean the very rich people who own the corporations that own the land, are constantly fighting with the housing developers for water rights. These are very big deals here.
So, yeah, population of the county is pushing 1 million, but really it’s all about the ag culture.
Although old boy landlord was from la, so who knows. Maybe his paranoia increased in inverse proportion to the amount of silicone he’s around.
Silicone? You mean he had breast implants? I always knew you people on the Left Coast were utter freaks!
It’s hard to avoid places without pet deposits. Pet rents are spotty. The new place, no pet rent. But it’s probably offset by the obscene pet deposit. Which isn’t as bad as the per-pet deposit at another place.
The place we’re at both charged a more reasonable pet deposit and a $15 flat pet rent. Not per pet, as I’ve seen some places do.
No pictures of the animals. No vaccination records. I’ve actually looked at a place a couple of years ago that required both. And that was at the two-cat level.
But there are a lot of housing opportunities out here. Part of the problem is just finding a combination of reasonable rent, deposit, pet policy and finally enough room.
We’ve found that a fair amount of place actually are pet friendly. Or they claim to be, until you hear the added charges. Again: they don’t really want you to have pets.
I’m optimistic that we’ll get my pet deposit back here. They seemed fairly laid back and liberal about my pets.
As for the new place, I don’t know.
Oh, and as to shopping car guy updates, I can always come to visit, or perhaps entertain with reports on other shopping cart men and women across the city. There are plenty to go around.
On pet deposits, get this: When I was looking for a place a couple of months ago, one place wanted me to pay a deposit and monthly pet rent for … MY FISH. Now give me a freakin’ break. Exactly what kind of damage are my FISH going to do to a place?
Your fish?
I suppose the tank could break, but you could also spill some water or something.
I know you didn’t even give the time of day after that. Shame on them!
PET RENT FOR FISH!
So, what’s the story on the new digs? And for how much do you have to sell your soul?
Shel — That is highway robbery! How did they justify their pet deposit for the fish rent?
The new digs… going to get them. A different place than the one we’d first thought to sell our souls for. At a price that is about $100 higher.
Ah, but who needs a soul anyway? Not this atheist.
Anyone fancy a trip to California to help us move? I make a killer spinach artichoke dip and I’ve started making killer cheese garlic bread and tortilla pizzas.
I’d make the trip . . . hell, we may be making it anyway, though maybe not soon enough to help you move.
oh, and cats should only count as livestock it you plan to eat them. Or milk them. Or collect eggs from them. Far as I know, cat’s are pretty worthless in these regards…
Darn! But we’ll be able to visit, at least.
Cats can get pretty fat. I have a couple that are pretty ripe. But I’m a vegetarian, so I won’t be eating them, and rather suspect that they would be all fatty tissue anyway.