Pets allowed or, well, not! Read the apartment listings but cease the junk fees
I don't like rent control or rental regulations though. The landlords and apartment managers restrained from collecting junk fees still have keys to enter your apartment and peruse your belongings at will. So what exactly is this intended to accomplish?
It's prison time. Leave city hall out of it.
KOMO News Staff
“Every one of my neighbors who doesn't have a dog is now going to have to pay to help cover the costs, maintenance, wear and tear, whatever, of a pet,” Schilling said, “because that fee is now collectivized. It's no longer an individual service." ¶Schilling predicted the new ordinance would backfire with unintended consequences.
If pets are allowed, pets are allowed. There's dog hair all over when I move in and I'm not allowed to keep my own dog in there without paying extra? And besides that my dog isn't your individual service.
“It's not reducing rent and in fact I guarantee you it's probably going to raise rent. Quality will go down because housing providers can't utilize a fee for individualized service, and there's going to be less choice because there's not going to be as many developers choosing to build housing in the city of Seattle anymore," Schilling said. ¶The legislation is one more way to nickel and dime small businesses, Schilling said, to the point where only large-scale housing providers will be viable.
Of course you're going to have to raise rent keep up with long term building maintenance. But look who's nickel-and-diming people. Rent's got to be all in except for specific utilities billed for usage and you're going to be honest upfront about what you're charging people. You're not a housing provider. You're just a middleman between land owners, loggers, construction workers, and the people who are supposedly going to live in those places. Quality dog hair on the sofa, too.
Most renters would pay extra for a nicer place with no pets allowed, not the other way around. Let's not be so prissy and upscale with the neighbor's dog slobbering and shedding in the hallway. Let out your lower quality units with pets allowed, problem solved and no junk fees.