what is a reasonable pet deposit?

[stacey36]

My sister and I are expecting to rent a house soon. We paid a sec. deposit and was given a copy of what the proposed lease would be. The lease is a common form with some hand-written addendums. Anyway, one part of the lease said no pets allowed, and a hand-written part said there is pet deposit fee (with no amount specified). I then asked the landlady how much? She said $50 per month per cat, $100 per month per dog. I have 3 kittens that I have owned for about 3months and my kids are attached to them so I really don't want to give them away. I'm willing to pay a pet deposit, but is there some precedent about what is a standard pet fee. $150 a month seems like extortion to me. We have not signed a lease yet. I want to make sure we agree on terms before we sign.

[lane]

The house we live in costs us $1650 a month for rent and we are required to put a refundable $800.00 deposit down for our two cats. Our place is a dump though and the carpet was ruined long before we moved in so the deposit is probably much lower for us.

[ohiolandlord]

There are plenty of other unrented apartments out there. If you don't like the terms, I would suggest making a counteroffer or going somewhere else. $150 a month seems high.