Mama Bear ([info]lunadragonfly) wrote in [info]damnportlanders,
@ 2008-01-31 13:11:00
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This is a new one!
We're still looking for a new apartment and this morning called a place out on the far eastside that sounded decent enough. The rent was average ($720ish for a 2 bedroom) and they accepted pets. Then came all the caveats. There's a $400 per pet deposit (a bs policy, imho, but I've heard of it before.) Then there's a $15 per pet per month "pet rent" as well--also a silly policy IMHO but I've heard of this before too. And THEN there's a $25 PER PERSON rent ON TOP of the $720 per month. So a couple and a child would pay $75 per month on top of the rent to live there. Add in 2 cats and a dog and we'd pay $840 per month to live in this average sounding complex waaaay out on the eastside. Alrighty then! Crossed that off the list.

Ridiculous rental policies in Portland are nothing new to me, but this was the first I had heard of a monthly fee per person. Anyone else run into this? Is this even legal? It just seems weird to me.

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[info]meisterdorf
2008-01-31 09:21 pm UTC (link)
for $10 I could answer you......

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[info]lunadragonfly
2008-01-31 09:23 pm UTC (link)
Haha, is that a deposit, and is it refundable? Is it per answer, or is it a flat fee to cover the rest of January? Can I have it prorated since it's the end of the month?

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[info]shalora
2008-01-31 09:47 pm UTC (link)
Wow, that is serious BS to my mind. Not like I much know from renting, the place where I live is the only place I've ever rented so far, but still... When I moved in, there was a cleaning deposit and first month's rent, but not first and last. My pet deposit was a flat fee (I think it was $200) and that's it for them. Same pet deposit whether you had one or two (they technically only allow 2... sssssh, I have 3), no other monthly fees... and below-market rents, if your income falls below a certain level. ;) Can't quote you on that one, since there's two of you, but for a single-income person like me it was $26,000. At the time, I made about $20,000. And once you're in you keep your rent (I'm paying $515 for a 2BR) even if your income goes up, which is teh awesome. :)

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[info]lunadragonfly
2008-01-31 10:02 pm UTC (link)
OK so where do you live? :p

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[info]drunkengeebee
2008-01-31 10:05 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, for reals... fess up so that I can take advantage of them.

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[info]dana_pants
2008-02-01 03:29 am UTC (link)
me three!

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[info]shalora
2008-02-03 10:17 pm UTC (link)
Lake Crest Apartments: http://www.gsllakecrest.com/

Warning, the TriMet access out here is basically zilch. But if you have a car, it is right off both 205 and 224, so getting places is pretty simple. :) And again, the numbers may have changed since I moved in, I've lived here for 2 1/2 years, and there has either been a new management company or some major reorganization within the management company, so things are changing. For the better, in some ways though; we FINALLY got new carpets and paint in the hallways, and they've got some security company cruising through at night and stuff... at least people aren't randomly walking down the hallways smashing out the lights at night anymore. ;)

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[info]lokidecat
2008-01-31 10:53 pm UTC (link)
My advice: don't live there.

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[info]lunadragonfly
2008-02-01 12:13 am UTC (link)
You think? :p

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[info]acasewanderlust
2008-02-01 12:17 am UTC (link)
check out reliance property management, i love them, no ridiculous policies

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[info]maiden_midwife
2008-02-01 02:52 am UTC (link)
That is some serious bullshit. I have heard of pet rent, but I refuse to pay it. Even the pet deposit amount is outrageous according to what I have seen. I have seen $400 for up to 2 pets max, not per pet.

There are places in nice areas that are not like this. Write down the name of the management company of that place and don't look at any other properties they manage. I think it is a management company policy and not a caveat stipulated by an individual owner, but I could be wrong, so you may want to check. Our place is through Jim McNeeley real estate and they are actually reasonable. You might want to check with them.

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[info]giapet
2008-02-01 04:32 pm UTC (link)
In theory I'd pay pet rent *if* it meant I had no non-refundable deposits/fees.

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[info]derumi
2008-02-01 04:23 am UTC (link)
They just didn't want the pets feeling singled out.

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[info]antayla
2008-02-01 09:16 am UTC (link)
Well, having been a shared housing manager, I can understand why they'd assign incremental prices to pets, people, etc. The more pets, people etc. living at an apartment, the higher the chances of damage to their investment and the higher the chances of an incident that would require action or eviction. Would you have been as upset if they had merely said the rent was $840 a month period, and pocketed the difference if the real risk had been less? It is ironic how people respond better to higher numbers, without qualifications attached.

This is a real problem with being an estimator; you want to give people the best deal possible yet leave room for extenuating circumstances that might require charging more. They could have simply put limits on the pets and the people and you'd not have an offer at all.

Edited at 2008-02-01 09:20 am UTC

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[info]lunadragonfly
2008-02-01 05:58 pm UTC (link)
The question still remains open as to whether this practice is legal or not. The pet part probably is, but I have strong suspicions that charging per person is not. It would make a lot more sense to decide that on average there will be X people per X rooms and set a flat rent fee based on that.

A lot of property managers seem to forget that the people they rent to aren't just eeeevil destructive vermin messing up perfectly nice homes. They're customers. If you betray an attitude in the initial pitch even that you would rather have empty rooms than deal with yucky people messing up the rooms, you'll have a nice, empty, money-sucking property. Because I surely can't be the only one who wouldn't want to live in a building where my mere existence was seen as a nuisance with a per-month additional penalty. People rent apartments to live in, that's what rent is a fee for--an additional penalty on top of that seems weird and punitive.

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