Should you allow pets in your rental? Our landlord pet policy guide covers pet rent vs deposits, screening, assistance animals, and lease addendum terms.
For most owners, yes. Pets live in roughly two thirds of American households, and restricting them shrinks your applicant pool, stretches vacancy, and invites unauthorized pets you discover at move out.
A clear landlord pet policy lets you welcome pet owners while protecting the property:
Limit the number of pets. Set a weight limit. Charge monthly pet rent instead of a pet deposit
Pets are one of the most common questions we get from owners, and the fundamentals have not changed since we first published this post in 2019: More demand and longer tenancies on one side, a little more wear on the other.
What has changed is the regulations around deposits and assistance animals. This 2026 update walks through the market case, the money question, the legal lines you cannot cross, and exactly what belongs in your lease.
The numbers keep moving in one direction. Roughly two thirds of U.S. households own pets, yet 72 percent of renters report difficulty finding pet friendly housing, and only about 8 percent of rentals are free of restrictive pet policies, according to the Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative's 2025 trends report.
That mismatch is your opportunity. A pet friendly listing competes in a market where most of your competitors have opted out.
The single most important step is making sure your listing has the "Pet Friendly" box checked. Zillow, Trulia, HotPads, and every other listing site let renters filter by pets.
This is a vital step because pet owners will filter out any ad that is not pet friendly. They will never even see your listing.
Second, state your complete pet policy in the ad: how many pets, any weight limit, and the monthly pet rent. Pet owners appreciate knowing the rules up front, and it saves you unqualified inquiries.
Finally, call out the features pet owners search for:
Moving is harder and more expensive with a pet, so pet owners renew more often. The same Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative research found residents in pet friendly housing stay up to 21 percent longer. Fewer turnovers means fewer vacancy gaps, fewer make ready projects, and steadier income.
We have seen the flip side firsthand: we once lost a two year tenant because the owner's no dog policy meant she could not move her partner's dog in. The unit turned over for a dog that would have paid pet rent.
Seattle Magazine has famously reported that there are more dogs in Seattle than children. Nobody in the Puget Sound is giving up their pet to live in your property. If your listing says no pets, those renters simply never consider it.
Pets add wear, so it is fair to be compensated. The question is how. We recommend monthly pet rent over a pet deposit, and two changes in Washington law have made that recommendation stronger than when we first wrote it.
First, the burden of proof problem. A pet deposit is still a deposit. Under RCW 59.18.280 you must return it or send an itemized statement with supporting documentation, invoices, estimates, or receipts, within 30 days of move out. To keep a pet deposit, you have to prove the pet caused the specific damage. How do you prove who actually stained the carpet, the dog or the tenant? Pet rent compensates you for the added wear month after month, no dispute required.
Second, move-in cost caps. Seattle, Kirkland, Kenmore, Shoreline, and Auburn now cap total move-in costs at one month's rent, and a pet deposit counts toward that cap. In those cities, every dollar you collect as a pet deposit is a dollar you cannot collect as a security deposit. Pet rent does not touch the cap.
Third, lower move in cost. Pet rent keeps move-in costs low, which widens your applicant pool, the entire point of allowing pets in the first place.
One firm exception applies to everything in this section: assistance animals can never be charged pet rent, a pet deposit, or pet fees.
This is the part of every landlord pet policy where owners get into trouble, so let us be direct. Under the federal Fair Housing Act, assistance animals are not pets. HUD recognizes two types: service animals, which are trained to perform tasks for a person with a disability, and support animals, including emotional support animals, which provide assistance or therapeutic emotional support.
If a tenant or applicant has a disability related need for an assistance animal, allowing the animal is a reasonable accommodation. That means:
On verification: when the disability or the need for the animal is not apparent, you may request reliable documentation, such as a note from a health care professional. Keep the request narrow. You may not demand medical records, a diagnosis, or details about the disability. For years HUD's 2020 assistance animal guidance (FHEO Notice 2020-01) was the standard playbook for evaluating these requests; HUD withdrew that notice in September 2025 while it reviews its guidance. The Fair Housing Act duty to grant reasonable accommodations has not changed, so the safe course in 2026 is to treat every assistance animal request seriously, document your process, and route anything unclear to your attorney or property manager before denying it.
Many owners keep a banned breed list, and we have found that approach hard to administer. Any breed can be aggressive, most dogs are mixed, and you will meet plenty of "mostly lab" dogs that look remarkably like pit bulls. A weight limit is objective; if it is close, vet records state the dog's weight at the last checkup. The one place breed genuinely matters is insurance: some landlord and renter policies exclude specific breeds from liability coverage, so check your own policy and require the tenant's policy to actually cover their animal.
Two Fair Housing rules keep your pet screening safe. Apply the same pet criteria to every applicant, and disclose those criteria in the written screening notice Washington requires before you screen (RCW 59.18.257). And none of your pet rules, breed, weight, or number, ever apply to assistance animals. For the broader screening playbook, see our guide to tenant screening best practices.
Once a pet is approved, put everything in a signed pet addendum to the lease. Ours covers:
A documented move-in condition report with photos matters even more with pets, since deposit deductions require documentation. Periodic property inspections also catch unauthorized pets early, while the fix is a conversation and an addendum rather than a move-out surprise.
No. Service animals and emotional support animals are not pets under the Fair Housing Act, so no pet deposit, pet rent, or pet fees may be charged for them. The tenant still owes for any actual damage the animal causes.
For most owners, yes. A pet deposit requires you to prove the pet caused specific damage and document every deduction within 30 days, and in Seattle, Kirkland, Kenmore, Shoreline, and Auburn it counts toward the one month cap on move-in costs. Pet rent avoids both problems.
Yes, for pets. We prefer an objective weight limit over a breed list, which is hard to verify with mixed breed dogs. Check your insurance policy for breed exclusions. None of these limits apply to assistance animals.
First find out whether it is actually an assistance animal; if so, handle it as an accommodation request, not a violation. If it is a pet, an unauthorized animal is a lease violation, and the usual fix is a signed pet addendum with pet rent or a notice to comply.
We recommend allowing up to two pets in any combination. It welcomes the large majority of pet owning households while keeping wear manageable, and in years of using this policy we have rarely seen it cause a problem.
This article is general information for Washington rental owners, not legal advice. For questions about a specific accommodation request or lease dispute, consult an attorney.
Allow pets, then put structure around it. A pet-friendly home rents faster and holds tenants longer, and the right policy protects you on the way out. What we tell owners to do:
We then apply that policy the same way to every applicant, under Washington and Fair Housing rules. Assistance animals are not pets: your pet rules never apply to them, and they are never charged pet fees. When a resident wants to add a pet mid-lease, it runs through a documented review against your policy.
You make the call. We keep it consistent and enforceable.
Pets are one piece of a consistent process; see our full guide to tenant screening in Washington State.
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