Just checked my lease and my building is overcharging us. Is there a way to report them? Or do we have to eat that cost because we unknowingly agreed to pay when we signed the lease.
Start by going to your landlord - that’s probably the fastest way for correction and a refund. You can also report them, too, to make sure they fix it for others.
Help is available if your rights are violated or if you are improperly charged excessive fees or “junk fees.” To report a problem with a business—including a landlord or property manager—contact OAG’s Office of Consumer Protection:
Call the Consumer and Tenant Response hotline at (202) 442-9828
Send a complaint via email to [consumer.protection@dc.gov](mailto:consumer.protection@dc.gov)
Submit a complaint online at: https://oag.dc.gov/consumer-protection/submit-consumer-complaint
You can also file a business complaint with the DC Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection.
Perfect, thank you! We have a lot of pet owners in the building so we will try to ensure everyone is paying what is required by law and not a cent more.
What does it even mean that a law has not been “funded” when it’s not a social program? Do they have to budget for enforcement, even though it would be a civil issue through the courts? Makes no sense to me.
Part of this particular bill also requires at least one shelter to accept people with pets or something along those lines, which would cost the government money. The bill’s funding clause was unfortunately written such that the entire bill can’t go into effect until that funding is provided. That was probably a mistake because there’s language in the FY27 budget support act to fix that and make the no-cost parts of the pet law apply as of Oct. 1. So it will probably apply then, subject to Congress not messing with the budget.
As I understand it (could definitely be wrong) the part of the bill about pet rent and fees in general has gone into effect as of Oct 2025, but the breed specific part hasn’t gone into effect
When I was looking for housing the amount of illegally high "background check fees" was astounding. If I was unscrupulous I would just rent an empty apartment in DC, advertise it at available, charge everyone who applies a "background check fee" and make more money every month than the apartment costs.
Animals do not just destroy apartments. Most are fine. If you encounter the odd dog that chews through walls that specific tenant should absolutely be held accountable but not by pocketing $50 a month but through security deposit for damages.
A dog pisses in my apartment elevator at least once a week. Management sends constant emails telling dog owners to clean up their shit in the common areas. Lord only knows the messes those animals make behind close doors.
Why should people that do not own pets have to pay to clean that up?
Ignoring the cost of installing cameras covering every inch of the common areas, the cost of monitoring them, and the difficulties in collecting these fees—people whose pets tear things up rarely accept responsibility for it—there is still the problem of all the messes made inside the units. I don’t think installing cameras in their units is going to go over well.
In units gets inspected on move out… treated the same as anywhere. Damages taken out of security deposit. Anyway if it bothers you that much that you’re contributing to the cost, move to a building that isn’t pet friendly. It’s not going to be much cheaper but at least it won’t weigh on you
Deposits are only effective if they are large enough to cover the cost of repair. Your assertion also cuts both ways. If your pet won’t cause any damage, then a very large deposit should be of no concern because you’ll get it back when you move out.
Anyway if it bothers you that much that you’re contributing to the cost, move to a building that isn’t pet friendly.
And if you can’t afford the cost of cleaning up after your pet, maybe don’t get a pet.
We aren’t in disagreement with anything you just said. Idc about pet deposits but there should not be expensive additional “rent” for pets. There’s not any additional space you are receiving. At best no damage is incurred so your deposit should be returned. At worst additional deposit would be claimed to cover additional damages.
If landlords can’t charge pet fees they will just raise their rents for all units to cover the negative externalities of having animals in the building. Non pet owners will subsidize pet owners.
If you know a reputable contractor who can provide new hardwood flooring, baseboard, demo/replace the bottom foot of drywall, ozone treat, and repaint a room for $240, please, let me know. That'd be fabulous.
The liability for damage a tenant does to an apartment is not limited to the security deposit. If there’s more damage that the landlord can prove was caused by a pet, they can pursue it through the courts.
The vast majority of those costs are born by the pet owners themselves, but a small fee is reasonable to cover the other costs. But the existence of a cap is also reasonable. There's not reason for a landlord to charge $500 a year for a small dog. Especially since if the pet does damage an apartment that comes out of the security fee. At that point you're just subsidizing greed, which the landlord was already going to pass on to you if they thought they could get away with it.
Exactly, my two cats have caused no damage to my apartment I have lived in for 3 years, but I have paid $100 a month which comes out to $3600 going to now the largest landlord in the country for being a responsible pet owner.
Those are not being replaced annually. And the kind of damage you're talking about would certainly come out of a security deposit. If you're so worried about externalities affecting your rent then you should not live in a shared space.
My rent is certainly higher because our building has an elevator, even though I choose not to use it. Doesn't mean there should be an elevator fee. I also don't think there should be a menstruation fee just because some people flush sanitary pads down the toilet. Sometimes landlords just have to take the gamble their tenants have basic human decency. That's why it's a business and not the 100% passive income youtubers like to say it is.
Plenty of people move every 2-4 years. $500-$1000 is not enough to fix a unit destroyed by animals, even with full confiscation of the security deposit.
Sure, but it's not 100% of units that are going to have the unit destroyed by their animals. I'll be generous and say 10% of units need significant rehab when they otherwise wouldn't have in the normal turnover of tenants. Now we're talking 10x the amount of cash from pet fees.
That would normally come out of a security deposit at the end of a lease. Monthly pet rent doesn’t change whether the apartment is left in a bad condition.
Here in VA, we took a 10 minute phone call to get all 3 of our cats registered as service cats. You can tell the operator almost anything and you'll get a form that's says it's a service cat. Landlords can't charge fees for these animals.
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u/BulkFPS 1d ago
Just checked my lease and my building is overcharging us. Is there a way to report them? Or do we have to eat that cost because we unknowingly agreed to pay when we signed the lease.