Saying it unfairly penalizes animal and pet owners, legislators in Oregon have introduced a bill to ban landlords from charging pet rent.
Three Oregon legislators—Reps. Rob Nosse (D-Portland), Karin Power (D-Milwaukie), and Tawna Sanchez (D-Portland)—have filed a bill that proposes to outlaw pet rent, according to The Oregonian‘s Gordon Friedman, who first spotted the bill.
“I understand the importance of deposits to account for possible tenant pet damage,” Power told Willamette Week, “but pet rent unfairly increases a tenant’s cost to rent without any causal relationship to the impact that their pet may or may not have on the premises.
Pet Rent Penalty
“Pet rent simply penalizes pet ownership by charging a premium to those tenants, and can be exorbitant—more than a few hundred dollars a year,” she said.
House Bill 2683 would prohibit landlords that allow pets from charging tenants additional rent or fees based on possession of pets.
The bill states a landlord may not increase the rent or charge to a tenant a one-time, monthly or other periodic amount based on the tenant’s possession of a pet.
If the bill passes it would “only apply to rental agreements that are entered into, renewed or modified on or after the effective date.”
The bill defines rent as “any payment to be made to the landlord under the rental agreement, periodic or otherwise, in exchange for the right of a tenant [and any permitted pet] to occupy a dwelling unit to the exclusion of others and to use the premises.” “Rent” does not include security deposits, fees or utility or service charges.
The bill also defines a security deposit as a “refundable payment or deposit of money, however designated, the primary function of which is to secure the performance of a rental agreement or any part of a rental agreement.” “Security deposit” does not include a fee.
