Pet Clauses in Rental Leases: What to Look For

A pet clause tells you whether you can keep an animal, which animals qualify, what you will pay for one, and what happens if you break the rule. In most private rentals, a landlord can refuse pets or limit their number, species, breed, and weight, and can charge pet rent, a one-time pet fee, or a pet deposit within your state's limits. These rules generally do not apply to an animal trained to do work or tasks for a tenant's disability, because fair housing law treats that animal as an accommodation, not a pet. Keeping an animal your lease does not allow is a lease violation that can lead to a written notice to remove it and, if you do not, an eviction case.

What to check before you sign

Pet terms can sit in the lease itself or in a pet addendum signed with it, so read both for these items:

If the landlord says your pet is welcome, get that approval into the signed lease or addendum, with the animal's species, breed, and weight. California's Department of Real Estate (DRE) names a landlord's permission to keep pets as one reason to prefer a written rental agreement, since an oral one leaves neither side with written proof of its terms. The DRE also says a landlord can require a tenant with pets to buy insurance covering damage the pet may cause.

For the other parts of a lease, see understanding your lease terms.

Pet rent, pet fees, and pet deposits

A landlord can use up to three charges: pet rent added to each month's rent, a one-time fee you do not get back, and a deposit returned to you minus the cost of pet damage beyond normal wear and tear. State law decides which ones are allowed and how much. Some examples:

• California: a pet deposit counts as part of the security deposit, and the total cannot exceed one month's rent, or two months' rent for a small landlord (an individual, or an LLC owned by individuals, that owns and rents one or two properties with no more than four units).
• Colorado: since January 1, 2024, an extra pet deposit can be no more than $300 and must be refundable, and pet rent can be no more than $35 a month or 1.5% of your monthly rent, whichever is greater. At $2,400 rent, 1.5% is $36, so pet rent can be no more than $36 a month.
• Public housing: federal law lets residents keep common household pets under the housing agency's reasonable rules, and the agency may charge a nominal fee, a pet deposit, or both.
• Federally assisted housing for older adults or people with disabilities: the owner cannot ban common household pets, but can set reasonable rules after consulting tenants.

Our guide to pet deposits and pet fees compares these charges in more states, including New York and Massachusetts, and explains how pet damage is judged at move-out.

Breed, weight, and number limits

Fair housing law protects people with disabilities, not pets, so for an ordinary pet these limits are lease terms you accept or negotiate before signing. Even in federally assisted housing for older adults, the federal statute lets owners write pet rules that weigh pet size and type, along with how densely the building is occupied.

State law can rule out some requirements. In California, a landlord that allows animals cannot require you to declaw or devocalize a pet, or refuse to rent to you because you will not, under Civil Code section 1942.7. A city attorney or district attorney can seek a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per animal.

If your dog is a listed breed or close to a weight cap, ask for a written exception that names the dog before you sign the lease.

Assistance animals are not pets

The Fair Housing Act requires most landlords to make reasonable exceptions to their rules for tenants with disabilities. How that applies to animals changed in 2026:

• Trained service animals. Under HUD's May 22, 2026 enforcement memo, a request to set aside a pet policy is presumed reasonable when the animal is individually trained to do work or perform tasks directly related to your disability. A pet policy includes breed, weight, and number limits as well as a no-pet rule. The 2004 HUD and Justice Department joint statement on reasonable accommodations bars a landlord from requiring a fee or deposit to keep an assistance animal, though you can be charged for damage the animal causes if the landlord charges other tenants for damage they cause.
• Emotional support animals. The same memo says HUD no longer presumes these requests are reasonable when the animal is untrained, and HUD will find that a landlord likely broke the law by refusing to waive a pet policy only when the animal is trained. You can still file your own Fair Housing Act lawsuit within two years, and state law can protect more. California's Civil Rights Department said in a July 20, 2026 legal alert that state law still requires landlords to accommodate support animals, trained or not, including by waiving no-pet rules, pet fees, and breed restrictions.

See service animals vs. pets in rentals for what proof a landlord can ask for, when it can say no, and how to make a request.

If you have a pet the lease does not allow

In these states, a landlord that finds an unapproved pet has to give you written notice and a chance to fix the violation before it can end your tenancy:

• Florida: state law names unauthorized pets as a violation the tenant must be allowed to cure. You have 7 days after the landlord delivers a written notice to correct it, for example by removing the pet, and if the same violation happens again within 12 months, the landlord can file for eviction without another chance to cure (Florida Statutes section 83.56).
• California: the DRE lists keeping a pet the rental agreement does not permit as a correctable violation, so the landlord's three-day notice must give you the option to fix it. If you do within three days after the notice is served, excluding weekends and court holidays, the tenancy continues and the landlord cannot evict you for that violation. If your unit is covered by a just cause law, which limits the reasons a landlord can end a tenancy, such as the state's Tenant Protection Act, the landlord must first give you a notice to cure (fix) the violation, and only after that a three-day notice to quit.
• New York: the attorney general's tenant guide says you may keep a pet unless your lease specifically prohibits it. In multiple dwellings (buildings with three or more apartments) in New York City and Westchester County, a no-pet clause is waived if you keep a pet openly for at least three months, the landlord or its agent knows, and the landlord does not start a court proceeding to enforce the clause within that three-month period. That protection does not cover public housing or an animal that causes damage, is a nuisance, or substantially interferes with other tenants.

Apart from any notice, the landlord can deduct the cost of pet damage beyond normal wear and tear from your deposit. If you already have an animal the lease does not cover, or want to add one mid-lease, ask the landlord in writing to approve it through a signed pet addendum before a notice arrives, and keep your copy; see our guide to lease addendums and amendments. Our guide to common lease violations and their consequences covers how other violations are handled.