Apartment communities across the nation are making concerted efforts to strengthen their pet-friendliness, which is both uplifting and necessary.
Residents consider pets to be part of their families, and the pandemic-fueled adoption boom has added even more pets to the rental-housing landscape.
As apartment operators slowly abandon antiquated pet policies in favor of forward-thinking procedures that reflect the preferences of the modern-day renter, pet owners and non-pet owners tend to agree on several issues that conventional wisdom suggests they’d typically be divided on.
While 76% of operators identify their property as being pet-friendly, a staggering 72% of renters say that pet-friendly housing is hard to find. As these numbers seem to contradict one another, finding the cause of this disconnect is crucial to creating a community that is pet-inclusive.
Entrata has released the results of its Renters on the Move survey, which aims to capture how the COVID-19 pandemic affected American renters’ decisions about their living situations—including how much space they lived in, how much they paid for it, and priorities around location and amenities.
Operators should consider using a third-party provider to screen assistance animal accommodation requests. Doing so can mitigate liability, save time and prevent unnecessary lost pet revenues while creating consistent yet unique animal review procedures at all of your apartment communities.
Survey data indicates that an overwhelming 71% of residents support charging higher pet fees for irresponsible pet ownership. This includes failure to pick up after pets and repeated off-leash instances. It also factors in pet misbehavior, such as incessant barking and aggressive behavior.
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According to the Multifamily Pet Policies and Amenities Survey recently released by PetScreening and J Turner Research, 26% of pet-owning respondents indicated they acquired their pet during the pandemic. The rate climbs to 39% when narrowing down to student-only respondents.
Data from the Pet-Inclusive Housing Initiative reveals nearly one in four apartment residents say their pet has been a reason for needing to move. The 24% figure translates to approximately 5.5 million renting households that have been displaced or voluntarily sought a new home as a result of their pet.
Many apartment operators have worked diligently to improve their pet-friendliness levels. And if pet friendliness wasn’t already a primary focus, it definitely should be now. New data indicates that the well-documented spike in pet adoption during the pandemic has made an impact in the apartment world.