To attract and retain pet lovers, forward-thinking operators are taking a wide-ranging approach that includes the elimination of breed and weight restrictions, the installation of onsite pet amenities and the support of animal organizations in the community.
TMG dropped its breed and weight restrictions in 2019, while also adopting pet technology for screening and waste, increasing pet services and amenities, and creating a more welcoming atmosphere for pets, even inviting them on tours. TMG has seen the occupancy of units with pets jump to 70% from 40%.
Lifting breed and weight restrictions for our four-legged friends and generally becoming more pet-inclusive can create significant financial gain for multifamily communities, such as increased NOI and higher resident-retention rates.
The top storylines in multifamily this week are sustainability becoming a resident requirement, the next wave of CRM capabilities, remote work amenities for residents, revenue recovery, AC maintenance, and rolling out the welcome mat for pets.
As a panel discussed in the National Apartment Association webinar Rolling Out the Welcome Mat: Rethinking Pet-Related Restrictions, forward-thinking pet policies are more important than ever considering the pronounced rise in pet ownership over the past decade, particularly the past two years.
When apartment communities relax breed and weight restrictions, the immediate reactions center upon what it means to current and future residents. Most notably, it means more pets will be accepted at move-in and existing residents have fewer restrictions when obtaining a new pet.
The term “pet-friendly” is often used as a marketing chip in the rental-housing world, but simply allowing pets at a property no longer qualifies as being genuinely pet-friendly. That’s because many restrictions often accompany an apartment community’s pet policies.
Call it the hidden variable of an apartment community’s pet population—visiting pets. While community teams have steadily gravitated toward crafting pet policies more reflective of the modern resident, these policies oftentimes omit this crucial component.
Citing a joint PetScreening-J Turner Research study, only one in four apartment residents supports breed restrictions while just one in five is in favor of weight restrictions. In addition, many insurance companies have removed pet breed restrictions from their general liability policies.
Apartment operators didn’t always have a bevy of data at their fingertips to help steer them toward more intuitive property procedures. But that’s no longer an excuse, as newfound pet data has made a compelling case for operators to overhaul their policies.