Innovation and creativity are taking over the consequential apartment pet policy landscape for owners and managers– and we’re not just talking about pet parks.

Property management professionals and a pet screening service partner for the apartment industry discussed the latest and greatest in guidelines and marketing as part of the Joshua Tree Group’s Apartment Internet Marketing (AIM) Webinar series this week.

Among the more interesting points in bulleted fashion:

Emotional Support Animals

• Emotional support animal (ESA) resident accommodation requests are expected to spike in the next few months because pet adoptions have been booming during Covid-19 shelter-in-place periods and grieving and emotionally victimized people will take comfort in their pets.
• If you haven’t reviewed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) long-awaited guidance on ESAs (issued in January), realize that it falls into the categories “Service” and “Emotional Support.”
• Panelist Angie Lombardi, Vice President of Marketing, The Franklin Johnston Group, Norfolk, further explains that in Virginia, for example, the state has said ESA authentication licenses from medical professionals must be written by personnel who are licensed in Virginia, and they must have seen the pet in-person.

Pet Amenities

• Lombardi and Jamin Harkness, EVP, The Management Group, Atlanta, were enthusiastic about the idea of being able to rent 30-minute blocks to residents for a small fee that would give them exclusivity to the park during certain times of the day.
• Another amenity home run might be Skipper, a dog-walking app amenity that now is working with apartment communities to build onsite kennels for resident pet owners who need those services without having to drive cross-town.
• Harkness says his dog parks now include seating and shade – a must! Especially in his Atlanta market. A pet park can’t just be a fence and mulch, he says.
• Joshua Tree’s moderator Steve Lefkovits suggested offering to pay a pet health insurance policy for new residents. He says it might be roughly $250 annually, and that it would cover any emergency surgeries, which can cost about $4,000 or more.

Pet Rent and Fees

• Lombardi says she’s heard that some apartment communities are discounting the pent rent for owners who adopt rescue animals.
• Harkness’ communities do not charge pet rent. He says it simplifies the entire leasing process and brings in prospects who were turned down elsewhere because of pet size or breed. He’s even hyping this fact by telling prospects, “Bring your pets with you when you come for a tour!”
• Harkness says he has an 80 percent retention rate on residents who have pets; that is why he doesn’t charge pet rent. Lombardi believes it, because she says her residents create bonding with their neighbors and their pets, giving reason to renewing.
• And for the six lease-ups Harkness is soon to open, he’s purchased large stuffed animals to place in each touring apartment home to emphasize his “Pets Welcome Here” policy.

Pet Screening

• The most recent data set of 25,000 reasonable accommodation requests for assistance animals shows that 60 percent of the requests did not meet HUD’s standards, John Bradford, CEO, PetScreening.com, says.
• Having a pet profile at the community that reflects animal-related incidents reported by property managers while a pet is living at their community such as animal bites, property damage or owner issues, such as repeat noise complaints, off-leash offenders or unauthorized pets can inform community maintenance teams about what kind of pet lives in an apartment home and its behaviorial history.