What Can You Do If Your Condo Doesn't Allow Pets?
Palm Beach Daily News (shiny sheet) 4/26/2009
by Paulette Noble Cooper

You hear so many sad stories of people in this area who love their pets but had to choose between their homes and their “children.”  Well-known Palm Beacher Erin O’Brien, for example, had to give her beloved shih-tzu Chop Suey to her dog’s caretaker when she moved here because her new Palm Beach place wouldn’t allow pets.

Others have simply moved elsewhere. Jan Weinberg who owns the adorable Maltese pictured in this column, moved from Palm Beach to Highland Beach just so she could live in a community where she could have a dog.  Pets weren’t permitted in her South end condo, even though most of the people there wanted one! 

Of course some Palm Beachers simply ignore the no-pet laws. Bobby Albre, who helped get the no-pet policy in Rapallo North changed recently, said that “People hide their dog food in the bottom of their supermarket bags.  And they also hide their dogs.  One tenant who had an illegal dog was caught when someone noticed that her Publix shopping bag was barking!”

 

But most choose to live elsewhere, and in this depressed real estate market, it makes no sense that we don’t do anything and everything we can to help sell Palm and West Palm condos at the highest possible prices and as fast as we can.

Most brokers here, like Douglas Rill, President of Century 21 on the island will tell you that: ”We have found that it’s harder to sell a condo if they don’t allow dogs and cats.  That you can generally get more money for a place in a pet friendly building.  And no-pet properties may lead people to buy elsewhere, for example, Singer Island, where almost all the new condos allow pets. 

Some of this has been supported by a recent study of condo sales in South Florida by Tim Allen, Ph.D., professor and director of the Carter Real Estate Center at the College of Charleston. He said that his study of condominium sale prices “Clearly demonstrate that allowing pets has a significantly positive effect on condominium prices in this market.”

Rick Theise, President of the Condo Association at The Reefs has found this to be true on the island as well. “We find that 20% of those interested in moving in won’t even look at a place if it’s not pet friendly.  And after they do move in, it makes for a friendlier building because pet people get to know each other.”
He also believes that making a building pet friendly “Actually attracts a much better group of people,” he added. “Experience shows that people with pets are very
sensitive to their neighbors, and work very hard to police and supervise their pets.”

 

All this only presents the financial side of the no-pets picture.  The health benefits of pet ownership have repeatedly been proven.  The human side is harder to measure.  The loss for people who want or need a pet and can’t have one, or worse still must give theirs up, can’t be measured in dollars and cents for the person – or for their abandoned pet.   

 

What can we do about this?

First, organize against the ‘condo commandos” who don’t want pets and have taken over your board, enacting rules to prevent people from having well-behaved dogs and cats. There are samples of reasonable pet guidelines on the web page at www.petsincondos.org” says Maida Genser, Founder and President of Citizens for Pets in Condos. She also suggests that you sign their petition on the site to allow pets in condos.