California Woman Takes Action to Help Pet Foreclosure Victims

Good law

I have a blog on pet issues on MySpace, and I recently addressed this issue. This is a step in the right direction. Of course, what would really help would be if more landlords were open to accepting tenants with pets, the practice of charging pet rent was dropped, and instead of penalizing all pet-owning tenants for the actions of a few, pet deposits should be reduced or eliminated. Since tenants must go on a walk-through inspection of the unit with the manager before they hand in the keys,if the landlord finds pet damage in the unit, the tenant should pay for it then, not up front. When people realize that owning a pet is a responsibility, and their failure to correct problems have consequences, maybe we will have fewer people who own pets but didn't cherish them.
I think that since people who abandon pets due to foreclosure are already financially stretched, instead of jail or a fine, they should do community service in a shelter. That would bring home the importance of a pet emergency fund, as well as being a little more careful in making major financial decisions, like refinancing their homes. They should prepare for the worst and plan accordingly.