Can Your Condo Association Prohibit Pets?

One of the pandemic’s long-lasting effects has been to increase families’ love for pets. According to the American Pet Products Association (APPA) National Pet Owners Survey, 14% of all respondents acquired a pet during the pandemic and 25% of new pet owners were influenced by the pandemic to acquire their pet[1]. As a result, 70% of American families currently own a pet. Your condo association’s pet policy can heavily influence potential residents’ interest in living in your community.

Pets can have a positive influence on the social aspects of a community when owners meet and mingle on walks or at the dog park. There are downsides to allowing pets in condos that the board needs to consider as well:

• Pets can be loud and bother the neighbors.
• Pets can smell and create messes.
• Large pets can scare or even attack and injure other residents.

There are many approaches that a condo association’s pet policy could take, ranging from allowing all pets to prohibiting most pets. Some options to consider are:

• Permitting each owner to have a limited number of pets
• Specifying which types of pets that are allowed or not allowed, such as prohibiting aggressive breeds of dogs
• Specifying size requirements for pets

It’s important to remember that all condo associations are required to comply with the Fair Housing Act, which allows service animals and emotional support animals. A service animal is a highly trained pet to help an individual with a disability. The individual may be required to submit documentation to the condo board to support their need for the service animal.  An emotional support animal helps individuals who suffer from mental illness, such as depression or anxiety. Florida has legislation that requires pet owners to provide stringent documentation to prove that their pets are legitimate emotional support animals.

Your condo association board must ensure that any rules about pets are clearly articulated and fairly enforced. For example, if your association changes its pet rules to become more restrictive, existing pet owners would typically be grandfathered to allow them to keep their pets even if they are out of compliance with the new rule. Additionally, if a board member or property manager learns about a homeowner who is out of compliance with the pet policy, they need to take immediate action or they risk not being able to enforce the rule when other homeowners break it as well.

Any changes to your association’s pet policy should be reviewed by your association’s attorney to make sure it complies with all federal, state, and local laws. CCM, one of South Florida’s premier property management companies, has worked with numerous condo associations to help craft and enforce pet policies. Contact us today to learn how we can help you with your pet policy as well as learn about our full range of services.

Consolidated Community Management (CCM) is a full-service property management company specializing in condominium and homeowner association management in Broward and southern Palm Beach Counties.  We are committed to working together with community Boards of Directors to develop management plans tailored to the unique requirements of each community and their residents.

CCM provides a quality of service that is unique to our industry and consistently delivers a distinct competitive advantage.  Our concentrated, extensive local presence and knowledge of community associations results in lasting partnerships and superior service.  We have built our industry reputation on employing the best in the business and assigning only a limited number of properties to each Property Manager Team.

Our team at Consolidated Community Management provides expert property management services at competitive prices.  Contact us today by calling (954) 718-9903 or clicking on ccmfla.com.

[1][1] APPA. NPOS Fact Sheet – Business and Finance – Aug 2021 (americanpetproducts.org). Accessed July 28, 2023.