Condominium Pet Policies vary Building by Building

Every Philadelphia condo association has its own rule governing cats, dogs, giraffes, and other miscellaneous pets. Here in downtown Philadelphia, I find that almost all of these small associations allow dogs and cats. I dunno’ about giraffes. Rarely are size or breed restrictions in place. Low rise/loft styled condos that may lack an elevator and/or have limited common space generally mean more relaxed pet policies. However, there may be a nuisance clause inserted into the condo docs, should your pet be continually yappy, or be prone to bite others.

In high rise condominium and co-op living, one will generally find that smaller high rise (and high-end) buildings with limited number of occupants do allow pets. These building in general have high owner-occupancy ration (few tenants) and may even prohibit non-owners from having pets in the building. High rise condo buildings with large populations generally will not allow dogs. I understand not wanting some mindless 19 year old kid with his two Pit Bulls, in an elevator with my 94 year old grandmother. And an given 600 unit high rise condo building is going to be hard to manage and enforce a pet policy that allow specific breeds, or weight limits.

Large condo associations looking to rethink their restrictive pet policies can implement size and breed restrictions to keep disruptions and the “fear factor” out of the common areas of any given association. This idea will probably gain in popularity as associations look for ways to attract, instead of repel potential buyers. Most buyers will give up their “first choice” of condo buildings, before they will give up a beloved pet. And as condo associations assemble to consider how to compete with other buildings on the market for the resale buyer, those association can become more competitive, and retain higher resale values with a carefully implemented, and supervised and somewhat liberal pet policy. Walking a fine line is a nice way to try to please the masses. However, very few pet policies allow for inhabiting alligators, giraffes, or badgers. Some rules are for the best.