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Hi guys I'm the new Board President at my co-op and for many years we had a No dog policy. At our last meeting we revisited the no dog policy and voted that the shareholders are now allowed to have a small dog maximum weight fully grown 30 pounds. The shareholder will also attract a monthly fee of $50. One member feels that the fee should be for all pets...Has anyone ever heard of a monthly fee being charged for a cat? Is it even legal to charge a cat owner a fee? Thanks
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I totally agree with Bill & the one member that said fees should be for all pets is also right.
More important is requesting every year that the board wants copies of dog license and shots from shareholders Vet.
I too have never heard of a "Pet Fee" this will be more trouble then it's worth. Best of Luck
Hi Bill - What is the reason your board voted to impose a $50 monthly fee on dog owners and not, say, cat owners or girbil owners or any other domesticated animal?
Usually the best way of handling this is to explain to all shareholders the reasons why the board voted the fee for just dog owners. If the reasons resonate, this might end the objection.
If the decision was arbitrary, depending on the number of potential dog owners in your co-op, there could be varying levels of pushback from your shareholders. If you have a shareholder who is ornery enough and rich enough, this could ultimately lead to a lawsuit over discrimination against a specific subclass of "pet" owners, the definition of "pet" being up to the courts. You don't want to become embroiled in this sort of emotional litigation.
In my opinion, engagement with the shareholder is your best course of action. It also helps to have an understandable reason for the fee.
Good luck!
Agree with Steven and here are my 10-cents. If you have elevators and the reason for the fee is for dog-owners to pay for the higher cost associated with running elevators due to dog-owners using them more frequently, you could argue that cat-owners do not normally take their pets out.
Our Co-op charges a one-time administrative registration fee.
It seems like the $50.00 fee per month above is like charging the pet rent.
I re-read Lila's original post and some of the comments. Absent any stated reason for the $50/month dog fee, I'm wondering if it is intended to be a not-so-subtle way of letting future dog owners know their new pets won't be receiving a tail-wagging reception.
a pet fee seems ridiculous to me. $50 a month to have a dog? why? if the building wants to discourage pets, then don't be a pet-friendly building at all.
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It seems that fees for pets face the danger of 'how far does this go'?
What about goldfish, turtles, hamsters, guinea pigs..?
I've never heard of a "pet fee" and it seems problematic...
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