my SO and i have had a broad range of experience with renting. one thing has always been required for us: they *must* be in the lease. if there is no clause about them, or pets in general, we have it added or edited to include the fuzzies. this covers our butts legally, and at least we know that if the landlord comes by to do anything, he's aware of the fuzzies being there, so they won't be in danger. we were already in an apartment in nj when we got our first fuzzies. corey and i had already been tossing around the idea of fuzzies, so we brought it up to the landlord, and he approved ahead of time. in the next apartment we moved to, our landlord was fine with pets of any kind, so we didn't hafta worry, and adding them to the lease was a sinch. when we moved, he wrote us a letter of recommendation for our pets so that we could have it for future renting. our apartment here in somerville, ma was a tough one. we saw the apartment through a broker and wanted it, but the landlord was staunch on his "no pets" policy. he didn't even know what a ferret was, which made it harder. we were up against another person who'd seen the apartment, and we really wanted it, so i said (and i don't know what i was thinking), "we'll pay more." this, miraculously, made it all ok ;D, and so they were added to the lease, but the letter of recommendation was required as well. the landlord met our fuzzies the first day we moved in, and thought they were beautiful. i proposed that, if we could prove the ferrets were non-destructive pets, perhaps we could negotiate back down to the original rent. 4 months later, our rent was reduced to the original amount, and all is well. i don't think we'll be moving out of this place for a while. i'm hoping to finish my MLIS by may of next year, so i'll be pretty busy and student poor til then :\. i do dread looking for another place, since the boston metro area is notorious for being hostile to pets. but stick to your guns, look long and early, and don't be afraid to negotiate. also, sometimes money talks louder than reason unfortunately, so a pet deposit or a few months of more expensive rent may do the trick. pictures help sometimes, too, and i know some apartment complexes require a pet interview. andrea and the somerville dynamic duo, lucy and gabe [Posted in FML issue 4039]