A resident moves out owing $900 for pet damage. You have photographs, an invoice, and a lease that says pets are allowed.

What you do not have is a document she signed agreeing to be responsible for the animal.

The pet was approved. Someone emailed her back saying yes. The charge went on the ledger. But nobody ever put a piece of paper in front of her setting out what she was agreeing to, so the only thing you can point to is a general damage clause written for a tenant, not for a dog.

That is the whole job of a pet addendum. It turns your pet rules and your approval into something the resident actually agreed to.

Here is a working one, with every section explained underneath. It is assembled from how these documents commonly work rather than copied from a published model form, and several sections are deliberately left blank because the answer depends on your jurisdiction. Fill those against your own law and have it reviewed before it goes near a real tenancy.

The Template

PET ADDENDUM

This Pet Addendum is entered into on [DATE] and forms part of the Lease Agreement dated [LEASE DATE] between [LANDLORD/AGENT] and [RESIDENT NAME(S)] for the premises at [ADDRESS] ("the Lease"). All other terms of the Lease remain unchanged and in full force. Where this Addendum conflicts with the Lease, [specify which controls].

1. REVOCABLE LICENCE

Subject to the terms of the Lease and this Addendum, Landlord grants Resident a revocable licence to keep the animal(s) identified in Section 2 at the premises during the term of the Lease.

2. AUTHORIZED ANIMAL

Type/species: ______ Breed: ______ Name: ______
Colour/markings: ______ Approximate weight: ______ Age: ______
Licence number (where applicable): ______
Vaccination records provided: Yes / No Date: ______

No other pet may be kept, harboured, or permitted at the premises, temporarily or otherwise, without prior written approval and any required documentation, except as otherwise required by applicable law, including applicable fair housing requirements.

3. CHARGES

Pet rent: $______ per [month] per authorized animal, payable with rent. Pet rent is rent and is not refundable.

Pet deposit: $______, held as security in accordance with the deposit provisions of the Lease and applicable law, and returned in accordance with those provisions.

[Where permitted by applicable law] Pet fee: $______, a one time non refundable charge for permission to keep the animal.

4. RESIDENT OBLIGATIONS

Resident agrees that the authorized animal will:

(a) be kept under control at all times and, where applicable, leashed or carried in common areas;
(b) not be permitted in [specify restricted areas];
(c) not create unreasonable noise or disturbance to other residents;
(d) have all waste removed and disposed of promptly and properly by Resident;
(e) be maintained in compliance with all applicable licensing, vaccination and animal control requirements;
(f) not be left unattended in circumstances that endanger the animal or others.

Resident agrees to comply with the property's Pet Policy as it applies to the authorized animal.

5. DAMAGE AND LIABILITY

Resident is responsible, to the extent permitted by applicable law, for all damage caused by the authorized animal beyond ordinary wear and tear, including damage to the premises, common areas, and the property of others, whether or not the amount exceeds any deposit held.

Resident is responsible, to the extent permitted by applicable law, for losses or damage for which Resident is legally responsible arising from the authorized animal.

6. REVOCATION

Landlord may revoke the licence granted in Section 1 where the animal causes damage, injury, or repeated disturbance, or where Resident breaches this Addendum, subject to any notice and opportunity to cure required by applicable law and the Lease.

7. ASSISTANCE ANIMALS

This Addendum applies to pets. It does not apply to an animal that qualifies as a service animal or assistance animal under applicable fair housing law. Requests relating to such animals are handled as reasonable accommodation requests under a separate process, and no charges under Section 3 apply.

8. SIGNATURES

Resident: ______________________ Date: ______
Resident: ______________________ Date: ______
Landlord/Agent: ________________ Date: ______

Why Each Section Is There

The opening paragraph ties the addendum to a specific lease and unit, confirms the rest of the lease is untouched, and resolves conflicts in advance. Decide deliberately which document wins and be consistent about it across your portfolio.

Section 1 grants a revocable licence rather than simple permission. This is how association published forms tend to do it, and it is better drafting. Permission sounds like something given once. A revocable licence carries the revocation power inside the grant itself, so Section 6 is exercising a right you already reserved rather than trying to take something back.

Section 2, the identifying detail, is not bureaucracy. It is what lets you establish in month nine that the animal in the unit is not the one you approved. The final sentence closes the most common gap, a second animal arriving quietly, while carving out animals that arrive through a fair housing route. Without that carve out, the clause reads as though an assistance animal needs your approval first, which is exactly the conflict Section 7 exists to avoid.

Section 3 names each charge separately, gives it its own amount, and describes it accurately. Note the bracketed condition on the fee. Some jurisdictions restrict or prohibit non refundable charges at the start of a tenancy, or treat them as security regardless of the label, so that line should only appear where your own law permits it. Delete any charge you are not levying rather than leaving it at zero.

Decide before filling this in whether pet rent is per animal or per household, and whether your jurisdiction caps either. Getting the lease, the addendum and the ledger to describe the same money the same way is what makes a charge defensible later.

Section 4 is the enforceable behaviour. Keep it specific enough to point at when something goes wrong. "Be a responsible pet owner" is not a clause you can enforce.

Section 5 covers two separate exposures, and the second is deliberately narrower than the indemnity language many templates use. Some jurisdictions restrict indemnification or liability shifting provisions in residential leases, so if you want an indemnity clause, have local counsel draft or approve it rather than dropping a generic one into a multi state template.

A deposit does not necessarily cap the resident's liability, but what you can actually recover at move out depends on the lease, applicable law and your documentation far more than on the wording here.

Section 6 deliberately has no number in it. Notice and cure periods are set by state and local landlord tenant law and by the lease itself. Writing "ten days" into a template used across several states is one of the easiest ways to create a document that contradicts your own statute.

Section 7 does more protective work than anything else in the document. It makes explicit that your pet charges and restrictions were never intended to apply to an animal covered by fair housing obligations, which is exactly the point someone would otherwise make against you.

Section 8: have every adult resident who is a party to the lease sign, unless your local requirements or lease structure call for something different. Every leaseholder's signature creates a clearer record of who agreed to the animal specific terms.

What Widely Used Templates Get Wrong

Before you adopt anything, including this, three things worth checking in whatever form you are using now.

1. The wrong statute. Several circulated templates define service and support animals by reference to the Americans with Disabilities Act. In housing, reasonable accommodation obligations run under the Fair Housing Act. The ADA governs public accommodations, which is a different question with a different test. A template citing the wrong law is describing an obligation you do not have while missing one you do.

2. Documentation language that is too narrow. Realtor association forms are legitimate published models, but they age. One Maryland association form, last revised in 2016, requires a written statement from "the treating professional." That is narrower than fair housing practice generally supports, and it is a good reminder to check a form's revision date as well as its jurisdiction.

3. A fixed notice period. Several commercial templates specify a set number of days for revoking pet privileges. Notice and cure periods are set by state and local landlord tenant law. A number baked into a multi state template will be wrong somewhere in your portfolio.

Three Other Drafting Mistakes Worth Avoiding

1. A charge listed at zero. If you are not charging a pet fee, delete the line. Leaving it at $0.00 invites an argument about whether a fee was contemplated.

2. Describing the deposit in its own terms. Tie it to the lease's existing deposit provisions rather than writing a parallel set of rules. Two sets of deposit language in two documents is how return deadlines get missed.

3. Signing it after move in. Sign at the same time as the lease, or before the animal arrives. An addendum signed in month seven, after the dog has been there since month one, is a much weaker document than one signed on day one.

Three Things To Remember

• One. The addendum is the part of your pet process that puts the animal specific terms into a signed agreement. Policy, screening records and approval emails can support that agreement, but they are not substitutes for it.

• Two. Identify the specific animal in enough detail that you can tell later whether it is still the same animal.

• Three. Leave jurisdiction specific numbers out and point at applicable law instead. A clean blank is safer than a confident wrong figure.

One Last Thing

Go back to the $900.

The frustrating part of that scenario is that the operator may have done almost everything right. The animal was screened. It was approved. The charge was set up correctly. Someone made a reasonable decision and communicated it clearly.

What was missing was the twenty minutes it takes to put a signed document behind that decision.

Nobody notices that gap while things are going well, because an approval email works perfectly right up until the moment you need it to be an agreement. That is the pattern across most of this work. The process usually is not wrong. It just does not produce an artifact, and an artifact is what you have eighteen months later when someone asks what was agreed.

If your pet policy itself has not been looked at in a while, that is the document this one attaches to, and it is worth reading before you send anyone a new addendum.

FAQ

Can I use this template as it is?
No. Pet charges, damage liability, indemnity and notice requirements all vary by jurisdiction, and several sections are written as blanks for exactly that reason. Fill them against your own law, then have it reviewed.

Do I need a separate addendum for each animal?
Not necessarily. One addendum can list multiple authorized animals, provided each is identified and the charges are stated the way you decided.

What if the resident gets a second pet later?
Section 2 requires prior written approval for any additional pet.

Does this cover an emotional support animal?
No. Section 7 expressly excludes animals that qualify under fair housing law. Those follow a separate reasonable accommodation process.

Sources: SMAR Form 608, Pet Addendum to Residential Lease, hosted by the Maryland Association of Realtors, cited as an example of an association published form · California Courts, Guide to security deposits in California, cited as an example of how substantially deposit rules differ by jurisdiction. This article and the template above describe general concepts and are not legal advice, and no template can account for the law of every jurisdiction. Have any lease document reviewed by a qualified professional before use.