New Washington DC legislation bans landlords from imposing canine breed restrictions | Washington DC
Landlords in Washington DC will not be capable of refuse a tenant’s canine primarily based on its breed, dimension or weight, nor can they impose particular expenses associated to those components.
At least, that’s what a brand new legislation that took impact on Thursday goals to attain. Animal welfare organizations and animal shelters applauded the laws, emphasizing the advantages of decreasing limitations to pet possession within the US capital.
Dog breeds thought of “scary” used to face restrictions, particularly pit bulls, rottweilers and dobermans. Property house owners may ban sure breeds, no matter their conduct. With these restrictions, landlords tried to keep away from incidents with aggressive canine that would harm property or hurt different tenants or pets.
However, animal teams challenged this declare, explaining that breed bans penalize accountable canine house owners and that within the overwhelming majority of circumstances, aggressive conduct is linked to proprietor administration and management, and to not the canine’s breed. Also, they warned that exorbitant pet charges and breed restrictions had been placing housing out of attain for folks.
What takes impact this Thursday is the final a part of the pets in housing modification act, or “Roscoe’s Law”, introduced ahead by councilmember Robert White in honor of his canine. The first half has been partially in impact since 2025. It included caps on pet-related charges: under that first part of the legislation, pet safety deposits can’t exceed 15% of a tenant’s month-to-month lease, pet lease is capped at 1% of the month-to-month lease, and all different non-refundable charges are prohibited.
While organizations just like the DC Landlord Association acknowledged that the legislation’s intent “to assist hold households collectively and forestall the separation of pets from their house owners on account of restrictive housing insurance policies”, they expressed issues. In May, they apprehensive that the safety deposits and lease caps included within the legislation won’t cowl the prices related to pet-related damages, and known as for “ample” deposits and lease.
Although breed and weight restrictions are prohibited in all residential leases starting after 1 October 2026, speedy modifications will not be evident. Real property web sites generally embrace pet restrictions on their property listings.
In a fast search on Zillow on Thursday, many “pet-friendly” DC listings included a “pet necessities” part the place it said if the property allowed cats or canine and their weight restrict, and it was generally set at a most of 75lb.
