DC's pet-fee caps and breed-ban repeal are law and not in force
DC's pet-fee caps and breed-ban repeal are law and not in force
2026-09-09 · District of Columbia · Legislation
The provisions of District law that cap pet deposits and bar breed, size and weight restrictions have not been implemented. Subsections (b-3) and (b-4) of D.C. Code § 42-3505.10 read, in the codified text, “Not Funded.”1
This one catches people out, because the parent Act is genuinely in force. The Pets in Housing Amendment Act of 2024 took effect March 21, 2025. What is not in force is the part everyone quotes.
What the Act contains, and what is inert
The Act adds a definition of “common household pet” at § 42-3501.03(6A) and amends the Rental Housing Act's fee provisions. Two of those amendments are conditional.
The DC Law Library's applicability note is unambiguous: “§ 4 of D.C. Law 25-308 provided that the amendment to this section by § 2(c)(2) of D.C. Law 25-308 is subject to the inclusion of the law's fiscal effect in an approved budget and financial plan. Therefore that amendment has not been implemented.”2
The unimplemented material is the substance: a cap on pet security deposits at 15 percent of monthly rent, a cap on pet rent at 1 percent of the first full month's rent per dog with a cumulative 1 percent for other pets, a bar on any deposit or pet rent for a service or assistance animal, and — for residential leases beginning after October 1, 2026 — a prohibition on restricting tenancy or charging differential fees or rent based on a pet's breed, size or weight.
Why the October 1, 2026 date is misleading on its own
That applicability date appears in the enacted text and has been widely repeated. It is the date on which the breed, size and weight provision would begin to reach new leases — if the funding condition were satisfied first. It is not an independent switch. A date inside an unimplemented subsection does not implement the subsection.
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