No Pets, Pets, or Livestock: Choosing an Animal Policy for Your Auburn Rental

Three kinds of animal policy, three kinds of upkeep

An applicant calls about your house outside Auburn. She has two dogs, and her teenager wants to bring a horse for the empty pasture. Your answer depends on the home, the fencing, your insurance and how much animal wear you are ready to absorb.

Most owners end up in one of three places. No pets keeps wear and liability questions simple but turns away many applicants. Pets allowed under a written policy (type, number, size if you choose, and rules for yards and waste) widens the pool. Larger animals such as horses, goats or poultry only make sense on acreage with real fencing, shelter and water, and only where zoning allows them.

The post on making a rental stand out covers the marketing side of allowing pets. This page sticks to the rules and the trade-offs.

Deposits: the pet money is part of the one cap

California treats any payment, fee, deposit or charge collected at the start of a tenancy as "security," except an application screening fee (Civil Code 1950.5). So a separate "pet deposit" is not extra. It counts inside the overall limit:

• The general limit is one month's rent, plus the first month's rent paid at move-in.
• A landlord who is a natural person, or an LLC whose members are all natural persons, and who owns no more than two rental properties with no more than four units total, may collect up to two months' rent. That exception never applies to a service member applicant.
• No lease may call any part of the deposit "nonrefundable," so a nonrefundable pet fee charged at move-in does not work.
• At move-out you may deduct for animal damage beyond ordinary wear and tear, with the photos, itemized statement and receipts the deposit law requires. The move-in and move-out guide walks through that paperwork.

Rules that apply even when you say yes

If you allow animals, you may not require a tenant to declaw or devocalize a pet, or word an ad to discourage people whose animals are not declawed or devocalized (Civil Code 1942.7).

Read your landlord policy before you write the pet rules. Some policies limit coverage for animal bites or list breeds they will not cover, and your written rules should not promise more than your insurance allows. Ask your agent how a horse or other livestock on the parcel changes the liability coverage.

Fences are where most foothill pet trouble starts. Decide in the lease who maintains which fences and gates, who repairs damage a pet causes, and what happens to animals if the home has to be evacuated during fire season.

A written pet policy is easier to apply fairly when it is specific. Most careful owners cover these points:

• Which animals are allowed, how many, and whether you set any size limit for pets.
• A description of each approved pet in the lease or an addendum, so a new animal needs your written OK.
• Yard rules: waste pickup, digging, barking, and whether pets may be left outside while the tenant is away.
• Where pets may not go, such as a detached workshop, crawl space or a neighbor's shared driveway.
• Who pays for flea treatment or repairs if a pet causes damage during the tenancy.

Horses, goats and chickens on acreage

Many homes around Auburn sit on enough land that applicants ask about larger animals. Whether a parcel may keep horses, poultry or other livestock is a zoning question for the City of Auburn (inside city limits) or Placer County (outside them), not a landlord-tenant question. Check the zoning for the specific parcel before you advertise animals as allowed. If a past tenant kept animals without approval, the home's history does not make the use legal now.

If zoning permits it and you want to say yes, a separate livestock addendum keeps duties clear. It usually names the animals allowed, which pasture, barn or pen areas the tenant may use, who handles feed, water, manure and vet care, who repairs fencing, and how the areas must look at move-out. If you want a second opinion on the wording for a specific property, book a free discovery call. The acreage versus in-town guide compares the wider upkeep of rural parcels.

The written pet policy law starting April 1, 2027

SB 1296 (2026) adds a disclosure duty. Starting April 1, 2027, landlords must have a written pet policy or pet addendum, even if it simply says no pets. It has to be linked on any property website and in digital ads the landlord controls, given with every rental application, and the application needs a space where the applicant acknowledges receiving it.

The law does not force anyone to allow pets. It also says a tenant's failure to sign a pet addendum cannot be the only basis for an eviction, and an applicant charged a screening fee without the policy who cannot or will not go forward can ask for a refund, due within seven business days of the written request.

Assistance animals are not pets. California still requires housing providers to grant reasonable accommodations for emotional support animals, trained or not, even after HUD changed its federal approach in 2026. You may not charge a pet deposit or pet rent for one, and breed, size and weight limits, including insurer limits, do not apply, though the tenant still pays for actual damage. The guide to renting to seniors and people with disabilities explains the accommodation process.