New Yorkers may love their pets, but sometimes New York apartment buildings don't like them that much: The Wall Street Journal has some anecdotes of brokers turning down potential buyers of multimillion dollar apartments because the buildings don't allow pets! In fact, some buildings can be especially strict about dogs—sometimes forcing Solomonic choices.
Michele Kleier, broker/president at Gumley Haft Kleier (as well as reality star), "put a Fifth Avenue duplex on the market in a building with a strict no-pet policy. The family-size apartment was listed for more than $6 million, she said. But 23 of 26 potential buyers were turned away because they owned dogs or cats." Kleier told the WSJ, "We had no one to show it to, and the owner took the apartment off the market."
One Upper East Side building's size limit and bond requirement for dogs was a dealbreaker for another woman, who stated, "My dog is a member of the family." But even though broker Barbara Fox says, "I think boards are just cutting off their noses and causing huge pains by not allowing dogs," the board of a Chelsea co-op no longer allows dogs "to avoid continued spending on legal fees to battle pet owners." (Think gassy or noisy pups.)
