Rental Pet Application Form Template

A rental application asks "Pets?" and leaves a text box. This form asks the questions that actually decide the answer: adult weight rather than current weight, rabies expiry rather than a vague "vaccinated", where the animal is during the working day, and a reference from the landlord who watched it live in a rented building. One animal per submission, and a notice at the top keeping service and assistance animals out of a pet process entirely.

Use this template

Last updated 21 August 2026

Fields in this template

Applicant Namerequired
Email Addressrequired
Phone Number
Property Address and Unitrequired
Where Are You in the Tenancy?required
Applying for a tenancy — the animal is part of the application · Current tenant asking to bring an animal in · Current tenant declaring an animal already living here · Renewing a lease and re-declaring an existing animal
Animal Typerequired
Dog · Cat · Rabbit · Bird · Small caged animal (hamster, guinea pig, gerbil, rat) · Reptile or amphibian · Fish (aquarium) · Other
Breed or Type
Approximate Adult Weight (lbs)required
Agerequired
Spayed or Neutered?required
Yes · No · Not yet — scheduled · No, on veterinary advice
Vaccinations Current For
Rabies · Distemper / parvovirus (DHPP) · FVRCP (cats) · Bordetella (kennel cough) · Leptospirosis · Other — described below · None currently due for this species
Rabies Vaccination Expiry Date
Local Pet Licence or Registration Number
Veterinarian Name and Phone
Link to Vaccination Records, Licence and a Clear Photo
How Long Have You Had This Animal?required
Where Will the Animal Be During the Working Day?
House-Training and Behaviour When Left Alone
Has This Animal Ever Bitten or Injured a Person or Another Animal?required
No · Yes — described below
If Yes, What Happened?
Has a Neighbour, Landlord or Animal Control Ever Complained About This Animal?required
No · Yes — described below · Not sure
Reference from a Previous Landlord or Property Manager About This Animal
Pet Policy Acknowledgementrequired
I have read the property's pet policy and understand that approval is at the landlord's discretion, that it applies to this animal only, and that keeping an unapproved animal may breach the lease.
Accuracy Declarationrequired
The information I have given about this animal is accurate, and I will tell the landlord or property manager if this animal is replaced or another animal joins the household.

Who uses this template

Landlords with a pet policy but no pet paperworkProperty managers handling pet requests mid-tenancyHOAs and condo boards that approve animals separately from the leaseBuild-to-rent and student housing operatorsLetting agents screening pets alongside a tenancy applicationOwners of small multi-unit buildings where one animal affects every neighbour

About this template

A rental pet application is a separate decision from a tenancy application, and it usually happens at a different time. Someone applies to rent, gets approved, and then adopts a dog eighteen months later. formformform's Rental Application Form covers the tenancy — income, employment, tenancy history, references, consent — and asks about animals with a single "Pets?" radio and a free-text box. That is the right amount of detail for a tenancy decision and nowhere near enough for a pet decision. This template is the second form: one animal, asked about properly.

The fields are chosen around what a pet clause is usually written against. Weight limits apply to the adult animal, so the form asks for expected adult weight rather than the weight of a four-month-old puppy. Vaccination is asked as a checklist plus one date — the rabies expiry — because that is the fact that has to stay current for the whole tenancy rather than just on the day of approval. Licensing is asked as an optional field with a description telling you to delete it if your county doesn't license pets. Behaviour is asked as history rather than as breed: has this animal bitten anyone, has anyone complained about it, and where is it during a working day. And there is a reference field for the animal specifically, because the previous landlord is the only person who has watched it live in a rented building with thin walls and a shared stairwell.

The notice at the top of the form is not decoration. Service animals and assistance animals prescribed as a disability accommodation are a distinct legal category in most jurisdictions: they are generally not subject to no-pets policies, pet rent, pet deposits, or breed and weight restrictions, and screening them through a pet application is how a routine process becomes a discrimination complaint. The form says so before the first question and repeats it in the description of the Animal Type field. Route those requests to your accommodation process instead, and take legal advice on what your jurisdiction actually requires — this template is a data-collection tool, not compliance.

12 form ideas you can build with this template

Dog Application Form for Renters

Use the adult-weight, hours-alone and bite-history fields to assess a dog against a building's weight limit and its neighbours' walls.

Cat Application Form for an Apartment

Delete the breed and licence fields, keep FVRCP and spay/neuter, and approve indoor cats without asking questions written for dogs.

Mid-Tenancy Pet Request Form

Give an existing tenant a way to ask before adopting, with the tenancy-status field marking it as a lease amendment rather than an application.

HOA Pet Approval Form

Let a board review animals against community rules using licensing, vaccination and complaint history rather than a neighbour's account.

Student Housing Pet Application

Screen animals in shared accommodation with the hours-alone and behaviour-when-alone fields, which matter most where walls are thin and schedules clash.

Pet-Friendly Building Onboarding Form

Collect one record per animal at move-in so a building that advertises itself as pet-friendly still knows what lives in it.

Second Pet Request Form

Run the form again for an additional animal, so the approval covers the new one specifically instead of a household allowance.

Pet Declaration Form for Lease Renewal

Re-confirm the animal and its rabies expiry at renewal using the tenancy-status field, instead of discovering an undeclared animal at move-out.

Short-Term Rental Pet Request Form

Ask a guest about weight, house-training and hours alone before agreeing to an animal in a furnished property.

Landlord Pet Reference Request

Adapt the previous-landlord reference field into a standalone form you send to the last property manager, asking only about the animal.

Condo Board Animal Registration Form

Keep a licence-and-vaccination register for a building where the board, not the landlord, sets the animal rules.

Small Animal and Aquarium Approval Form

Use the animal-type dropdown for rabbits, birds, reptiles and tanks, where the real questions are containment and water weight rather than barking.

What's included

One animal per submission, so a two-dog household produces two reviewable records instead of one paragraph

Asks for expected adult weight, not weight today — the number a weight limit is actually written against

A rabies expiry date field, the single vaccination fact that has to stay current through a whole tenancy

A previous-landlord reference for the animal itself, separate from the tenant's own references

Behaviour asked as facts — bite history, complaint history, hours alone — rather than as a breed judgement

A prominent notice keeping service and assistance animals out of the pet approval process

Breed and licence fields ship optional, with descriptions telling you when to delete them

Free with unlimited submissions, embeddable on a listing or resident portal

How to create a rental pet application form

1
Click "Use this template" to load the rental pet application into your free formformform account.
2
Edit the Pet Policy Acknowledgement text so it names your actual policy document and any limits it sets on number, species, size or breed.
3
Delete the breed field unless your insurer or municipality genuinely restricts breeds, and delete the licence field if your area does not license pets.
4
Decide whether the previous-landlord reference is required — leave it optional if you approve animals for first-time renters, switch it on if you don't.
5
Add branching logic in the editor so the "what happened" field appears only after a "Yes" on bite history, and so an existing tenant sees different questions from a new applicant.
6
Publish and put the link wherever pet requests already arrive: the listing page, the resident portal, or the reply you send when someone asks.

Best practices for your rental pet application form

Send one form per animal

a single submission describing "two dogs and a cat" cannot be reviewed, approved or refused animal by animal, and the weight and vaccination fields stop meaning anything.

Ask for expected adult weight and say so in the label, or you will approve a 20 lb puppy into a 30 lb building.

Track the rabies expiry date rather than asking "are vaccinations current?"

the second question is true on the day it's answered and unverifiable six months later.

Delete the breed field if you don't have a written insurance or municipal restriction to point at. Breed screening without a specific requirement behind it is the part of a pet policy most likely to be challenged.

Keep service and assistance animals out of this form entirely

the notice at the top exists for that, and it should stay there even if you shorten everything else.

Call the previous landlord rather than reading the reference. One question

did anyone complain about this animal — tells you more than the whole behaviour section.

Ask where the animal is during the working day. Hours alone predicts barking and damage complaints far better than species, size or breed.

Store what you collect for as long as the tenancy and no longer, and set a calendar reminder for the rabies renewal instead of re-collecting the whole form.

Frequently asked questions

Is this pet application form free?

Yes. Clone it, edit it, and collect unlimited submissions at no cost, with no per-submission fees.

How is this different from the Rental Application Form?

The Rental Application Form makes the tenancy decision — income, employment, tenancy history, consent — and covers animals with one "Pets?" radio and a text box. This form makes the pet decision, one animal at a time, and it works just as well eighteen months into a tenancy when someone adopts a dog and there is no application to attach it to.

Should I use this form for a service animal or an emotional support animal?

No. Service animals and assistance animals prescribed as a disability accommodation are a separate legal category in most jurisdictions — generally not subject to no-pets policies, pet fees, or breed and weight limits. Screening them through a pet application is a compliance risk. The form says so at the top and in the Animal Type description; route those requests to your accommodation process and take advice on your own jurisdiction's rules.

Can applicants upload vaccination certificates?

Not on this template as generated — it asks for a link to a shared folder instead, because the template generator has no upload field. formformform itself does support file uploads: add an Upload field to your copy in the form editor and applicants can attach the certificate directly.

Can I collect a pet deposit or pet rent through this form?

No. formformform has no payment field — the only payment processing in the product is subscription billing for your own account. Collect any deposit or pet rent through whatever you already use for rent, after the animal is approved and the lease amendment is signed.

What if a household has two animals?

Submit the form once per animal. Each animal gets its own weight, vaccination record, behaviour history and reference, which is what lets you approve one and decline another instead of making a single all-or-nothing call.

Should I ask for the breed?

Only if you have a written insurance exclusion or a municipal restriction to point at. The field ships optional with a description saying exactly that. Without a specific requirement behind it, breed screening adds risk without adding information the behaviour questions don't already give you.

Does this form come with conditional logic?

No. formformform's templates are generated flat, so every field is visible from the start — including the "if yes, what happened" follow-up. The product editor does support branching; add it after cloning, and it's a two-minute change rather than a rebuild.