10/06/2026
DID YOU KNOW? 🇲🇽🐾
If you’re renting a home in Mexico City with a dog or cat, you may be asked for a separate “pet deposit.” But there’s an important wrinkle many expats—and landlords—may not know.
CDMX’s Civil Code provides that, for residential leases, a landlord may not require more than one month’s rent as a deposit. Even more importantly, the residential leasing provisions are designated matters of public order and social interest and generally cannot simply be waived by putting something different in the lease.
So what if the lease requires:
Security deposit: 1 month’s rent
Pet deposit: another month’s rent
Calling the second payment a “pet deposit” does not necessarily resolve the legal issue. If it functions as another refundable security deposit securing the tenant’s obligations, there is a strong argument that the statutory limit applies.
And there’s another interesting development.
In 2025, Mexico City amended its Housing Law to provide that living with “seres sintientes” — sentient beings, including companion animals — should not be an obstacle to exercising the right to housing. The reform was expressly aimed in part at barriers faced by people seeking housing with companion animals.
That does not mean your pet gets a free pass to eat the landlord’s sofa.
A sensible lease can still make the tenant responsible for actual, documented pet damage—including damages exceeding the security deposit when legally recoverable. The distinction is between responsibility for damage and requiring an additional deposit simply because an authorized pet lives in the home.
For expats negotiating a CDMX lease, a useful approach may therefore be:
One lawful security deposit + express responsibility for actual pet damage + written authorization for your pets.
And if you're presented with a separate pet deposit, don't necessarily assume, “That's just how leases work in Mexico.”
Sometimes the most important question is simply: “Can you show me where the law permits the additional deposit?”
General information only, not Mexican legal advice. Lease terms and individual circumstances matter.
