Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Wisconsin

WI law presumes that any money paid to your landlord in excess of one month's rent becomes part of the security deposit, although this can be changed under the terms of a lease, an informal agreement, or pursuant to other documentation such as emails or letters. Additional payments can also be applied to rent due at any time in the future, at which time they may cease to be part of the security deposit. However, the landlord also has the option to simply increase your rent due to having a pet, which is exactly what this sounds like. In that event, the pet fee would not become part of the security deposit and is instead just extra rent paid. Since pets nearly always increase the amount of wear and tear on a rental unit, it is perfectly reasonable to charge higher rent for pets, so that is the more common practice.

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