My landlord has asked us to pay a pet fee of 175 per pet, however in the law it says that the pet fee can't be more than one quarter of one month's rent. Our rent was 595 a month. They also are saying that it is non-refundable and will not be used to pay for damages in the apartment. However it appears to me that the pet deposit falls under the security deposit which is refundable and is used toward damages.
They also have taken 6 weeks to get our itemized report back to us about the damages, and NE law says it has to be within 14 days. They sent one to us but said it was pending the carpet being replaced. I thought they had to get estimates of what the damages would be and refund the remaining deposit.
Also, while we were in our last month at the apartment, they entered our premises on three different occasions without giving notice. The first time maintenance was working on a mirror in the bathroom and then went back to management to report to them about our pets. I know this because management told us this. The second time, our air conditioner was leaking and they called a heating and air company (not regular maintenance) and didn't call us to let us know they would be by. In the mean time I was sleeping in the living room and had just enough time to run to the bedroom and shut the door behind me before the heating and air guys came in. The third time, they actually sent maintenance by to install an air freshener in our apartment (the reason we were leaving is because we had ferrets and management said they smelled, no one else thought they smelled, but management did and told us to leave). Would these violations count towards the relief that NE state law spells out ("an amount equal to no less than one month's rent")? Any help is appreciated.

Technically, the deposit is refundable, but it is common sense that you have damage, even if to the odor of a place, if you have pets, so this is a distinction without a difference and what they are keeping as non-refundable does not sound too out there.