BiggerPockets

Hi, I had an initial policy of no pets, when I had two cats and a dog. That changed. I put a no pets clause in the lease with saying without specific written consent and an additional deposit. That's where it is now. I limited dogs to 20 pounds, that keeps out dobermans. Some small breeds get fat and go over, but I never really weighed on. Cats must be declawed. I'm not so much for that, but a cat closed off in a room will dig under a door to try to get out and shred the carpet. Someone wanted an aligator, no! A snake, No! And a parrot, that was a very cool bird, yes! Nothing exotic, or that causes ANY disturbance. I would also require that the animal must be carried out of the building and not allowed to walk out! A dog will just let it rip when he is out of his space! Good luck, Bill

Brandon,

I do allow pets up to 20 pounds which eliminates your larger more destructive dogs. Of course that is not saying that little cat/dog won't do A LOT of damage because they can/will. I do charge a separate deposit for pets along with an additional amount per pet/per month. I make a habit to routinely inspect the house inside and out to make sure there little pet have not gained 50+ pounds all of a sudden, or done any damage.

I'm a newbie, so take this for what it's worth, but what I've been doing is screening out people on the phone if they have a dog that's on my insurance carrier's dog breed blacklist. But I have a single family house. I can say from past apartment living situations that listening to someone else's dog freak out every time a door in the building opens gets tiresome.

I had one person who had sea turtles in a 40 gallong aquarium. I was a little uneasy about that because they can carry salmonella. As it happened, he ended up not applying for the house.

A noisy dog keeps hoodlums out....as long as it isn't the hoodlums' dog.

:oops: I thought everyone paid BirdDogs for bringing them deals, not charged the extra!!!!!! :oops:

I don't have a size limit. I have a list of breeds I won't accept. Dogs and cats must be adults; no puppies, no kittens.

I meet and interview the dog before accepting the applicant. Dogs must be clean and well cared for and have at least a moderate semblance of manners.

I'd rather have 200 pound mastiff sleeping all day in my house than a 3 pound toy poodle peeing behind the sofa.

Larger breeds tend to be calmer and easier to house train. Actually, not any different to house train, but dog owners are more likely to make an effort when the accident is 8 gallons than they are when a pee spot is so small you can't see it. Dogs don't train themselves; someone has to focus their attention on house trainig for a couple of weeks.

Responsible tenants with pets are better tenants usually than those without pets. I try not to take dogs but do if desperate. Interview the dog at the site because prospective tenants can't find many landlords that will allow pets. Ask what their "careplan" is for the pet during the day etc. If they don't have a good answer don't rent to them.

Just wrote a check for over $1000 to buff and recoat 1550 sq. ft. of lovely antique heart of pine flooring that a tenant confined too much.

I have a Dalmatian and she weighs in at 60 pounds and she lives on refinished wood floors. No damage in 7 years.

It's all about the owners...not the pets.

For my condo, I simply go by the HOA CC&R's, which state 2 pets max (fish and birds don't count), and no dog over 20 or 30 pounds.

For our rental house, we allow 1 dog (possibly 2) since we like to attract nice normal families in that property, and many nice normal families have a dog (yeah, many jerks own dogs too, but it's THEM we don't want, not the dog)! Our current nice normal family have a small dog and a bird.

For both properties, we simply collect an extra security deposit to cover the pets. One former tenant in the condo had 2 cats and it wasn't any problem at all. The place looked like a model home after they left.

Instead of SIZE of dog, I'm more concerned with AGE of dog. Puppies, regardless of breed can be very destructive because they like to chew and aren't always housebroken. In contrast, we have a 4 year-old 65 pound boxer that doesn't cause any damage in our house whatsoever. Now our 2 year-old daughter... well, that's ANOTHER story! ;-)

However, all THAT being said, if you have an apartment complex, I assume there isn't a great deal of space for a large dog. Anything bigger than say a beagle, needs some room, like a decent sized yard to run, play, and stretch their legs. Keeping a large dog in small apartment without anything more than a balcony or patio is cruel, IMHO.

If you have 6, 12,18 units and you allow one dog per unit,,,your quickly running a pet motel.

You get ONE barking and they all have to chime in,,no matter how much owner says they NEVER do. They dont know what happens when they are not home.

Not all dogs get along with all others.

Agreed on asking owner for plan of care while they are gone all day.

Kids are easier to babysit than pets,,least they grow up and potty train,,pets NEVER do!!!

Apartments are best no pets,,,single family houses,,,maybe!!