BiggerPockets

Prospective tenant has a bunny.

- Bunny lives caged, outdoors (so they say).
- Tenant asks if bunny could come inside at times.
- This is a shared living situation, with me as a roommate.
- Tenant is moving from out of state and just finished Ph.D. Has good new job.
- Light carpets, nice drapery, crown molding, new paint, some hardwood... very nice property.

Do I...
- Charge deposit, and how much?
- Charge deposit and make it a month to month lease, so I can end if needed?
- Allow bunny outside, never to be brought inside.
- Allow bunny to live outside, and come inside only when tenant watches it.
- Not allow bunny, period.

I would almost rather a bunny than a dog, but I worry that the bunny will chew everything.

Tenant otherwise looks good. Currently tenant has roommates. Has good job. IS MOVING FROM OUT OF STATE. I worry that this tenant has a bunny, and is moving from out of state.

Dogs bark and aren't caged. I previously had a tenant with a dog, and that did not go particularly well. Dog jumped on windows and barked too much. That tenant was irresponsible and had a longer lease.

I googled "landlord bunny" and some say bunnies can behave when caged, others say bunnies eat the property and chew everything. I read that they can chew crown molding, electrical outlets, walls, paint, carpet, EVERYTHING.

Good tenants are hard to find around here, especially since it's renting out only a room. The college isn't all that close, and it's hard to find non-smokers with steady income in this area who wish to have roommates.

I don't/can't accept cats (allergies). Dogs have their own problems (barking, housetraining issues, jumping on windows). I don't know about bunnies-- I fear that the bunny would eat the property, but since I can keep an eye on the property and the bunny will live outside caged... maybe it will be better than other options.

Have you ever allowed a bunny?

Did the bunny eat your property?

Is a bunny much more risky than allowing a dog?

Allow bunny. Only outside. End of story.

Can you do a background search on the bunny?
Has it filled out an app?
:)

The bunny was unable to sign the application; the bunny additionally could not provide me with employment references. It offered to pay in carrots.

Monty Python Bunny Scene

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCI18qAoKq4

Haha. Perhaps I should say, "the filthy rodent can come, but it must stay outside."

This is my stupid humor. I instantly thought "Hell Yes". But I'm a guy who enjoys hugh's monthly publication.

The reality is it is all about options. If you have a back up without a bunny and everything is the same go with them. With that said a tenant who has unique requirements don't move.

My kid raised rabbits for show one year. They stayed in my shop during this time. These things eat and poop like no one's business. It is stinky and slimy. It took a long time to get the odor out of the building.

I would advise not allowing a rabbit at all. If you do allow it, I would never allow it inside. As has been said, they will do their business anytime and anywhere.

We have two older bunnies (9years old) that live in an enclosed porch, which I keep at about forty-fifty degrees during the winter. They got to live there when my son wanted pet bunnies as a kid, but I was too worried about the winter cold. I have heard people keep bunnies outside here in Wisconsin, but it would have to be a fairly well insulated cage to duplicate the warmth that a burrow down in the soil offers. For us, having the bunnies where they can get daily attention, lots of treats (bananas rate tops with our bunnies) and lots of socialization helps us to enjoy these wonderful pets, while we sleep better knowing they aren't freezing to death.

Our bunnies are extremely well behaved when they are in their own room, which has a concrete floor, no wiring, and cardboard under the litter pans. We do have to scrub the walls in there and the floor about once a summer, as occasionally there is a slight 'miss'. I do know two very diligent housekeepers who happen to have a rather large number of bunnies in their basement, (maybe 10-15? in cages) and because the humans are meticulous, it's not possible to even tell there are bunnies in the home, much less that many. If I don't clean my bunnies litter pans every other day in the summer, we know we have bunnies.

Our bunnies cuddle nicely on our laps, and offer lots of kisses (licks), however when the little buggers chance to run loose in the house, we immediately run in terror for the cords on our sleep number bed. It costs over $500 to to replace these cords, trust me. I built a fairly complex barrier to keep the little bugger out. Apparently bunnies can flatten themselves to the size of a pancake if there are sleep number cords to be had. And then, of course, the dang contraption that I built made it harder for me to get the little bugger out.

Fuzz, who happens to be just the most handsome, and especially charismatic little bugger, has an obsession with the sleep number bed cords. Of course he would, he already made me go cordless on my laptop peripherals (Hey, why isn't my mouse working? Fuzz, watcha doin? FUZZ!!!!@#%!!) Our house needed to be wireless anyway.

So, now we are diligent about not letting the bunnies come into the main part of the house for a romp. We miss how they used to race around and chase each other, and especially enjoyed the binkies (a special bunny happy dance.)

As for the allergies, I suspect, that if you are allergic to cats, you may be allergic to bunnies. Many people are. My son in law is allergic, which is why my daughter cannot take her bunny to live in their new house. We are even suspicious that one of our dogs, who has a lot of allergies, may be allergic to the bunnies. But, the dog is old too, so it's a race to see which old pet goes first.

Bunnies don't bark, don't need walks, (but can be trained to hop on a leash and enjoy hopping over jumps!) and are awake in the morning and evening. During the day they snooze, and in the middle of the night they snooze, which makes them good choices for 9-5 workers. Bunnies can work very well in a cage in the house, especially if they are well-monitored when they are out for a romp. The deal-breaker would absolutely be allergies. You'd need to figure this out first, IMO.

TS - What is your pet policy anyway? Do you allow pets, don't allow or don't have the policy?

Take a security deposit, then eat the rabbit...I would suggest cooking on a Green Egg with hickory wood, then serve with a sauce you can make with cracked pepper, and a Cherry Preserve, and balsamic vinegar.

Just a quick thought.. Allergies.
Up until my girlfriend decided she wanted a pet rabbit I thought I was only allergic to cats.... I turns out rabbits are 100 times worse. I can spend time in a house with cats for a quite a while. Only developing itchy eyes & a runny nose after many hours... I couldn't even be in the same room she was keeping the rabbits for more than a few minutes without developing sever allergies & strong asthmatic symptoms.