How do you handle tenants with pets?

Question

Hi all,

I have a rental property available for rent now. Unfortunately, a lot of applicants who respond to my ad don't have good credits. When I listed my property, we didn't expect to have tenants with pets because I was afraid of the potential damage caused by the pets since we just remodeled the kitchen and bathroom and upgraded them. However, since the credit screening process may reduce the qualified applicants, I am wondering if I should compromise and consider tenants with pets because I don't want our property idle in winter. I haven't rent my property to tenants with pets before. I will appreciate if you can kindly share your experience or lesson learned with me.

Thank you,
Grace

Brent Zande · Answer

A few things you can do if you are going to rent to people with pets that have worked for me:  1. I always take at least 50% more security deposit. 2. I charge $25 to $50 more per month in rent. The final thing I do is limit the type, number and size of pet that they can have.  If I can, I like to meet the animal as well.  The last thing you want is a massive aggressive dog or dogs in your house.  Find a good cheap carpet cleaner, you will need it.
Good Luck,
Brent

Account Closed · Answer

If you decide to go the "not pet" route, you should also include verbiage in your lease on what the penalties are if a pet is found on the property. E.g. Tenant to be in default of the lease, initial fee and/or daily fee until pet has been removed, etc.

Account Closed · Answer

I used to not allow pets at all, until I found out that some tenants were bringing in pets without me knowing. I found that even if tenants say they don't have any pets, they still do! Now I charge a pet fee or increase the monthly rent along with a pet deposit to cover my cost. You might also check to see what type of pets/breeds are allowable by your insurance with your premium going up.

Sharon Vornholt · Answer

Grace -

There are pros and cons for each way of thinking. In the end, you have to make the decision. Josh posted the link to a post about pets and possible liability that I wrote for this site. You should certainly find out what the laws are for your state.

Joshua D. · Answer

Sharon Vornholt just published a very important article that the participants in this thread and ALL LANDLORDS should be interested in.  Please take a minute to check it out at:

What Liability Do You Assume When You Allow Pets In Your Rental Property?

Grace Wang · Answer

Bienes,

Yes, your point is well taken. Thanks for your input.

Bienes Raices · Answer

Congratulations Grace. Although if you ever do change your mind in the future, it's certainly doable if you handle it properly. If the tenant/applicant pool in the area was of low quality I would jump to take a qualified person with a reasonably well-behaved pet any day over non pet owners with "issues."

Grace Wang · Answer

Thank you all for your valuable input and suggestions. Fortunately, I've already found a tenant without pets, and she has a good credit score. Therefore, the problem is solved. However, your insight did help me a lot, so it was a good lesson learned. Thanks again!

Tod R. · Answer

I know this is a little different situation, but I rent a home on 10 acres with a  tenant who has a couple of zebras, among other more normal livestock.  She breeds them with a donkey to get a ZeDonk, and sells them (I'm not sure who would want a zedonk, other than someone who wants a fancy donkey I guess).  Anyway, my agent told me that my umbrella premium is going up about  $50 because of exotic animals.  I guess that means the rent will be going up too.

Brent Zande · Answer

I thought of one other thing after I wrote above.  You say the credit scores you are seeing are bad, I would contend it might be worth it to find out the cause of the bad credit score.  Sometimes a health issue or lost job will smash the credit score but up to and after that incident they are squeaky clean.  Might open up the field.

How do you handle tenants with pets?

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