Rent to someone with a pet?

Question

Hi, BPers, I have a potential tenant with a small dog -- a 14 year old yorkie. I am wondering if the pet is a concern? And what I should put in the contract if I rent to this family. Thanks a lot :)

Emily Lopez · Answer

My real estate mentor always told me "Some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you." With pets you will be just fine sometimes and sometimes you'll have issues. It's a role of the dice. I rent to people with pets because not allowing them eliminates too much of your market of renters. Also, if you don't allow them many people will get them anyways and hide them. You're best off charging a larger deposit and/or an extra monthly fee. I charge $25 extra dollars a month for pet owners. So far, I have had no issues with pets in my own properties. I have seen lots of damage when I was working for other rental property owners. It also depends on how you scree your tenants. Good tenants will care for and manage their animals. Also, if you do decide to allow pets, I would recommend gradually transitioning to laminate or tile floors which can handle pet wear a little better.

Good luck!

Justin B. · Answer

I do allow pets but I charge a non-refundable fee per pet (Usually $250) and a small monthly fee (like $10-$15 per pet.  I do that because I usually have to have someone do a "deeper" cleaning in between tenants and that usually covers it.  I'm sure at some point, I'll have a bad experience, but so far it's all been fine.  I'm not worried about the small % of bad situations that may arise because of it.

There are a few caveats.  I haven't had to deal with anything other than cats and dogs so far and I don't care about "caged" animals (most birds, gerbils, fish, etc).  There are a few breeds of dogs I won't allow due to their "risk".  It's the breeds that are high risk in attacking people.  It's very few breeds.  Also, I wouldn't allow more than 3 pets.  Any higher than that and it's usually not a normal "family pet" type situation.

Outside of that, I wouldn't put too much thought into it.  Of all the things to worry about, pets are low on my list.  Using the guidelines I set above, you might lose 1% or less of your renter pool and that's acceptable to me.

Erik Johnson · Answer

You could have them put down an pet deposit and/or pay a higher rent to account for the pet. Also you might want to meet the pet before letting them move in with it to see if you think it might destroy the house or not, or annoy the neighbors.

Russell Gronsky · Answer

Yorkies are very small dogs (about 8lbs) and they tend to shed less so it is unlikely that the dog will cause much damage to your place in that regard. However, 14 is old for a dog and with age come problems, just like humans. So the dog might be prone to accidents in the house. I'm just speculating as it is hard to tell what health issues a 14-year old dog may have.

It also depends on what floring you have in the house. Laminate or hardwood should be okay but if you have carpet, that might be a different story.

In the grand scheme of things, I'd say there is not much additional risk in taking this family in. However, I'd charge a $200 - $300 non-refundable pet fee. That should take care of any cleaning you may need to do because of the animal once the family moves.

Alain Perez-Majul · Answer

Hi @Aaron Xie!

I don't have personal experience with pets yet, but for my properties, I will be allowing them. Not allowing pets significantly cuts down on your tenant pool (think about how many people have pets, and how important those pets are to families). Moreover, you can charge a pet deposit for the option to have a pet, and also charge a higher monthly rent! Hope this helps a bit!

Corey Woodruff · Answer

if you are going to rent to someone with a pet make sure you tell the owner of the pet to bring the dog to the showing so you can see how it interacts and acts inside the house how the owner is with the dog and how the dog is in your house should give you a good indication on whether the pet will destroy your house or not. hope this helps

Austin Youmans · Answer

Whatever you decide make sure you are consistant and set standards to protect yourself.

Pets are ok but do cause damage especially when not trained.

Look into your local law but common for my area is $400 to $500 deposit per pet and some do "pet rent". Make sure you just write it out as extra deposit and not pet deposit as you would have to prove it was pet damage in that instance.

Jacob Scholes · Answer

A few more things you may want to consider are:

-Some Renters have allergies (approxiamately 15% of the population)

-Pet smells can be hard to remove, especially in carpet. At times cat or dog urine can seep into the floor boards. But if you have hard wood, tile or linoleum floors it is a lot easier to clean up.

-At times pets can damage the rental. A house I help manage had a dog that tore a rather large whole in the carpet, it was an easy fix and luckily we were able to take it out of the deposit.

As others said before make sure you have a large enough deposit to cover any damages, charge a little extra per month (we charge 50$) and use your best judgement

Gino Barbaro · Answer

@Aaron Xie

Hi Aaron

A large percentage of renters own pets, and saying no to them in effect eliminates a large pool of potential clients.  I don't want to rent to pets, but I have to.  They derive huge fees.  We charge a pet deposit per animal and get a nominal increase in rent.  It may not be worth it if you own a couple of units, but in our case it is well worth it.  And it gives us the ability to expand our tenant base.

Just stipulate in the lease how many pets, and if they break the lease in any way, you have the ability to evict them

Good LuckGino

Rent to someone with a pet?

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