Investor · Bethlehem, PA · Member since 2016 · 229 posts · 122 votes
hi guys, I'm renting out my first property and we have a prospective tenant who has 780 credit score great income and seems like the kind of person I would want to rent to. The only problem is I put on my ads that's I don't want cats and he has 2 kittens. I never had a cat but I was told that if they are not properly trained and they urinate on rugs or hardwood that I will never be able to get the smell out. So it was suggested not to allow cats so that's why I put bit in my ad. What do you guys think, would you allow cats in your rentals?
Also, I'm a dog person and I have dogs, so I am okay with small dogs.
that is a preference thing, personally I dont mind, but we dont have carpet in our properties, well 1 of 8 does, we charge a little higher rent to off set the pets, yea they can do damage, but so can dogs, and smokers, and dirty people, its all part of the game, you will open up a huge number of potential renters if you allow animals. just my opinion
The danger with cats is un-neutered males. They will spray urine to mark territory. I've heard that neutered males can also do it but it is much more rare.
If you're open to it - require vet documentation of spay/neuter, and charge an additional animal rent, maybe 20 per animal per month.
Good responsible pet owners are often good responsible tenants.
that is a preference thing, personally I dont mind, but we dont have carpet in our properties, well 1 of 8 does, we charge a little higher rent to off set the pets, yea they can do damage, but so can dogs, and smokers, and dirty people, its all part of the game, you will open up a huge number of potential renters if you allow animals. just my opinion
I would allow cats if they seem like responsible people. With cats, its usually the pet owner's fault if the cat pees outside the litter box regularly. But if that does happen, the smell can be very difficult to get out of carpet/wood.
I would probably allow cats in my rental, but the flooring is mostly tile so the damage potential would be minimal.
Take a good non refundable pet deposit if you do allow for it.
I don't allow cats. In my experience, 'everyone' has perfect, well trained cats that would never urinate outside the little box..... However, I have had two places where cat urine smell never went completely away.
I allow dogs that are not on my insurances list of most wanted (pit bulls, ect.) with a $300 non refundable pet fee and $25 monthly pet rent per dog.
I think it's a personal preference really. Allowing pets can really make you stand out in the competition though.
Good point about insurance @Kyle Godbout I do require any pet owner to provide proof of renters insurance, the insurance is usually an easy sell, because if the get it through the same company that insures their car its sometimes cheaper overall to have it, because the car premium goes down more than the renters premium costs in many cases.
the risk is if the pet hurts someone, and the pet owner doesnt have insurance, the victim could come after you/your insurance as property owner.
that is a preference thing, personally I dont mind, but we dont have carpet in our properties, well 1 of 8 does, we charge a little higher rent to off set the pets, yea they can do damage, but so can dogs, and smokers, and dirty people, its all part of the game, you will open up a huge number of potential renters if you allow animals. just my opinion
No pets, no smokers and do quarterly inspections. Its cheaper to take an extra month to find a person than have to spend thousands of dollars to get the smell of piss or smoke out of a house.
that is a preference thing, personally I dont mind, but we dont have carpet in our properties, well 1 of 8 does, we charge a little higher rent to off set the pets, yea they can do damage, but so can dogs, and smokers, and dirty people, its all part of the game, you will open up a huge number of potential renters if you allow animals. just my opinion
No pets, no smokers and do quarterly inspections. Its cheaper to take an extra month to find a person than have to spend thousands of dollars to get the smell of piss or smoke out of a house.
To each their own, different philosophies work for different people, neither are wrong, as long as the result is what was expected.
Hey @Matt B., cats are fine most of the time. I have, however, had to rip out flooring in two houses because of cat urine odor that couldnt come out. The security deposit didnt cover it. So, if you allow them, I would make them pay the full amount of security allowed, as well as an additional monthly fee (i usually do $25 or 50) and you put in the lease that he is not allowed to have more than 2 (never know, he may become a crazy cat person and fill the entire place).
Go with your gut. If you said no cats that means no cats. If you are willing to give in on this one area what other areas will the tenant also sway you on? Not a great way to start out.
Unless you have good enough margins and want to put that towards new carpet after the cats urinate all over the place then go ahead and allow cats. Either that or be sure that the deposit covers enough to re-carpet the entire house.
Personally we do not accept cats. Had a tenant once whose cat ruined the carpets. After two cleanings the house still stunk link cat urine. Had to put all new carpet in the house. They eventually fled town and we only got a portion of our costs recovered.
Needless to say we no longer allow cats, only dogs.
I would say no to cats, if you don't have to accept them for support animals. The main reason is, that tenants who have cats don't necessarily deal with the cat litter box on a reasonable basis, let alone otherwise.
So, if you can find tenants who don't require a legal support animal that is a cat, I'd deny them - unless you just can't get the unit rented otherwise.
So many people lie. No cats but you go into fix a drain, and there is a cat. Usually he is a boyfriends cat who is usually never there but the boyfriend had to go suddenly out of town....OR...fill in the blank. If you feel that strongly, be sure to say no visiting cats, no feeding outdoor cats, etc.
that is a preference thing, personally I dont mind, but we dont have carpet in our properties, well 1 of 8 does, we charge a little higher rent to off set the pets, yea they can do damage, but so can dogs, and smokers, and dirty people, its all part of the game, you will open up a huge number of potential renters if you allow animals. just my opinion
No pets, no smokers and do quarterly inspections. Its cheaper to take an extra month to find a person than have to spend thousands of dollars to get the smell of piss or smoke out of a house.
To each their own, different philosophies work for different people, neither are wrong, as long as the result is what was expected.
As hvac company owner and many years of experience doing service on people's homes. I've been into literally thousands of them. I would say there are about 10% of peoples homes that own cats that do not have some level of smell of cats. I can usually tell if a person has a cat right as they open the front door. I'd say around 40% of them have a heavy smell of cat piss. We have a cat and our house doesn't wreak of it. However, he does not use a litterbox, he's potty trained to go outside. If he used a box, I'd get rid of him.
I never had a problem with cats, until we let our two strays into the house over the winter.
Both used the box, one has been neutered, the other - we haven't caught him to chop his balls off yet, but we're gonna catch him in the next week or so for sure.
Now we've had indoor female cats for years, and never had a smell problem with the box. I nearly had 4 cats trained to use the toilet - so damn close - but one of them was just really stupid. I mean really really thick. And like the US education system, you can only go as fast as the dumb one. What annoyed me was that the other congenitally stupid cat figured out how to use the toilet almost instantly, it was the supposedly the clever one that was dumb as a brick.
But anyway, I digress, my god that unfixed tom stank the place out. No more unfixed males in the house.
Years back I wouldn't allow pets if the carpet was new. After 3 years, I'd allow pets. What I found was the tenants would always sneak in a pet. Now I allow dogs and cats in all of my rentals. They must have renter's insurance, no pit bulls , etc. max of two pets, less than 25 pounds. I get a security deposit of $275 per pet and an additional pet rent of $25 per pet.
If they now sneak in a pet the additional security deposit is immediately due. They also owe me $25 per month from the start of the lease.
Anytime there are pets involved I do semi annual inspections. If the pet has done any destruction, repairs need to be done at that point. I have never had major damage done but if there was any, the pet would be gone.
If you don't offer your unit to renter's with pets, you are saying no to 60% of the renter's. I think 60% might even be low now. It seems like every millennial owns at least one pet!
My experience based on personally having cats is that regardless of how well they are trained or whether they are neutered or not they will regularly pee everywhere in the house. With two kittens when they move out you will need very likely need to do remediation as the home will smell like a litter box. You will not be able to re rent the place as is. If they are outside cats you will very likely have a flee problem as well.
Pet deposits will not cover the costs to remediate.
Personally I would stick to your policy of no cats.
thank you everyone for your advice and experiences. I'm going to meet these people tonight so I can feel them out and I'm going to take it from there. Thanks again guys!
My ad says we are "pet friendly" but each pet has to be qualified and require a non-refundable pet deposit as well as $25.00 per month extra lease amount. NO "dogs over $20lbs and no dogs on the state insurance "attack list" (I don't have my lease so not sure of my wording). I have found if they have had FUFU for a long time and are responsible they will willingly pay everything...if it's a new pet thing they won't spend the money. I also don't allow reptiles...any shape or form.
Frankly...if you screen correctly allowing qualified people with pets will put more money in your pocket. Pets can pee or chew but I've never had them kick out windows, write on walls with crayons, put things down the toilets or knock holes in the walls with a bat.
We allow a pet--dog or cat-- in our rentals simply because we were "forced" to at a time when we had many vacancies and few takers. We require an additional $500 security deposit. Even so we still have people that "sneak" in a pet because they don't want to pay the extra security. I really like the idea of charging an extra amount of monthly rent for a pet.
The horror story: We built a tri-level house in a beach neighborhood many years ago. Very first tenant in this brand new house with brand new carpet. My husband entered house after a month--can't remember why--discovered the dog. Looks around a bit. Pulls up the carpet in a corner only to discover urine stain. Looks a bit further, pulls up more carpet. We did a count. There were 30 urine stains in 30 days over the three levels.
Cats are the smell of money to house flippers for a very good reason. All cats stink up a rental property and plenty of landlords ultimately end up having to sell due to the cost to remediate.
Renters and cats are the worst combination as most renters do not care if they cause damage and simply move when they can no longer stand the smell themselves.
I'm going to share with you a tenant side horror story.
Years ago, I lived in an apartment with my cat who always used the litter box in the tiled bathroom. Yes, really. One night at 2 am, a pipe bursts in the bathroom and floods the entire apartment. The landlord sends in a remediation team, but the carpet padding becomes moldy and the smell never goes away.
Two months later the property is sold. A month later I leave due to the stinky carpet smell. The new landlord refuses to give me back my deposit. He blames the smell on my cat. Says there's no record of the burst pipe. Just great. Don't be that landlord.
A bit of training for the cat would do the trick. I guess. Moreover I have come across many carpet cleaners which can totally get rid off the foul smell(safe carpet cleaners. Bets of luck
@Matt B. 780 credit and great income? Don't overthink this. If you are that concerned take a non-refundable pet deposit of like $300-$500.
As a matter of fact, I would get back to her right away. Tenants that are that qualified can rent virtually anywhere and will move on quickly if they don't hear anything back.
I charge an additional $25/month per pet. Thats an extra $300/year. I've found that not allowing pets really limits your tenant pool. When I've allowed pets I get way better applicants. Both of my previous tenants have had cats and there have been no damages at all. Maybe I've just been lucky