I MAKE my properties pet friendly. I get higher rents, tenants stay longer with less turnover and pet fees are FREE money.
Never had any pet damage.
I like the vinly flooring that comes in strips and looks like hardwood floors. I have never had any of it damaged.
I fence in many of my backyards. My properties do not stay empty for more than a couple days when I do have a turnover.
The majority of tenants have pets so you are eliminating over half your candidates when you exclude pets, but that pushes those renters over to people like myself that see the value in allowing pets.
I also have a VRBO Lake House and 75% of my renters bring pest and pay pet fees. Again no pet problems and extra income.
What brand of vinyl strips do you use? I am curious because I have heard some people say dog pee will seep into the seams and can still wreck flooring like this, although I know some brands are better than others.
In general, we allow them and welcome them with a pet fee and monthly pet rent. A lot of rental homes don't allow them, so because the majority don't-- and we do, our vacancy rate is very low! As long as you have a fenced in yard for a dog, that's very important to me as IMO people are lazy and won't want to walk them each and every time.
With both cats and dogs, make sure the animal is spayed/neutered! Also-- no bully breeds, thank the insurance company.
Our new tenants moved in last month to a completely renovated apartment. There was some issue with the new central A/C and when we were there checking on things the tenant said- "strange thing, when I got home from work the other day there was a small pool of water a couple feet from the kitchen island.
Strange we though, could it have been condensation from a ceiling vent? No, it was not under a vent, and it was a bit. He showed me a picture and there it was, just a pool of water sitting on top of the floor. We whisper to each other that they must have spilled some water...
As we are there he says- "Btw, I am having a problem with the dishwasher." (Brand new Samsung... argh) So I go through the error codes and it says it is an internal leak.
Well we put 2 and 2 together and realized that the water travelled along the vinyl plank and pooled and sat there for hours (started dishwaher at 6 am and came home after 9 pm)
Rental Property Investor · East Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
8y
I don't have 'pet' friendly but do have animal friendly properties.
I stopped using the word pet a few years ago. Adopt animal policies. Emotional support, therapy and comfort animals aren't pets. Your pet policy won't matter anyway. Cheers!
I MAKE my properties pet friendly. I get higher rents, tenants stay longer with less turnover and pet fees are FREE money.
Never had any pet damage.
I like the vinly flooring that comes in strips and looks like hardwood floors. I have never had any of it damaged.
I fence in many of my backyards. My properties do not stay empty for more than a couple days when I do have a turnover.
The majority of tenants have pets so you are eliminating over half your candidates when you exclude pets, but that pushes those renters over to people like myself that see the value in allowing pets.
I also have a VRBO Lake House and 75% of my renters bring pest and pay pet fees. Again no pet problems and extra income.
What brand of vinyl strips do you use? I am curious because I have heard some people say dog pee will seep into the seams and can still wreck flooring like this, although I know some brands are better than others.
I don't remember the brand but I get them at Surplus warehouse. The have overlapping sections that have factory glue on them so they appear to make a fairly water tight connection with each other.
Rental Property Investor · Oklahoma City, OK · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 412 votes
8y
@Will Gaston - You just gave me a traumatic/funny flashback to the time a 'visiting' dog chased the electrician through the yard. Fortunately I was there at another unit on the same property and was able to get the electrician inside while keeping the dog outside. Tenant was evicted, we have a zero tolerance policy.
In general, we allow pets but at our small multi-families no dogs for that very reason, can't have them chasing their co-occupants or nipping at someone else's kids.
Investor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2016 · 7 posts · 4 votes
8y
I allow pets. It seems like the market where I am located demands pet-friendly. I think it is a good way to separate from the competition, but I have seen some damage. Also, as others have pointed out, they will bring pets in any way. I do restrict breeds.
Rental Property Investor · St. Petersburg, FL · Member since 2017 · 3k+ posts · 4k+ votes
8y
Yes, with limitations. 2 pets max, and I have to approve of the breed when it comes to dogs. I dont want to eliminate a huge pool of renters right off the bat, and I have a dog and now that it can be a struggle to find a good rental that accepts pets
Naperville, IL · Member since 2018 · 330 posts · 357 votes
8y
All but one of my nine properties are condos, the association generally limits size and breed. My personal limit is two four-legged pets. (You can have all the fish you want.) Had one dog destroy the carpet, but this was an FannieMae rehab -they put down cheapest carpet WITH NO PADDING. She lived there 4 years, this dog would get shut into a room and try to "dig" out. But seriously, carpet without padding doesn't have four years of life in it anyway. I replace living areas (and some units the whole place) with true vinyl plank that snaps together. If you unit floods, or dog pee is in there, you pull it up, wash it, clean and dry the subfloor (or replace if ruined), put the vinyl right back down. I charge $300 per pet deposit but no pet rent. Have never kept pet deposit. I think having a dog or cat makes people give more of a damn about everything. I too, have in the last year been getting the "service animal" inquiry. When I say I need to see paperwork NOT generated from the Internet, they quickly vaporize......
Accountant · Belmont, CA · Member since 2017 · 12 posts · 11 votes
8y
Absolutely pet friendly for single family home rental . I find that I getter better quality applicants who are often excluded from even applying for other properties because they are a pet owner. I always have a pet addendum and a sizeable pet deposit.
Specialist · San Diego, CA · Member since 2018 · 88 posts · 54 votes
8y
Waterproof flooring has come a long way. Luxury Vinyl Plank, WPC, SPC flooring is a great alternative to having to invest in an expensive tile floor installation. It comes in wood looks and stone looks. Installing the glue down version takes a little more expertise... But the floating/click lock version can usually be installed by a "do-it-yourselfer" or a handy man as long as the subfloor doesn't have major imperfections.
Rental Property Investor · Chesterland, OH · Member since 2017 · 12 posts · 1 vote
8y
I allowed pets at first. Then I had a tenant with a small dog (maybe 15-20 lbs) and it ruined the handscraped hardwood floors. I charged a $400 deposit non-refundable, but still extremely unhappy since redoing the floors would cost a fortune. Luckily it didn't do any other damage, but lesson learned! I know I will have houses in the future that are pet friendly, but they won't be as nice to begin with as this one is.
I allow cats under the condition that they are chill and not a kitten (in which case they tend to be sporadic and more likely to cause damage.) Absolutely no dogs.
Investor · Port Moody, British Columbia · Member since 2016 · 50 posts · 33 votes
8y
I haven't had much luck with finding good tenants with pets.
For some reason, I have only had applicants that call their pets "therapy animals" and they always argue that these animals are not pets so they refuse to pay the pet deposit or the pet rent because they argue that it doesn't apply to them.
I haven't had much luck with finding good tenants with pets.
For some reason, I have only had applicants that call their pets "therapy animals" and they always argue that these animals are not pets so they refuse to pay the pet deposit or the pet rent because they argue that it doesn't apply to them.
Do they not have to prove that in British Columbia? In Illinois they do, and my attorney advised me I could ask for LOCAL paperwork as the Internet stuff is just a scam to make money.
I charge $65 monthly for a cat, $100-150 monthly for a dog.
Why do you charge so much more for dogs than for cats? In my experience, living with my own dogs and cats and with other people's dogs and cats, the cats cause more damage than dogs. Also dogs are pretty good about only going outside and rarely have an accident indoors, but cat's will pee on anything and cat pee has so much stronger odor. Even cats who do use their litter box 100% of the time and never pee on anything else will still track it around on their paws after walking on it in their litter box.
Rental Property Investor · Erie, PA · Member since 2018 · 6k+ posts · 9k+ votes
8y
No pets here . If a potential tenant doesn’t agree with that policy They can go rent off the neighbors and let mr. whiskers spray urine on his carpet . in lower income areas the tenants can barely clean up after themselves much less a dog or cat . a pet deposit of a couple hundred bucks isn’t going to be of much good if you gotta tear out carpet , laminate floors ,replace sub flooring and repaint the drywall in heavy primer renting ozone machine after they leave to get the stink out . Not worth the headache for an extra 20- 25$ a month. Why even take the risk in my opinion
Investor · Narragansett, RI · Member since 2013 · 8k+ posts · 4k+ votes
8y
It depends, a single family year round yes, student 9 month rental no. Students just don't take the animals out. Multifamily we don't allow dogs, but we allow cats, spayed/neutered, max two, no kittens are allowed. We don't have any carpet. We don't allow dogs in Multifamily because of noise, they bark alot. Mostly working adults aren't home with their dogs all day. Also I had tenants with little dogs, they scratch the woodwork etc, and the little ones tended to nip at me... can't afford for them to do that to a tenant.
I had one tenant who wanted snakes but I took a pass on that. I think I would consider birds but the snakes i have visions of escaping.
I do agree that the internet stuff is just a scam to make money, but I don't think landlords can dictate who tenants can and cannot see for their own personal "health" providers.
I do agree that the internet stuff is just a scam to make money, but I don't think landlords can dictate who tenants can and cannot see for their own personal "health" providers.
My Illinois attorney advised me that I can indeed demand that they provide proof from a local provider BECAUSE the stuff on the Internet is fake. Now, HIPPA laws mean I can't ask what exactly the potential tenant's mental health issue is, but I can ask for a letter from a real doctor saying s/he prescribed a therapy animal. Now, if the person has a letter from a doc in California or something because they are moving to Illinois, I would accept it after verifying the letter. STILL, the dog has to be a breed my insurance will accept, and well trained and well behaved.
Still it hasn't been an issue...it's just a trick people are pulling and they go away as soon as you say you need proof. My own personal opinion is that EVERY pet is a therapy animal. My grandma knew petting a cat lowered her blood pressure in the 60's. It's not new. What's new is the attempt to get around reasonable rules and restrictions.
A dear friend trains dogs to be companions to autistic kids. It's fantastic. I love dogs, (cats, too, but I'm allergic), I do my best to accommodate them, but I won't be tolerating B.S.
Investor · Saskatchewan , Saskatchewan · Member since 2017 · 311 posts · 233 votes
8y
@nicholaslayton in short, because that’s the market here. Of the ~3% that take pets, maybe 10% of those allow dogs... I have one large sfh with a 78x180’ lot that I’m getting $300 monthly for the two lazy golden retrievers there. The smiley has been there 3 years now. No way those dogs have caused anywhere close to $10k in damage. I’ve got maybe $300 in patching to do to the lawn if they moved tomorrow.
I haven't had much luck with finding good tenants with pets.
For some reason, I have only had applicants that call their pets "therapy animals" and they always argue that these animals are not pets so they refuse to pay the pet deposit or the pet rent because they argue that it doesn't apply to them.
Do they not have to prove that in British Columbia? In Illinois they do, and my attorney advised me I could ask for LOCAL paperwork as the Internet stuff is just a scam to make money.
Hi Nancy,
I could try and prove that their pet is not a therapy animal, but it just isn't worth my time or energy since I'll only end up with a disgruntled tenant that dislikes me. In the end, I just choose the least complicated, super-easy-to-get-along-with tenant that plans to stay for a long time and has excellent references and credit. It might mean slightly less money, but I self-manage so I want the least headachey tenant possible :)