Do you prohibit any types of animals on your property?

Question

Have you had any prior bad experiences that have pushed you to restrict certain types of animals from residing at your properties? I've had bad experiences with Ferrets in the past and have heard some owners restrict fish tanks over a certain size. Would this be something that you incorporate into your lease? Anyone have any interesting processes or disclaimers to protect their property or limit what hte tenant can keep as pets.

Feel free to ignore ESA for this topic.

JD Martin · Answer

I don't allow giraffes or hippopotamus; they ruin the landscaping and no one wants to pick up the crap 😃

Account Closed · Answer

@Michael Peters

For my monthly fee, I explain it to applicants this way: if it has a heartbeat, there’s a fee.

John Warren · Answer

@Michael Peters I have yet to have a horror story related to pets. I have had lots of dogs and cats in one of my buildings in Berwyn that I made into a "pet friendly" building. I love the additional revenue I get from the pets in that building. I have had other tenants with multiple aquariums, etc and no issues there either. I think if you are going to allow for pets, just make sure you are charging pet rent.

Matt M. · Answer

@Michael Peters

I am a no pet landlord. To many negative experiences. The extra $30 or whatever a month isn’t worth it to me.

Nicole Heasley Beitenman · Answer

I never thought to address anything outside of cats and dogs in my leases. Thank you for the tip!!!

Sylvia B. · Answer

Rabbits.

I had a tenant with a pet rabbit. They let it wander loose in the house and it dug or chewed the carpet under the furniture. The damage was hidden during inspections, so we didn't catch it until they moved out, and of course the deposit didn't cover it.

Pitbulls.

Our city has a ban on the breed, so this one is easy.

Michael Robbins · Answer

I have used breed restrictions for dogs in the past.  I have also restricted large fish tanks and also reptiles.

Account Closed · Answer

If you're not going to allow pets, I'd add into the lease that no pets are allowed on the property at all, including visiting pets.  That way they can't get away with the line that it isn't their pet, it was just visiting.

I'd add that even bunnies in cages really stink.  We had a tenant who had snuck one in and she got busted when the owner (who did his own maintenance) was tossing out the garbage over the weekend (no pickup on weekends and he'd throw the garbage bags into the back of his truck to haul to a different property with a dumpster he owned) and he caught the odor and opened up a bag to find rabbit cage sawdust and droppings - and a receipt with the tenant's name on it.

She chose to leave, and it took a while to get the smell out of there.  We didn't see any damage to the floors, but just a bad odor, especially in her closet, which is where she apparently was hiding the cage.

Account Closed · Answer

@Michael Peters no ferrets. Ever. Fish are welcome as long as they don’t need water. Cats are right next door to unwelcome for me too.. never met a dog that would piss inside just to be an arsehole but cats sure seem to enjoy it.

6.28 		The Tenant covenants that water beds and aquariums will not be allowed on the premises unless full insurance coverage is provided and proof of the same is supplied to the Landlord and written consent is given by the Landlord.

Kelly N. · Answer

We allow cats (up to two) with an increased security deposit.  Our deposit is normally one month's rent, we do 1.5x monthly rent with cats (which is the max for Michigan).   Cats can do a lot of damage- scratching trim, peeing, etc.  but I'd be missing out on a lot of great tenants if we banned them.  We have been replacing all carpet with hardwood or laminate, and found that Odor Xit helps eliminate any lingering odor issues we've encountered.

I don't like charging a fee monthly, or a specific pet fee/ deposit, in my experience these added payments make some tenants think that any damage caused by their animal is covered by these fees.

We don't allow dogs since I don't want to deal with barking dog complaints, dog poop in the yard, or growling dogs when I am fixing things, inspecting, or showing the apartment.  Critters that gnaw on things are a hard no, I'd be ok with a small fish tank or lizards or something, but will take that on a case by case basis.

Do you prohibit any types of animals on your property?

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