Tenant asked to add a dog to the house hold

[Michael P.]

Hi all,

My long term tenant has asked what I thought about adding a dog to the household.  My lease agreement states no pets, certainly I can add an addendum.  What are landlords requesting from the tenant if they approve adding a pet, is it higher rent, is a non refundable fee, is it a deposit of some sort.  Side note, good tenants, good be very long term tenants so I want to make them happy.  Property is in NJ.

Thoughts?

[Nathan Gesner]

If you outright reject pets, there's a very good chance they will sneak one in or they will get a doctor to write up a letter prescribing an emotional support animal. It's better to allow pets but have some controls in place and monetize it.

I highly recommend petscreening.com to screen the animals. It requires a picture, age, weight, breed, shot records, etc. You can also set it up to give a "paw score" of 1-5 that can be used to quickly determine the level of risk, then you can charge accordingly. For example, a 6-month-old Pit Bull is higher risk than a 4-year-old Chihuahua. The former may be charged a $500 deposit, $100 a month rent, and they have to carry insurance with bite protection, whereas the latter is charged a $100 deposit and $25 a month.

Remember this: deposits are refundable; fees and rent are not.

I prefer rent increases or fees because you pocket them if the animals are good or they can be applied towards cleaning/repairs if not. One room can cost $1,000 or more to replace carpet so keep that in mind when calculating how much you want.

I would also point out that I manage about 200 rentals with animals and cannot remember the last time a tenant's deposit did not cover the damage caused by animals. It's a profit center if you're careful with it.