Two Trips to the Humane Society

How involved do you get in approving pets to live in your properties?

Normally our pet owners are tenants moving in with existing pets. That is pretty easy, we meet the applicant and the animal in front of the house, I photograph the pet, and it hops back in the vehicle.

Once we had savvy pet people talk to us with plenty of lead time and we went to the breeder to see and photograph the pet before it moved in.

This week, however, I have been to the Humane Society twice. 

Our tenant recently moved in a roommate, as an authorized occupant. The authorized occupant contacted us from the Humane Society that she wanted a pet. No lead time, no indication that she has ever been a responsible pet owner, and she is not even on the rental agreement. Seems like a spur of the moment whim.

When I arrived at the Humane Society several hours later, they explained that the two Pomeranians that she had picked out were in need of thousands of dollars of dental work and the staff told her that they were not comfortable with the adoption, so she was wasting my time.

I wrote a long e-mail to our tenant, explaining our pet policy, our rules that she would be agreeing to, and that she is solely financially responsible for any damage the pet does and the $150 pet deposit is rarely enough to cover the damage pets normally do.

The very next day the authorized occupant again contacted us, had a terrier on hold at the Humane Society. I told her I’d get there in about 2 days. I was thinking a midsized wiry terrier. What I found was a huge wired up pitbull looking dog. Ugh.

Another e-mail to the tenant. I told her I wasn’t thrilled with it, but would approve it if SHE really wanted it. She wrote back and said “she tore up the yard when we took her for a walk, does that make you uncomfortable?” I wrote back “That should make YOU uncomfortable, you would be paying to replace the yard.” She wrote back and said that they were done pet shopping.

I asked the employees at the Humane Society if they see any other landlords.  They said no, but thought it was a good idea.