All Forum Posts by: Constantia Petrou

Thank you all for your feedback! I have weighed all points of view and I agree that the lease is most important but I also feel that reason in implementing the lease is also critical. If the visiting dog was a huge animal or if it were to visit for several days then I would not have allowed it according to the lease. However, a 10 lb dog visit for a day (and not staying over night) combined with reasonable, responsible tenants who respect my rules is a situation where I feel I could make a reasonable exception to the lease and keep happy tenants who will likely stay longer and continue to disclose any actions that would need my permission rather than doing as they please behind my back. (The tenants could have simply had the dog visit without my permission and there would be no way for me to know that- they chose to disclose and ask for permission which indicates they are respectful of our rules). I did insist on the updated vet report to allow the small dog visit and they did provide it.

I should also mention that we do have a security deposit with these tenants as well as renter's insurance

Hello,

Tenants who recently moved into my Class A property have asked if a friend who is visiting for the weekend can bring his dog in the house. Our tenants have one dog who seems well behaved and with an up to date vaccination record. Our lease doe not allow visiting animals on the property. We made an exception and said we will allow the visiting dog for the weekend if they can provide his vaccination report. I just received the report and the visiting dog's vaccines are past due. How would you handle this? I'm thinking to let it go since these tenants seem good and respectful. Any additional thoughts?

Thank you

Hello everyone,

We are reviewing an applicant for our rental property and everything was looking great until I heard from our insurance that the prospective tenants' English/American Bulldog is not covered. The people seem great and are very qualified but obviously we cannot accommodate an animal that is not covered by our insurance. However, is there any renters' insurance that the tenant can obtain that will cover the bulldog based on animal history as opposed to based on breed? And if renters' insurance covers the dog then what is the order of payment for any potential damage- eg whose insurance kicks in first, LL or tenant? What $ level coverage should we require tenant with a bulldog to get so that our insurance never has to kick in?

Thank you all for your feedback!

Yes, Marcia, 100% agree we are indeed in a chess game!  I am wondering, how would you handle such an ESA claim for a puppy or a dog that does not yet exist? I know there are companies out there that give letters to tenants to claim ESA status and get the puppies dogs in the house without extra fees. So, I'd appreciate any input on how you would handle a potential ESA request that is most likely bogus. Thanks!

Thank you to all for your input. I am not planning to sell any time soon. The investment is solid and I will wait it out per Noah's and Mary's comments. I ve had very positive experiences with my tenants so far. It is just this one property that has hit a rough patch in terms of applicants for some reason now (this was not the case in the past). Per Amit M. perhaps I haven't yet found that balance of firm vs personable in some new market conditions that I am trying to understand.

Hello,

I was wondering if any of you could share your experience with landlord burnout and how to manage it. I own several properties in the San Francisco Bay area and the tenant pool that has recently been attracted to one of my vacant properties has been utterly entitled- as evident from their visit all the way through to their references (in cases where we get to the application stage). I have reviewed and rejected more than 20 applicants because they are either unqualified financially or because they lie or disrespect boundaries through the property showing and application process showing that they would be nightmare tenants (overly demanding, combative and aggressive). I tried to delegate to an agent to put some distance from this highly entitled pool of candidates but that did not work. I found that the agent attracted financially unqualified people who thought they could squeeze through because the agent would get them in. On the other hand when I took over, I attracted financially overqualified people who thought they can lie, push boundaries and screw me since they assume that as a small landlord I'm naive.  The San Francisco bay area is extremely tenant friendly. Also, with the economy booming, people moving into the area for new jobs are now making double and triple their salary from what they were making before in other areas in the country. Both these factors are breeding extreme tenant entitlement which is causing me to feel burned out. Have any of you experienced burnout before and how did you manage it? Thank you all

Thank you all. Lynette and Bryan, great points! We do require renters insurance and we do have a list of tenant evaluation criteria and process in place. Of course  I would just rather not get involved in law suits and insurance claims. I do need to get more educated about breeds that are not covered by insurance.

Thank you, Thomas. We actually did end up turning the tenant down and we will make it clear in the future that no dogs under 1 yo. 

Hello,

I am considering an applicant who plans to get a puppy, vizsla, after he moves into our property. He is working with the breeder now and he said that when the right puppy is born that matches his family, they will be moving that puppy in. We do accept well behaved, trained dogs and our concern is that a few weeks old puppy will not be well-trained and ready to move into the house. We have asked to have some proof that the dog is fully trained and vaccinated and that we meet him/ her before moving in. Here is what the applicant said: "we can provide the list of vaccinations performed before we received the dog, contact information for our planned veterinarian and the puppies upcoming vet schedule. Before receiving the puppy, the breeder is expected to begin training the dog in several areas; potty training, crate training, exposure to people, car rides, surfaces and sounds. We fully expect the breeder to be a big part of our dogs life and do not think there will be any issues with either you contacting the breeder and vice versa. The breeder is in Carmichael CA. Meeting the puppy prior to it moving in may be difficult, as it would require driving to their home in Carmichael. Our breeder is highly respected in this breeds community"

Any experience you can share about accepting young puppies into your rentals would be appreciated and how to ensure my property is taken care of during such a transition (given that we cannot meet the dog before moving in) or if a puppy (most likely not fully trained) is a no-go.

Thank you all!