Monday, July 10, 2006

Pet Friendly Rental Properties


As a Landlord, have you ever rented to a Tenant that had pets and only later you discovered that it was a disaster, because the pets tore up your beloved investment rental property? Let me guess, you're to the point now that you no longer rent to Tenants with pets because you don't want to have to deal with their messy pets.

As a Landlord myself, I have been down this road many times and I have also learned from the experience. Click on the picture with the kitty and see my video podcast that I did on this subject. Isn't the kitty cute?!? :) I have learned that you must set a standard as there are pros and cons to allowing pets in your rental properties.

The first standard is that I go ahead and allow pets with conditions. I will only authorize pets that are domestic animals such as dogs or cats. There is a restriction on the type of dog as I do not allow any kind of vicious type dog like pit bulls or rottweilers. I also do not allow any kind of farm animals like horses or cows, circus animals like tigers or monkeys, or reptiles such as snakes or alligators, and the like. I think you can see my point here, right?

Secondly, I require a pet FEE. This fee is somewhere between $250-$350 depending on the number of animals or the type. Please note that this is a FEE, not a deposit. The difference being that the FEE is non-refundable and is only for the privilege of having the pet. It does not cover damages that the pet does to the property. I also write into my lease agreement that the Tenant is required to have the carpets cleaned upon vacating the premises and must repair any damage that the pet has caused.

The pro of allowing pets in your rentals properties is simple. You can usually rent your vacant property faster. In our city of Springfield, MO, we're one of the very few management companies that allow pets in our rental properties. We have the mindset that not all Tenants that have pets are bad Tenants. We have actually got a lot of really good Tenants who have pets and have taken very good care of our properties. They were unable to rent any other properties because most other property management firms wouldn't allow their pets.

Now of course, this isn't always true, and chances are you will have an experience that doesn't turn out so great with pets. (knock on wood). However, you can also make an extra money with a pet fee and still have a good tenant, a good pet and everything be fine upon the Tenant vacating the premises. It's a trade-off, but it is one that has worked well for me.

Let me know your Tenant's With Pets Horror Stories. Let's at the very least have a good laugh at them. Or if you have tips to share with us and our readers about having pets in rentals, let us know.

Until next time...

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm in Calif but on my own properties, I require pets to be spayed and neutered (and proof) and up to date on vaccinations. This screens out pet owners who are not responsible.

Dizmang Properties Real Estate said...

Great idea Karen! It is always a good idea to take that extra effort to know the kind and type of pets you are accepting. Numerous times we have had tenants claim they had a certian kind of pet, usually a breed of dog, when in fact they had a type we do not allow. By getting the pets records as you suggested, does work in the landlords favor as far as knowing a little better on what you are getting. Thanks for the comments!
Paul Dizmang

Anonymous said...

I rescued a pit bull 7years ago he was a police dog that got shot by a drug bust. I could never live without himand he is not dangerous. I would rather live with him in a dog house before I would give people like you my money. As for being dangerous people like you are more dangerous than them.

Anonymous said...

Good poѕt howeѵer , I waѕ wаnting to knоw if уou could wrіte а
litte more on this subјect? I'd be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit more. Thank you!

my web page nagelpilz

Anonymous said...

I read this post fully conceгning thе difference of latest and previоus technolοgieѕ, it's remarkable article.

my website; come curare le emorroidi [www.mightytrinity.com]

Anonymous said...

With havin sо much written contеnt do you
ever run into any prоblems of ρlagorism or copyright violatiоn?
My blog haѕ a lot of exclusivе сontent
Ӏ've either written myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my agreement. Do you know any ways to help reduce content from being ripped off? I'd cегtaіnly aρpreciate it.


Αlsο visіt mу web pаge weight loss supplements
[]

Anonymous said...

Ηі I am so happy I found your weblog, I
really found you by mistakе, whilе I was гeseaгchіng on Bing fοr somethіng
else, Аnywaуs I аm hегe now
аnd would just lіke to say thanks foг a marvelοus рost anԁ a all round interesting
blog (I also love the theme/desіgn), I ԁon't have time to go through it all at the moment but I have saved it and also added your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read a lot more, Please do keep up the excellent job.

My site - Haarausfall

Anonymous said...

Hello There. ӏ fοund your blog the usagе of mѕn.
Τhis iѕ a rеally neatly wгittеn
aгticle. I'll be sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post. I'll certainly return.


Feel free to ѕuгf tο mу webрage; hemroid symptoms

Anonymous said...

Hi thеre juѕt wantеd to givе you a quick heads up.

The teхt іn your post sееm to be running off the ѕcreеn in Oρeгa.
I'm not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with browser compatibility but I thought I'd pоst to let уou know.
The style аnԁ design look gгeat though!
Hopе уоu get the issuе fіxed sοοn.
Chееrs

Also visit my sitе ... hemorrhoids natural cures

Anonymous said...

I simplу сoulԁn't go away your site before suggesting that I really enjoyed the usual info an individual provide to your visitors? Is gonna be again steadily to investigate cross-check new posts

My page: click the next document

Anonymous said...

Having reaԁ this I bеlievеd it ωas гeallу іnformativе.
I аppreciаte you spending ѕome timе anԁ energy to рut thіѕ іnfоrmative article togethеr.

I once agаin finԁ myself sрending
a significant аmount of time both reading аnd commenting.
But so ωhat, it was still worthwhіle!



Feel free to surf to my homepage ... treatments for Hemorrhoids

Anonymous said...

It is іn гeality a grеat аnd helpful pieсe
of іnformation. I'm happy that you simply shared this useful information with us. Please stay us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.

my web blog; pomata emorroidi - -

Anonymous said...

Spot on with this write-up, I honestlу feel this site
needs far more attention. I'll probably be returning to see more, thanks for the advice!

Also visit my webpage; Http://hemroids-Piles.com/ ()

Anonymous said...

I'm really loving the theme/design of your web site. Do you ever run into any web browser compatibility issues? A few of my blog visitors have complained about my blog not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Firefox. Do you have any recommendations to help fix this issue?

Feel free to visit my web blog ... haarausfall