Landlords, why no pets? (Hilo, Papaikou: hardwood floors, real estate, apartments)

[TwoByFour]

Poor wording. Just ask. It cannot hurt and I don't see asking as deceptive.

[xxthinkpinkxo]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

We always list our rentals as 'no pets' but both of them have pets anyway. One has a big dog and a little dog, the other has a big dog, a little dog and a goat. The goat stays outside, at least.

In this market there's no reason to offer a rental to someone with pets and we're not renting houses for the benefit of the general public, the idea is to make money. Although one rental is to a friend and at about half of what it should be, so I guess we're not actually serious about the making money part.

So, you could mention to the landlord that you'd pay an extra $50 a month or so for the dog and that might get their attention. Otherwise, find a rental where you have references. Ask your friends if they know anyone, ask your co-workers, ask your landlord that's moving. If he's selling the property, does he want to sell it with a tenant in place?

Can you buy the property? Maybe he'd let you make payments on it instead of paying rent? If it's paid for, he could carry the paper on it and make all the interest that the bank would take.

Thanks for the information, this is really helpful. I haven't bothered much contacting "No Pets" rentals so maybe that would be worth doing. I certainly get the sense that property owners have their pick given the current rental market and there's not much incentive to rent to a dog owner -- which is much riskier -- when there's 10 other non-pet owners willing to rent. I totally understand that. It just leaves pet owners such as myself with very few options. Offering higher rent is a great idea. I appreciate that input.

My current landlord would certainly provide a reference. The issue has been getting a response at all though since the initial contact is usually through Craigslist.

And yes, I've considered buying, though there's a lot of responsibility that goes with that (maintenance and such) and I'm not sure I'm ready for that. To put it another way, I would not consider buying at this point in my life if it weren't for the current trouble renting with a dog. I haven't ruled it out though, and that just might make the most sense.

[xxthinkpinkxo]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

Start offering more money than the listed rental price - many have a price point they can't resist.

That's a good idea. I have no idea why I didn't think of that.

[xxthinkpinkxo]

Originally Posted by cfbs2691

OP I've got nothing.. but my heart goes out to you.

Couldn't you rent a small place and have a dog walker stop by while you're working?

Have you placed your own ad on Craigslist and other sites describing your situation/dog?
(Many people have rentals-don't advertise them, but respond to ads placed for people looking to rent.)
Have you talked to any of the local kennels to see if they have any ideas for pet friendly housing?

Good ideas. I've placed an ad on Craigslist but haven't gotten much response. I haven't talked to kennels around here though, yet.

[xxthinkpinkxo]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

We always list our rentals as 'no pets' but both of them have pets anyway. One has a big dog and a little dog, the other has a big dog, a little dog and a goat. The goat stays outside, at least.

In this market there's no reason to offer a rental to someone with pets and we're not renting houses for the benefit of the general public, the idea is to make money. Although one rental is to a friend and at about half of what it should be, so I guess we're not actually serious about the making money part.

So, you could mention to the landlord that you'd pay an extra $50 a month or so for the dog and that might get their attention. Otherwise, find a rental where you have references. Ask your friends if they know anyone, ask your co-workers, ask your landlord that's moving. If he's selling the property, does he want to sell it with a tenant in place?

Can you buy the property? Maybe he'd let you make payments on it instead of paying rent? If it's paid for, he could carry the paper on it and make all the interest that the bank would take.

As to the other questions -- he doesn't want a tenant in place, I'm not sure the reasoning but it's his decision. It's a unique set up -- I rent part of an ohana next to a main house -- and he's selling the whole thing together for around $600,000 which is far outside my price range.

[KauaiHiker]

I would ask him to consider letting you stay in the unit through the sale. Or at least up until a buyer with a signed offer indicates he doesn't want a tenant. Assuming your rent is close to market and you're a good tenant, dog and all, potential buyers should like the immediate income arrangement, without needing to refurbish and rent it out themselves. As part of the property selling process, it seems like having a good tenant has more upside than downside. You would have to be open to showing the property frequently on short notice to potential buyers, and you would need to sign a new lease with the eventual new owners.

[terracore]

"I guess I'd like to hear from folks who rent out ohanas, spare rooms, etc -- why it's always an automatic "No Pets?" Why not give a pet owner who seems OK, a chance? Just curious."

A friend of mine had a "no pets" policy but the renter sneaked them in. The urine not only destroyed the carpet, but also the flooring. It was $22k (twenty two thousand dollars) to rip everything out and replace it. The renter's $800 'deposit' didn't make a dent in the damage.

I'm sure your pet is awesome and would never do that, but unfortunately all the irresponsible pet owners that came before you ruined it for everybody who came after them. Usually the landlords who allow pets have properties that have already been trashed (and not really fixed up) or they live in the rare areas where there are high vacancy rates and they have no other choice but to "lower the bar" in what they are looking for in a rental contract. There are a few landlord gems in between, usually the landlords who haven't yet suffered a catastrophic financial loss due to somebody's pets, or ones that have construction that is cheaper to repair. Like if the house is built on slab they can rip the flooring out, scrub the concrete, apply a layer of Killz, and install new flooring, and recover from a bad pet owner for "only" 12k or so, if they do all the work themselves.

The last issue is allergies. For example if a future potential renter is deathly allergic to cats, there is no "clean up" one can do after a cat has been there to make it comfortable.

Lastly, I even hate to even post it on a public forum, but all you have to do is declare your animals "service animals" and the landlord can't refuse them.

[leilaniguy]

I had a woman who had two cats, stayed for 6 months and shredded my, (not cheap), furniture and several 4x4's in the walls of my all cedar ohana. I could have killed her. She came back the day after she left to claim her deposit. She was greeted with a "No Trespassing" sign, padlocked gate and a polite letter explaining why she was not allowed on the property and why she would be arrested if she tried and countersued if she filed suit, (I have photos, testimony from others, etc.) and telling her to "have a nice life.") She never called back.

[KauaiHiker]

Since we're sharing stories... I'm no longer a landlord, but when we had to move to the mainland for 2 years, we rented out our house. It had wood floors (Douglas fir?) in the living room and quality--but aged--carpet in the bedrooms. We are animal people and allowed 2 different renters with dogs. The first ones had 2 medium dogs and we didn't imagine how bad they would scratch up the old wood floors. It wasn't any real damage, just dog claws on wood, but they roughed it up badly. Still, the local manager gave back the deposit (since just wear and tear of dogs), so lesson learned.

The second tenant we allowed a small dog (floors already in bad shape, smaller dog can't hurt them more). We came back to Kauai to visit, tenant gave us permission to enter and even asked us to feed the dog since they were away for the night. No problem, until we found that the dog regularly pooped on the carpet in the bedroom. Tenants said it was always "dry" poop (carpet didn't actually look dirty) and they would steam clean it when they left. Regardless, before we moved back, my wife insisted on ripping out all the carpet, and then because there were old wood floors underneath, we had the 3 wood floors (over half the house) sanded down and refinished. Total labor and supplies was over 10K--at least we have nice wood floors in the bedrooms now.

[terracore]

Not to "dog pile" on the subject matter, but another thing is that in most states, landlords are not allowed to hold a tenant responsible for "wear and tear". That includes wear and tear caused by pets IF the landlord agreed to letting the tenant have them. So if the pets destroy the carpet with urine/feces/chewing, the landlord may be able to keep the $800 security deposit, but if the carpet pile was equally destroyed to the point requiring replacement by dog nails, can't keep the deposit. And what landlord wants to be out $5000 for replacing pet-damaged carpet when they could only be out "only" $4200 by keeping that deposit!

And then there is the damage to landscaping... new lawns can cost as much as new floors.