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I'm moving out of my rental right now (large house) and there have been several showings the past few weeks.
Luckily I'm home during all of them, because one family brought their three children, and while their parents were downstairs, the children were pawing through my video game systems and opening up the game cases, etc. The parents just shrugged their shoulders when I asked them to please watch their children.
I would have yelled AT THE KIDS .. Honestly those folks would let their kids steal if you werent there .. I would have tossed a major fit and told them to send thier brats outside to the car .. AND I would have ripped the LL who brought them a new one for not telling those people to leave the kids outside ..
This is why LL should wait to show .. what if a kid broke a personal item while the parents were looking at the house .. or stole something .. ( adults got sticky fingers as well but kids just take and no one says crap to them usually)
I would have yelled AT THE KIDS .. Honestly those folks would let their kids steal if you werent there .. I would have tossed a major fit and told them to send thier brats outside to the car .. AND I would have ripped the LL who brought them a new one for not telling those people to leave the kids outside ..
This is why LL should wait to show .. what if a kid broke a personal item while the parents were looking at the house .. or stole something .. ( adults got sticky fingers as well but kids just take and no one says crap to them usually)
I did kind of scare the crap out of them by barking "that's not yours, where are your parents"
This is one of the reasons I am always here when they show the house. I have a lot of expensive electronics and a lot of people have sticky fingers.
I would have yelled AT THE KIDS .. Honestly those folks would let their kids steal if you werent there .. I would have tossed a major fit and told them to send thier brats outside to the car .
AND I would have ripped the LL who brought them a new one for not telling those people to leave the kids outside ..
I wouldn't have been very happy if someone's kids were going through my things either, don't get me wrong, but how do you turn it in to the LL's fault?
How does a LL or PM or homeowner tactfully do that anyway? Say, "your kids look like thieves/you don't look like responsible parents so let's play it safe and I'll show one adult in at a time while the other waits outside with the kids?"
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This is why LL should wait to show .. what if a kid broke a personal item while the parents were looking at the house .. or stole something .. ( adults got sticky fingers as well but kids just take and no one says crap to them usually)
Wait for what, until a property/unit is vacant? There is a reason properties are shown while they are still occupied: to minimize/eliminate vacancy in order to avoid loss of income.
I wouldn't have been very happy if someone's kids were going through my things either, don't get me wrong, but how do you turn it in to the LL's fault?
How does a LL or PM or homeowner tactfully do that anyway? Say, "your kids look like thieves/you don't look like responsible parents so let's play it safe and I'll show one adult in at a time while the other waits outside with the kids?"
Wait for what, until a property/unit is vacant? There is a reason properties are shown while they are still occupied: to minimize/eliminate vacancy in order to avoid loss of income.
After the parents, I blame the Realtor. They should be making sure no one is going through my stuff - or asking that kids are with parents during the showing. My LL really has no control over the situation.
Sometimes the pet rent is added on to the normal rent. $250 divided by 12 months is $20.80. so they might not say pet rent but just add on $20 or $30 a month. That can happen too.
I recently overheard a young lady mention to another person that she and her so have no expectation of getting their security deposit back as they have dogs and ya know.
It saddened me to realize they felt that their security deposit was basically a license to damage the rental. It didn't sound like there was a pet deposit for pet damage over and above human damage. The poor landlord will probably find damages over and above the deposit with that attitude.
Why is that a negative attitude? In my experience, the places I have rented at eat the entire deposit even if your pet has done little damage to the apartment.
I wouldn't have been very happy if someone's kids were going through my things either, don't get me wrong, but how do you turn it in to the LL's fault?
How does a LL or PM or homeowner tactfully do that anyway? Say, "your kids look like thieves/you don't look like responsible parents so let's play it safe and I'll show one adult in at a time while the other waits outside with the kids?"
Wait for what, until a property/unit is vacant? There is a reason properties are shown while they are still occupied: to minimize/eliminate vacancy in order to avoid loss of income.
Heres the deal.. MOST LL open the door and say walk thru and they dont stay with the people and if those people bring kids the kids are allowed to scatter .. SO YES its the LL fault they should tell the people to leave the kids home or take turns watching the kids in the yard as the other does a walk thru with the LL or Realter .. I have no problem with telling people that messing with my boxes or my eletronics or my kids stuff to not touch that its not part of the house ..I think its simple carelessness on the LL part but they are to afraid of upsettinga possible tenant .. and I do understand thier pov BUT since many folks & their feral children are sticky fingered jacka$$'s then I refuse to leave the place for showings ( and repairs )
Heres the deal.. MOST LL open the door and say walk thru and they dont stay with the people and if those people bring kids the kids are allowed to scatter .. SO YES its the LL fault they should tell the people to leave the kids home or take turns watching the kids in the yard as the other does a walk thru with the LL or Realter .. I have no problem with telling people that messing with my boxes or my eletronics or my kids stuff to not touch that its not part of the house ..I think its simple carelessness on the LL part but they are to afraid of upsettinga possible tenant .. and I do understand thier pov BUT since many folks & their feral children are sticky fingered jacka$$'s then I refuse to leave the place for showings ( and repairs )
Alrighty then!
I'm a LL and I certainly do not let anyone walk through a unit (occupied or not) without me leading them through. So the concept of a LL just letting anyone in to walk around an occupied unit is foreign to me.
When I'm a buyer my RE has let us in an walk around by ourselves, but he knows us & our children well enough to know that we don't play like that. 99% of the time I'll sit in the car with the kids anyway - not worth the hassle - and once my husband has his look, I'll run in and he'll sit with the kids.
I charge a non-refundable pet fee and this is why.
Pets cause additional wear and tear on the house and yard. I can not deduct from the deposit for wear and tear. I can only deduct for actual damage.
So what you're saying is that you use this as a loophole to circumvent the spirit of the rental laws in your jurisdiction?
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Originally Posted by thatswanlady
Bringing this back because I was talking to a friend of mine about this recently.
I have had animals in every place I've rented in my adult life -- at first it was two cats, then two cats + dog. In every single place, I have been expected to pay a non-refundable pet deposit, ranging from $250-400. I haven't encountered any pet rent, though I have heard of it. I've been fine paying the deposit in every place, and you know why? I don't own the property. The landlord/property manager has no reason to believe that my animals are any less destructive than their prior tenants who had animals that ravaged the place.
We're responsible pet owners. We keep our cats' litterbox scooped and changed regularly, and I have thick plastic mats underneath it in case of "spillage." Our dog is housebroken, trained and, frankly, pretty lazy unless she smells cheese. In our current place, we have thick utility-style rugs that line a path from the back door to the living room to help prevent dirt from getting tracked onto the carpet, plus we wipe her paws.
But again, it doesn't matter. We don't own this house (yet), and our landlord shouldn't take our word for it that our pets aren't terrors. If you want to have your pets in a place you don't own, it is a reasonable expectation that you will have to pay more for the -- yes, for the privilege. I agree with a previous poster that some children should also come with required deposits because I have seen the damage they can do, but you know, federal law trumps that!
If you want to set your own pet rules, buy a house. If not, you have to live by someone else's.
My response to this is simple. Requesting additional security deposit to cover potential damages caused by a pet is perfectly reasonable.
Deposit being the key word there.
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In our current place, we have thick utility-style rugs that line a path from the back door to the living room to help prevent dirt from getting tracked onto the carpet, plus we wipe her paws. 
