Rent with pets (credit report, record, landlords, contractors)
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Exactly. Just like some tenants vandalize or otherwise tear up a landlord's house. Or landlords don't do necessary repairs when the tenant is paying them a lot of rent.
You again. Yeah, the higher the rent the less likely I am to do necessary repairs. I love the way it really messes with people's heads when they discover they would have gotten better service if they paid me less rent.
I do all repairs, necessary or not, because it is MY house, and as a valuable business asset it is extremely important to me that all my houses stay in excellent condition, because I expect to get premium rent and the only way I can get that is by having top quality properties.
After purchasing and before renting I have gone through every house and fixed every item that was anything less than perfect. I started out with my house inspection from when I purchased the property, and then I continue on with appearance items including super-cleaning. I make certain that everything is working properly, all fans are in good condition with working remotes, swimming pool filters operating properly and pools crystal clear. And then I get my rental agent in to critique my job and start out with a new list of what I missed. By the time you see my house as a prospective tenant the house looks almost new, and it is in perfect condition and as clean as it can possibly be. Clean sells!
I have home warranties on all my houses, and a handy man on call, and all my tenants have both my home number, cell number and email to request repairs. I can handle an emergency in 24 hours, less if it's a super emergency, and my home warranty can handle anything within 3 days maximum.
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Originally Posted by Scooby Snacks
That's not true at all. Well behaved pets are just that: well behaved. They don't necessarily cause damage. Thus, the landlord who takes nonrefundable deposits is in essence taking money they don't deserve from the tenants. If the pet does damage, I agree that the landlord deserves the money to make repairs. So the landlord should charge a REFUNDABLE pet deposit, just like the regular deposit is refundable.
Well behaved pets are owned by delusional people who believe their pets are well behaved. All dogs and cats leave fur and dander, and many leave odors. Even my own dog makes mistakes in my house when I am gone too long. I'm never mad at him and clean up the mess and thank my good fortune that I am the guardian of such a cute furry creature that I love so much. He is 16 now and does it more frequently, but every year he gets older I love him more. I will be crushed some day when he is gone.
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Originally Posted by Scooby Snacks
If the landlord took a nonrefundable human tenant deposit, I assure you, he/she would land his/her way into court lickety split.
Oh, I didn't mention my $250 non-refundable human cleaning deposit. If you rented from me, although that would never happen because I would recognize you from your nasty demeanor, you would do well to have your lickety split ready to lose in court, and also please have your money ready to pay my counter suit to cover my court and legal expenses.
Oh, and also, my leases require tenant to have carpets professionally cleaned at their expense, and to present me with the receipt as proof they have complied with their contractual obligations. I mentioned this part because I'm sure you will attack it in your next rant.
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Originally Posted by Scooby Snacks
Sure, the landlord can tell the tenant a reason, but it would be complete hooey, just like the nonrefundable pet deposit is
Funny, the word "hooey" well describes your posts. I predict a long future for you at being on the losing end of discussions at C-D until you lose the bad attitude.
If landlords could also discriminate against kids, they probably would lol! But, you can't put a 25 pound limit on children, or advertise for only children 7 years old and up, or only potty trained children.
But, landlords CAN legally do this with pets.
Landlords have these rules to minimize their risk of damages they may not be able to collect from a tenant. Your pet may be the exception to the damage rule, but it's like getting an insurance quote - what are the risks?
In CA landlords can't have any non-refundable fees...
I like children and I think a family of good parents and well behaved children is a beautiful thing to see, but I wouldn't rent to families with children under 10 except for the law -- FHA -- requires me to. It's not that I don't like smaller kids, it's that the potential liability scares the hell out of me, particularly since all my properties have pools.
Pools and unsupervised children do not mix well, even though parents who allow small children near water without constant supervision are child abusers in my opinion. Same thing as leaving your kid alone in a parked car on a hot day with all the windows closed.
This is why I pay over $1,000/year per house to get a $1 million liability policy. And I'm still scared to death.
And California's tenant friendly laws and anti-business climate are the exact reason my rentals are in Arizona, a landlord friendly state.
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Originally Posted by ConeyGirl52
The breeds are not trouble some, even if they are large indoor dogs. If they are well mannered, and truely house broken, Id give them a shot.
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All those breeds mentioned are good with people - not necessarily always good with other dogs. I have a friend who has had 2 tenants practically destroy their apartments. In both cases, there were no pets. Its probably for the best that there were no pets.
By the way, I've made exceptions to my 25# rule when the prospective tenant contacted me and described the situation and convinced me the dog wouldn't be a problem.
Funny though, the tenant with a 95# mastiff just could not accept that I refused to consider their application due to the size of the dog. A dog breed knowledgeable friend told me that 195# is a more likely size although I understand females are smaller, maybe 120# fully grown. I expect this was not a fully grown dog.
I joked with my Realtor, "Sure, we can accept that tenant ... if she doesn't mind me cutting it up into 25# chunks!" No I wasn't serious, and no the applicant wasn't told this.
Hmm... How much does a chain saw cost?
Last edited by Lovehound; 07-19-2014 at 10:25 AM..
Lovehound is right on a lot of things. Pets are one of them. My rentals do not accept pets of any kind! I love animals. I have had pets most of my life, but my rentals are a business. They are not only repaired, but renovated between tenants to provide a nice living space to tenants, continued/increasing property value to my homes and command the top end of fair rent prices.
Animals no matter how large or small can do expensive damage. Yes, dog with the nails scratching up floors, window ledges from jumping up to see through the windows, glass doors from jumping on them to be let in or out, other doors in general, biting the edges of counters... blah blah blah...
What's the worst? Pet urine of any type: it goes below the carpet & padding and the subfloor into the concrete below.
GUESS WHAT? You have to jackhammer that concrete out to get the smell out because concrete is so absorbent. So it NEVER goes away unless you do all of that.
You think that itty bitty non-refundable pet deposit of a couple hundred bucks is enough to cover all that work? LOL! That won't even cover the carpet repair.
So even a pet fish in a small tank can do enough stinky fish water damage to cause very expensive repairs that tenants cannot seem to fathom could be that much money.
Not just the damage, it's the smell of the animals that can linger for years. What about future tenants that may be highly allergic or sensitive? Why should I lose them because somebody had to have a pet before them. No, paint and deep cleaning don't always work. I have one house I am still trying to get the smell of dog out of after 10 years and the dog was there before I ever bought the house. Every surface was painted several times, baseboard heat cleaned thoroughly, professional cleaning/buffing of wood floors then fresh carpet over that. It's still there.
So, um, yeah, no pets ever. I'm am in the majority of landlords around by area. They are too costly and tenants do not have enough to cover the damage - even if you win in court, it doesn't mean you will see any of that $ back.
Tenants never understand because they have never had to pay the true cost of repairing a home because of these things. Outdoor dogs, lol.
I get plenty of decent tenants with good credit without pets. I don't begrudge anyone their pets, but not in my rentals.
Lovehound is right on a lot of things. Pets are one of them. My rentals do not accept pets of any kind! I love animals. I have had pets most of my life, but my rentals are a business. They are not only repaired, but renovated between tenants to provide a nice living space to tenants, continued/increasing property value to my homes and command the top end of fair rent prices.
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I get plenty of decent tenants with good credit without pets. I don't begrudge anyone their pets, but not in my rentals.
Thank you for the compliment Morris. I hate to be the one to tell you, but you DO accept pets if they are guide animals etc. But then FHA more or less states that guide animals are not pets so it's just maybe semantics. But when somebody with a guide dog applies to rent to you, you had better have a pretty good other reason to reject their application.
Myself, "lied on application" is my favorite, although bad credit is a close second. I have my rental criteria all ready if anybody ever inquires, and one of my rejection criteria is FICO 600 minimum.
I've hated to turn down some otherwise very attractive prospects but no way will I vastly diverge from my criteria. I state 25# even knowing there are dogs even several pounds that can do a lot of damage. I sometimes bend that policy a bit depending on the animal.
Fact is, it would cost me a lot in rent lost to vacancies if I rejected all pets. Seems like most families have them. All I can do is try to keep it in control by understanding the breed, size, age, gender and spayed/neutered status of dogs I accept. And no cats! Not even if you dress it up like a dog!
I do have the choice to reject all pets (except assistance animals as defined in FHA/ADA) but it's not a practical choice for me or I would lose too much money to vacancies.
Hey, one of the worst things I hate about landlording is the necessity of prying into people's lives. I just hate that. I don't want to know that stuff. I don't want to know about their bad debts and FICO lower than their body temperature and their convictions. That was one thing that never occurred to me before I got into it. It feels to me like going through somebody's underwear drawer, particularly if that's where they store their power tools!
What are the disadvantages in renting my house to someone with 2 outdoor dogs?
5 yrs old, 50 LBS mixed (husky-lab) and a 2 yrs old , 60LBS Golden Retriever
The house is completely renovated don't want to take my chances without knowing much about it since I've never had pets before.
Just say no if you want your house to stay in the current condition it's in. You won't be able to collect a large enough deposit to fix the potential damage these dogs can do
You can't be positive that they will be outside 24/7. You also run the risk of having damage inside and out. You run the risk of the neighbors calling you and complaining about these dogs barking at all hours, being fence aggressive or even roaming the streets.
I think if you have to ask a forum full of strangers what you should do, you shouldn't do it.
There is no possible way those dogs will not enter the house at some point, even frequently. "Outside" dogs spend much of their time outside, but there is no assurance they won't be inside ever.
I won't classify dogs as outside and inside. Dogs are dogs. Period.
Thank you for the compliment Morris. I hate to be the one to tell you, but you DO accept pets if they are guide animals etc. But then FHA more or less states that guide animals are not pets so it's just maybe semantics. But when somebody with a guide dog applies to rent to you, you had better have a pretty good other reason to reject their application.
Myself, "lied on application" is my favorite, although bad credit is a close second. I have my rental criteria all ready if anybody ever inquires, and one of my rejection criteria is FICO 600 minimum.
I've hated to turn down some otherwise very attractive prospects but no way will I vastly diverge from my criteria. I state 25# even knowing there are dogs even several pounds that can do a lot of damage. I sometimes bend that policy a bit depending on the animal.
Fact is, it would cost me a lot in rent lost to vacancies if I rejected all pets. Seems like most families have them. All I can do is try to keep it in control by understanding the breed, size, age, gender and spayed/neutered status of dogs I accept. And no cats! Not even if you dress it up like a dog!
I do have the choice to reject all pets (except assistance animals as defined in FHA/ADA) but it's not a practical choice for me or I would lose too much money to vacancies.
Hey, one of the worst things I hate about landlording is the necessity of prying into people's lives. I just hate that. I don't want to know that stuff. I don't want to know about their bad debts and FICO lower than their body temperature and their convictions. That was one thing that never occurred to me before I got into it. It feels to me like going through somebody's underwear drawer, particularly if that's where they store their power tools!
Well, you are right about guide dogs. I certainly can't argue with that. However, 'lied/omitted information on application' is very easy to use because I have never - ever - had a an applicant fill out 100% of the rental application. I don't know why. It's much much less than I have to fill out for mortgage applications. They leave themselves open to being denied. I also have the rental criteria set and applied fairly across the board, but when they give me so much to work with to deny them, it's very easy not having any animals around. Plus I have to think of my other renters and their allergies. I will argue that a renter already in place takes precedence over someone who wants to move in with a service animal. That would be just as unfair to the renter already there. I seem to end up with just as many inquiries from people who want a 'pet-free' environment because of noise/allergies as I do from people with pets. I have been considering buying a rental that would be 'pet-friendly', but I am not convinced yet. It would cost way more in maintenance to keep up the same level of 'nice-ness' and the return on investment is lacking for me.
You are again right about the necessity of knowing private financial things about renter's lives. I would prefer not knowing thank you very much. I end up knowing more about the renter's financial lives than I do from buyer's trying to buy my house. Yet, doing so is the only protection a landlord has to see if the payment is likely to be forthcoming. Over time, it does become pure business. I just run the numbers and see if they can handle the rental based on the rental criteria. I guess it has become like doctors looking at people's tonsils. All look alike and only looking for issues.
At least you tend to forget the details after a while. And the more applicants you've looked over the more they all blur together.
I'm always looking for the ideal renter but at the same time knowing that is a rare breed. It does help however if they make some blunder that leaves you an easy way out. Like the guy who answered "have you ever been arrested: no" and then I pull his credit and background and he has several arrests. He sends his Realtor who forwards to my Realtor who forwards to me, "I can't understand what it is except my DUI." Bang! Lied on application. Doesn't matter if he got convicted or not, he surely got arrested. The real reason I wanted to deny him was a worse arrest or conviction -- my background check doesn't say -- which led me to believe he has a hot temper and has no respect for other people including family, if you get my drift.
But I loved the way he breached his own privacy via him-Realtor-Realtor-me by admitting the DUI in an email. Hoist by his own petard, and no need for me to violate his privacy rights.
I don't like renting to pets but market practicalities say I must, in my market. But if I have two equal tenants and one with pets, the other gets the property. I prefer to not rent to families with kids under 10, due to liability, but FHA says I must, so I hunker down and rent it unless they made some blunder on their application or have bad credit or something.
"Outside" dogs are a problem. They can bark incessantly and annoy the neighbors. They will destroy the landscaping of the area within which they are fenced. In addition, it's cruel to keep a dog outside all the time. They WANT to be with their people, and the weather is not always favorable. So either they're being abused, and always outside, or they're in the house some or most of the time. Either way, the yard is ruined. They might chew on the wood and scratch up the wood in the house, too. If they're not indoor dogs, when they are inside they may urinate and defecate, since the house is not their area. I would much rather rent to people who have an older, calm dog, no matter what size, that lives with them in the house, than rent to people with young "outside" dogs.
"Outside" dogs are a problem. They can bark incessantly and annoy the neighbors. They will destroy the landscaping of the area within which they are fenced. In addition, it's cruel to keep a dog outside all the time. They WANT to be with their people, and the weather is not always favorable. So either they're being abused, and always outside, or they're in the house some or most of the time. Either way, the yard is ruined. They might chew on the wood and scratch up the wood in the house, too. If they're not indoor dogs, when they are inside they may urinate and defecate, since the house is not their area. I would much rather rent to people who have an older, calm dog, no matter what size, that lives with them in the house, than rent to people with young "outside" dogs.
And all that comes out of the tenant's security deposit, and a lawsuit if the deposit is not sufficient.
Life has consequences.
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Yeah, the higher the rent the less likely I am to do necessary repairs. I love the way it really messes with people's heads when they discover they would have gotten better service if they paid me less rent.
