Tenant has 4 dogs and wants living room and hallway carpets replaced with vinyl

[Gualter Amarelo]

I bought a 3 family apartment about 5 months ago. When I purchased it the house the 2 townhouse units (2west and 2east) were vacant and I had a tenant on the first floor apt which is a 3 bd unit with a little over 1,000 square feet. When I got the house under contract he had 2 dogs, a bishon and boxer. When I closed there were 3 dogs... I guess the two had puppies and they kept one... At the time we signed a TAW because I wasn't sure I wanted this tenant for a full year. He had mentioned that the carpets had two runs in them in the hallway (these are commercial berber) and I told him that I would have to look into the cost of replacing it and that I couldn't address the issue until I had finished renovating the 2 vacant units seeing as I had just purchased the house and needed to get some revenue coming in. Fast forward 5 months. I'm living in one of the units and I've rented the other. He has mentioned the carpets to me numerous times and I have noticed that there are more runs than there were initially (mind you while I was building storage units in the basement I could hear the dogs running back and forth and skidding on the carpets for hours). Another issue is that he lost his job and has paid me the rent late 2 months in a row. January he paid on the 9th and February he paid on the 14th. It's frustrating but I let it slide although I did inform him that I would follow the process if I didn't see it by the 14th... Anyway... so now I've been noticing a forth person and a forth dog living in the unit! My rental agreement clearly states that I can charge additional rent for additional adults and that pets are not allowed without my expressed permission. My other tenant (in 2East) has made complaints about all of the barking every time they walk into the house, and i have to admit that it bothers me and my wife just as much. To thicken the plot... most recently he come to me with a quote from a flooring company. He had they measure the living room and hallway for vinyl and the quote came back for $3,000.00 which is an expensive route because they have to lay down plywood over the particle board. My thoughts are this:

1. I could carpet his entire apt for less than $2000, but the dogs are going to ruin it, because they are not house broken in the least. I hear my tenant complain all the time about the messes they leave on the carpets (which is why he wants vinyl)

2. I could suck up the expense for the vinyl and keep the tenant happy, and increase their rent $50 for the adult and $25 for the dog. Bringing rent from $750 to $825 ( as a side note, the unit was evaluated in it's current condition to rent for $800 at the time of closing)

3. I could refuse to replace the floor based on the extraneous cost and ask them to get rid of the dogs or find another place to live.

I am not emotionally attached to the tenant, but I do believe that there is a right way to do everything and I want to make sure that I am being a good reasonable landlord and at the same time I want for these units to be turning a good profit and to be a good investment for my future. I enjoy landlording and maintaining my properties, so I want to do this right so I can move forward, but I'm not convinced that this is the right tenant for me. What are my best options?