Tenant with cat, fees and damage protection

[Roy Gutierrez]

Hi guys,

I'm about to rent a house to a couple, a guy AND a cat. Well, we verbally agreed to an amount and again, since I was going sooo fast since I had eliminated the initial person I picked and was trying to get them in asap so I forgot to mention any fees for the cat after we verbally agreed to all the fees. To late to add a monthly fee for the cat, I already threw a number and have to stick with that, I imagine I can do a refundable pet deposit, maybe $300? Was reading here maybe that could give an incentive for the tenant to take care of the cat.

How about protection against extensive damage caused by the cat? Can I add a clause in the contract that damages caused by the cat that surpass the security deposit will be charged to the tenant? or something to that effect, is it legal to do that?

Thanks.

[Mark Bookhagen]

I won't rent to people with cats (or dogs). They can destroy your property much more than a security deposit or pet deposit can cover. I know it's too late this time. It cost me $15k to rehab a cat unit. Never again. :)