Allowing Pets in Rentals

[Michael Ciesielski]

What are people's thoughts of allowing tenants to have pets in their rentals? Also, I live in a city where it's more common to see someone with a pit bull than not; what are your thoughts of "aggressive" breeds?

[Nathan Gesner]

Pets can make you some serious money but you have to be smart about it. Here are a few tips to consider:

1. Screening. You should see a recent picture of the animal - preferably with the applicant - so you can verify size, breed, etc. I highly recommend petscreening.com because they will handle all of this for you at no cost to you. They also handle service animals, which is another Landlord nightmare.

2. Fees. I don't recommend a refundable deposit because it doesn't gain anything for you and it's typically not enough to cover serious damage. A $500 deposit increase is hard for tenants to swing but $50 a month is easy, it produces $600 in one year instead of just $500, and it's yours to keep if the tenant is good. Most tenants are responsible pet owners and will take care of cleaning up/repairing problems caused by their pets. Even if they don't, the deposit is almost always enough to cover the costs so the extra rent is still yours. I charge $25 per month for animals under 40 pounds and $50 for animals over 40 pounds. Any dog on the "dangerous breed" list is charged an additional $50 and the tenant must have insurance specifically for that animal with my company listed as "additional insured" for protection.

3. Vacancy. Rentals that accept pets get rented quicker, tenants are willing to pay more, and they typically stay longer than non-pet owners.

4. I do not remove the rent increase if the animal is removed. Let's say someone moves in with a dog and you charge $50 a month rent increase. Four months later, they call to tell you the dog died and they want to remove the increase. The problem is that the dog may have already caused damage so you need that money to keep coming in. My pet addendum states the increase remains for the life of the lease and it should at least last for the full year so you get the full amount. After that, you may offer to inspect and sign a renewal without the pet increase.

5. Check with your insurer first. Some providers will cancel your policy if you allow "dangerous breeds" on the property but most do not have this limitation. You should also check with local code to see if there are requirements to register animals, limits on the number of animals, etc.

Seriously, check out petscreening.com and consider using their service.