Separate pet damage insurance ?

[Andrea Hauserman]

I bought a 4-plex with 2 dogs in it...... except a few months later, there were dogs in 3 of the units, and # 4 had gotten a cat. Is there an insurance policy I could make the tenants buy that would cover their animals potential damage to my units? I am not going to make claims on my own insurance which would cause my premiums to skyrocket, but it would be a deterrent to say I require them to carry damage insurance specifically for their pets. Having cleaned up after a cat one time, a security deposit would not have covered what we had to do to remove the odor. I'm in Ohio if there's a state specific answer.

[Anna Sagatelova]

As a PM in Ohio, I have not heard of an insurance policy specifically aimed at pet damage, though it's possible that that's an add on to your existing policy - you definitely should reach out to your insurance broker and inquire.

However, what we find is best practice is requiring all tenants to pay a new pet set up fee (nonrefundable) and then an ongoing monthly fee per pet. We utilize petscreening.com to assess the risk factors of each animal and charge accordingly.