Renting Decision. Please help

[Aaron Hunt]

Hey Guys, I have a question.

I am renting my property for the first time and I have a decision to make.

The property is a well maintained, well appointed, desirable Single family 2Bed/1Bath house with a fenced backyard.

I have to choose between two tenants. Both are highly motivated to rent the house (12 month lease).

Tenant 1:

Pros:

• Two people renting
• Combined Income is about 4 x the rent,
• Good Credit and references
• No pets

Cons:

• One holds a job in the restaurant industry and the other is a hairstylist, so jobs can be impacted by this Covid economy

Tenant 2:

• Two people renting
  
• Individual Income (per person) is about 4 x the rent,
  
• Excellent Credit and references
• Stable jobs (One Works for the city, the other for an online company)

Cons:

• They have two medium sized dogs. (They say the dogs are house trained)

Now, I do not know how bad it can get if you have two dogs, so I am looking for guidance.

Thank you for taking the time.

[Dustin Allen]

@Aaron Hunt

First thing you do is remove the first line from each of their lists.  Family status is a protected class and has no bearing on your decision if you want to avoid a fair housing violation.

Second group sounds a lot more financially stable. If you are worried about the dogs, there are a lot of things you can do like increased pet rent, non refundable pet deposit, etc to mitigate the potential dog damage.