You are starting a new lease with these tenants, so basically you can charge whatever you want, including pet deposits and pet rent (assuming its legal to do that in your state), and increase in rent (again, some states limited how big of a % you can increase it).Its the balance of increasing it closer to market and protecting yourself for eventual damage by having pets in your units vs inducing a vacancy and starting over.....which can be scary but often its a good thing when you take over someone else's tenants. 

With the Midwest there are also winter issues and hail damage from thunderstorms that we don't deal with in California.

You know tenant is complaining liability for damage since lease is in their name.Don't tell them that before you do the above. 

A current tenant has damaged the rental property beyond the normal wear & tear

On the other hand, not dealing with roof, pipes etc damage is a big deal for me. 

American homeowners could see a significant drop in the cost of selling their homes after a real estate trade group agreed to a landmark deal that will eliminate a bedrock of the industry, the 6 percent sales commission.The National Association of Realtors, a powerful organization that has set the guidelines for home sales for decades, has agreed to settle a series of lawsuits by paying $418 million in damages and by eliminating its rules on commissions.

So I purchased a fire damaged home from a wholesaler in September in the King Charles neighborhood.

**Chimney: Deteriorated Brick or Mortar** - The chimney showed signs of deterioration, which could allow water to infiltrate the structure and cause further damage.7.

Send a camera down if possible to record the damage, collect invoices to repair, file a claim.Sorry, tradework stories like this are never ending it seems.

My tenant, who has renters insurance as per the lease, said that he did not file any damages because he just had to throw out a few towels that were on the floor.