Pet cleaning, lost rent, damage etc.

For example, if you put "pet deposit" you cannot necessarily keep it.

It's just kinda hard to tell someone "no" I'm not going to accept 2 months of prepayment when they are taking decent care of the property and don't have pets.  

Matthew Harrison I used to have no pets policy and changed a couple years ago.

I agree with some of the others in this thread and it is one of my pet peeves in REI.

Since you inherited this tenant, and if they are not doing anything you don't want done in the place that was permitted previously (indoor smoking, pets, etc), and paying on time, then consider it a gift - you have all kinds of leverage for raising the rent or booting them out without the lease.

I have learned a great deal more since that time and I want to fast forward to the current and get into the lease option deal we put together several months ago.We have rented the property for the last 2 years @ $1,600 per month to 2 different tenants.The mortgage payment is $950 per month ($107k loan for 30 yrs).Each time trying to lease option on my terms but to no avail.As they say, third time is a charm and the prospect came calling.When they asked about the lease option, these are the terms I sent over to them and they were the following:Purchase price: $189,900, $1,500 per month lease payment, $50 per pet per month fee, $50 application fee each applicant, 5% non-refundable option fee, one month security deposit, and 20% of monthly rent going towards down payment credit when option to buy is exercised.We agreed on all the terms above with a purchase price of $182,900, $1,600 rent (2 pets) and 2 year option agreement.There was a buyer’s agent involved so I paid her a portion of the owed commission and the buyer paid the rest (buyers portion will be credited when option exercised).I was not going to pay all of commission up front not knowing if buyer will or will not take option.You can do the rest of the math to figure out what the net profit will be once the option is exercised.

They have a 4 but then later 5 bedroom (added suite in the huge basement) house with their sons, pets, family friends, etc coming through.

I was wanting an additional deposit since there was an animal involved, I made it clear it wasn't a "pet" deposit but he is still claiming I can't charge more for the deposit since I had told him it was because of the dog I was going to require more.

Prescreening for policy(smoking,pets), income and willingness for background, criminal, eviction checks.2.