Pet Policy

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=spdrun]

and if you acquire any pet or knowingly allow any animal intot he residence during the tenancy, landlord to receive 5,000 in liquidated damages.

Good luck enforcing that in court if no actual damage occurred.[/quote]

Good luck keeping a dog inside with no damage.

[spdrun]

“Knowingly allow any animal” — that means that if a friend with a dog comes to visit once, it will cost $5000. Insane.

[NotCranky]

Based on observation of my family home i expect decent tenants to cause some damage inside a home. I can be pretty flexible about this without much harm coming of it. I hope they are happy and pay the rent while they are at it. Then when they are ready to leave you get it ready for the next people. I don’t anything wrong with this process when it is not extreme. I don’t think pets make it extreme..or that excluding them changes risk much. What it does potentially change is how long they live there. With all the pet condemners out there they may be prone to sticking around for a while. Real concern with pets would be causing problems for neighbors with barking or other things.

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=spdrun]”Knowingly allow any animal” — that means that if a friend with a dog comes to visit once, it will cost $5000. Insane.[/quote]

Perhaps the presence of such a clause will ensure the highest level of caution if a dog does come in for a bit.

[FlyerInHi]

Let’s face it. Some people are much cleaner than others. As landlords, we all want the cleanest people. But it’s hard to determine who’s clean.

Pets just add some elements of dirtiness that I’d rather avoid.

Kids are a protected class, otherwise “no kids” would be a good policy also. Kids run around breaking gates and causing damage that are costly to repair. I’ve seen it happen.

Sure, you have to get a rental ready for the next tenant. But some damages are not fixable with replacing the whole thing. Urine and shit stains on the carpet require everything be replaced. The smell might even penetrate the sub board.

Sauces spilled in cabinets cannot be cleaned easily. Can’t realistically replace the whole kitchen.

You can charge for damage, but how happy will the tenant be if you charge for new carpet. That’s several times the deposit.

Ahh.. The joys of being a landlord.

Btw, I own a unit that I list as a vacation rental. I have seen bodily fluid on the headboard. Makes me wonder about how clean/dirty the hotel rooms are.

[FlyerInHi]

Btw, I love dogs and mine was pretty special. I didn’t have carpet.
But still, there was a lot of extra cleaning required. After each drink, the dog slobbers everywhere and you have to dry the floor.

In a lot of homes with pets, when you walk in, you’re hit with nasty pet smell. I understand the HATE of pets.

[scaredyclassic]

I can put a price on that stench.

5k.

[UCGal]

When we were listing this past time we stated a small pet was negotiable. However, I also made it clear that there would be an extra deposit.

We don’t have carpet – so I was less worried about fleas.

We had one candidate inform us that she had a service dog and it didn’t matter what my pet policy is/was. I think FLU posted about the absurdity of these rules – basically – call a pet a service animal and you can override the no pet rule.

We ended up with tenants that have no pets. Our previous tenant (extended family) had a small dog. She paid a small extra deposit when she adopted him.

[spdrun]

Doesn’t a service animal need a doctor’s certification? Sure, they can easily find a doctor to sign off or forge a letter, but it’s one more level of tsuris that might encourage them to seek a friendlier situation.

[scaredyclassic]

service animal for a blind guy ok.

service animal for anxiety disorders…

seems like bs

[bewildering]

Off topic but Service animal = no charge to fly. $150 each way otherwise. Wish I could certify my dog as a service animal.

I inherited a dog through my wife, and they do create a mess. It was a real pain to find a rental that accepted dogs. But i perfectly understand why they are not accepted.

[Doofrat]

In the place we currently rent, I think the landlord failed to mention no pets the first time he rented the place. The people before us had two or three big dogs. Tore up the hardwood floor downstairs, tore up the carpet upstairs, etched claw marks in the sliding glass door, pissed off the neighbors with the barking.
I can’t count the number of times the landlord asked us “You don’t have any pets right?”

[UCGal]

[quote=spdrun]Doesn’t a service animal need a doctor’s certification? Sure, they can easily find a doctor to sign off or forge a letter, but it’s one more level of tsuris that might encourage them to seek a friendlier situation.[/quote]

Yes and no.
The certification of a service dog is less than standardized. And under FHA and ADA laws – you can ask a tenant if the dog is a service dog, you can ask if they have a disability. You can’t ask what the disability is. There’s so much grey area – the prospective tenant could lie and you’d be pretty much obligated to allow the pet.

Here are some links (mostly from the tenants prospective.)
http://www.pawsla.org/programs/housing-education/tenants-with-disabilities-the-right-to-keep-a-service-animal/

http://www.petpartners.org/page.aspx?pid=489

http://www.disabilityrightsca.org/pubs/548301.pdf

http://www.landlordassoc.org/articles/WhatLandlordsShouldKnowAboutServiceAnimals.pdf

Being a landlord has opened my eyes to all sorts of laws and rules. For example – did you know a landlord is required to provide a landline connection if asked? We never had one for our casita because my inlaws, and niece used cell phones. But a prospective tenant informed me (and I later verified she was correct) – we must provide a landline if requested. (And once I read the law, I had no issues.) That law seems pretty antiquated today… but it’s there… so I’ll oblige. I don’t remember if VOIP qualified… it may have even specified telco landline.

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