How can you resist such a sweet face??
So many people have pets and by restricting pets in your rental property, you reduce the number of prospective tenants that may be interested in renting your home. Research has shown that households with pets tend to stay longer in a property, therefore decreasing your turnover expenses. So there definitely are some advantages to allowing pets but how do you protect your property? There are a few ways you can do this including regular inspections and things like that, but from a financial point of view, you can think about the following: Pet rent, pet fees and pet deposits.
Pet rent is simply the additional rent you would charge per month for the pet. This can be per pet and is a nominal amount on top of the monthly rent - approx. $25-35 per pet, per month. Pet fees are just a flat, non refundable fee you may charge to a tenant for simply having a pet. A pet deposit is similar to a security deposit but it's a deposit for the pet and again, you can ask for a deposit per pet. There will certainly be more wear and tear on the house due to the pet so this is reasonable and expected by many tenants who have pets. Plan on maybe $300-500 per pet as a pet deposit. With any fees, check with your state laws to see what you can legally charge. In our leases, we include pet rent and a pet deposit because we then have extra money in case there is damage we need to take care of when the lease ends. We also have tenants do an extra deflea and detick treatment as part of their carpet cleaning upon move out.
When a prospective tenant brings you an application to rent your property and they say they have "a 30 pound dog", ask for a photo of the dog. What they might call 30 pounds is more like 50 pounds and sometimes that doesn't work in a condo or some other type of housing with pet size restrictions. Also, check with your homeowners insurance about which breeds are excluded from your coverage because some are and if you ever had a problem with the tenant's dog, you need to be sure you are protected. Lastly, keep a watch on your home to make sure that no additional pets have come along since your tenant started their lease. For any additional pet, you can charge more pet rent and collect an additional deposit.
Letting a tenant have a pet can be a good idea, just be sure to take steps to protect your property.
