Pets. What kind do you allow in your apartment building?
Why or why not?
Cleaning cost, landscaping issues, reducing your pool of tenant applications either way, noise/smell, etc.
We allow birds, fish, and hamsters/gerbils as per the lease. Anything beyond that has to be negotiated. Basically we’ll allow anything that can be kept in a cage/aquarium. We may allow cats in the future, but not dogs. The reason for this is our building has absolutely nowhere to take dogs out for the bathroom. We have an alley on one side, road on the other, attached to another building in the back, and parking out front. When we purchased the building, the oldest lady in there had a dog. She passed away and the family gave the dog away. Her daughter moved into her apartment and ended up putting in different carpet because of the messes the dog had made over the years. We’ve had a couple people call who had dogs, but we tell them up front we don’t allow them. When we buy future properties with lawns, we’ll probably allow small dogs with an extra deposit.
We allow all pets, except those on the vicious dog list. We charge extra rent and an extra deposit, depending on what type of animal(s) they have.
Mike
Same as Mike. Extra rent and I don’t allow dogs on my insurance companies banned list. I also limit fish tanks to 20 gallons.
Don’t charge a pet fee per month. It implies they can lower the rent if they get rid of the pet or if it dies. Just call the whole amount you collect rent.
We allow pets on a case by case basis. We have to meet any dogs first and we get to be the judge of whether or not they’re aggressive. Telling prospective tenants that up front means fewer call backs as most won’t bring around their precious to be evaluated :biggrin Works for me…
For awhile, we had a ‘no dogs over 20 lbs’ until we began to see that some of the smaller dogs were causing more damage than the bigger fellas… one monster chihuahua destoyed both the front and back doors by scratching :evil
We charge $250 pet deposit and an extra $25 per month per pet. No large snakes or reptiles, no charge for birds, gerbils, hamsters, canaries, etc.
I think it would cause problems to allow pets in apartments (There is a dog next door, why can’t I keep this pit-bull puppy?)
I have houses and allow any pet except dogs on my insurance company’s banned list, endangered species, animlas that require a fish and wildlife permit, and poisonous creatures.
Dogs must be over 1 year and must pass an interview for temperament.
I’d seriously like to ban cats because they are the worst for causing damage, but I’d cut my tenant pool greatly and it is hard enough to find qualified tenants.
We charge a $250 pet deposit (refundable). We just amended the pet rules so that we can charge $50 from the deposit for excessive pet hair cleaning.
We put in dog yards, even a 4-foot wide strip next to the property line can become a pet yard. We like to make them so the dog can go directly in and out of the house.
Here dogs are golden; the pet yard is why we are picked over a hotel. If the pet is happy people extend their work assignments and stay longer.
Yes, there is more wear-and-tear, odor removal problems, etc. There is also more income.
Furnishedowner
Allowing pets brings many more tenants my way! Plus I get $25-$50 extra pet rent per month and a pet deposit, people will do anything for their pets.
Don’t allow dangerous breeds and I don’t see how you could go wrong, we have no regrets.