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Your
Pet Deposits and Pet Renting Policy Guide
Pets in Rental Properties PART 2
Whether
you
allow or ban pets in rental properties, having an excellent pet renting
policy in place is highly important. Learn how to handle your
tenant's pet deposits and how to set up an excellent rent renting
policy that will make renting your property an absolute breeze for you
today.
Still
deciding if you should allow renters with pets into your rental home?
Then Click here
for Part 1 of this Pets
in Rental Properties Guide.
What are Pet
Deposits and How Much Should You Charge for it?
If
you are renting to people with rents, you can ask for pet deposits to
cover the possible cleaning and damages that may be inflicted by the
pets. While this deposit is usually optional, we highly recommend that
all landlords should ask for one just in case.
As long as the
deposit amount that you ask for is reasonable, most pet owners will be
more than willing to fork up the money. Depending on your local
landlord tenant laws, the maximum amount of pet deposits that you can
charge will range from half a month's rent to one month's rent.
In
addition to asking for a deposit, some landlords also choose to make it
non refundable. This means that even if the tenant pet's do not cause
any problems, the tenant will not get his money back at the end of the
lease.
If you choose to ask for a non-refundable deposit, be
sure to double check your local landlord tenant laws because some areas
prohibit landlords from making their deposit nonrefundable. Personally
we don't recommend non-refundable deposits because your renter
will have a lot less reasons to keep your rental home in good shape.
How to
Enforce a No
Pet Renting Policy for Your Rental Property
If you want
to enforce a no-pet policy for your rental property, you
can include the following line in your lease agreement:
PETS:
No
dog, cat, bird, fish or other domestic pet or animal of any kind may be
kept on or about the premises without the Landlord's written
consent.
Be sure to enforce this no pet renting policy before your tenant moves
in. If
you take your time and wait months or years before you decide to remove
the pet, you may end up losing the right to keep your tenant's pets off
your rental property.
What happens if your tenant's dog bites and injures someone else? Will
you be liable as a landlord? The good news is that as a landlord you
are generally not responsible for any injuries caused by pets in rental
properties.
However if you knew in advance that your tenant's dog is dangerous
(such as having a history of attacking others) and you had the power to
remove it (depending on the terms of your rental agreement), then in
some cases you may be legally liable together with your tenant.
Another case where you probably will be held responsible is if you had
taken care of your tenant's dog before or had some control over it.
What
You Can do if Your Tenant Violates Your Pet Renting Policy
There are
several ways you can choose to deal with pets in rental
properties depending on
how serious the problem actually is.
If your tenant decides to keep modest pets such as a caged bird or
small fish tank, you may want to turn a blind eye especially if you
have an excellent tenant who always pays his rent on time.
However he decides to keep a larger animal like a cat or dog instead,
then you may have to take action. Try to have a peaceful discussion
with him on the matter first. If you do accept his pet, you should ask
him for pet deposits to cover any possible cleaning and
damages.
If both of you are unable to reach a mutual agreement on pets in rental
properties, then it's
time for you to take action to evict the tenant from your rental
property.
Provided that your rental agreement has a no-pet clause plus your
tenant does not have special legal rights to keep his pets, you can
evict him for having pets in rental properties.
Read
what our visitors have to share below OR Scroll down to
add your own comment
Do You Allow Pets in Rental Properties?
When it comes to renters with pets, will you welcome them or reject them outright? If you do rent to people with pets, what is your pet renting policy? Share your valuable experience with everyone here - We will love to hear your tips, comments and real life stories:
What Our Visitors Have to Say on Renting to People with Pets
Click on the links below to read the valuable tips that our other visitors have to share:
Do you want to learn MORE practical
must-know facts on
dealing with tenants?
Return
from
this Pet Deposits / Pet Renting Policy page to our Managing Rental Property
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