I had a cat for 17 years and she never once scratched my floorboards... BUT she used my new red leather lounge suites as $1500 scratching posts,
shat on my bed and threw up on my kitchen floor. Pets...
Allowing pets in a rental
- Thread starter Tulamalula
- Start date
I had a cat for 17 years and she never once scratched my floorboards... BUT she used my new red leather lounge suites as $1500 scratching posts,
shat on my bed and threw up on my kitchen floor. Pets...
I heavily promoted the "cat-friendliness" of my Marrickville IP. It was the ONLY apartment for rent in entire suburb the that allowed pets of any kind at the time of listing. It was tenanted immediately.
Why limit your pool of potential tenants?
I could probably have squeezed out another $10-$20/week rent from a cat owner (I had multiple applications before the first open, and more after the first open; from both cat owners and the feline-free). But as Rixter pointed out, a vacant week or two and you've shot yourself in the foot, unless you can list the place before settlement, and dabble briefly with an elevated price.
The other thing to consider is, with current laws and landlord mind sets, there are very few other places that'll take pets. So your tenants are much more likely to stay put, and be more accepting of their next rent increase.
Why limit your pool of potential tenants?
I could probably have squeezed out another $10-$20/week rent from a cat owner (I had multiple applications before the first open, and more after the first open; from both cat owners and the feline-free). But as Rixter pointed out, a vacant week or two and you've shot yourself in the foot, unless you can list the place before settlement, and dabble briefly with an elevated price.
The other thing to consider is, with current laws and landlord mind sets, there are very few other places that'll take pets. So your tenants are much more likely to stay put, and be more accepting of their next rent increase.
Disaster! I hope you were able to get something back from the tenant.
Things like this can happen - pets and carpet don't always go well together? But if there's carpet, the tenant should be cleaning it regularly anyway.
no carpets, how cat pee gets on a curtain I have no idea, do they pee up?
Yup they spray when marking territory. Just like a dog marking every tree in the area.
I don't mind outside big animals at my IP or small inside ones. It has a large boring backyard and secure gates and fences.
Small dogs have run around on my laminate flooring for years and you can't see scratches unless you get on your knees.
The only problem I could see with pets is if they are young and not toilet trained.
Small dogs have run around on my laminate flooring for years and you can't see scratches unless you get on your knees.
The only problem I could see with pets is if they are young and not toilet trained.
Went back round to the property and noticed there is a lot of fencing to be repaired to keep a dog in, so it will be cats only.
Tulamalula, thanks for starting an interesting discussion about pets in rental properties. It is great to hear that many people have good experience with pet owner tenants. I have recently launched a new web business addressing these same issues from both property investors and tenant points of view.
Yes I agree with the general consensus here that pet owners tend to be longer term and stable tenants, and a good relationship between landlord and tenant is very important.
How I feel about charging more rent for certain pet friendly properties is to cover extra maintenance costs, rather than taking advantage of pet lovers. More tenants (human or furry) = more wear and tear. Some properties do cost more to maintain, others cost the same so don't need to charge more. Tile or lino floors will cost less to maintain than carpet. Many tenants understand this and are willing to pay higher rent, according to this article $20 is quite reasonable. http://www.firstnational.com.au/med...2012/February/Renting-With-Pets,-Think-Again…
I had a lawyer look into price differentials for with and without pets, and his recommendation was that it is legal because you are advertising two different products. Same logic as price differentials for furnished vs unfurnished, or charging more for air conditioning. http://www.rentwithpets.com.au/index.php/landlords2/are-property-price-differentials-legal
DT, could you please send me a link to the part of act that specifically prohibits different prices for having pets. If that is the law I need to change the website to reflect this.
In terms of what pets are considered, I found that common real estate sites like domain, REA, gumtree don't address this well. For Rent With Pets, I've built checkboxes into the listing itself to help set guidelines on what pets are considered. eg. big dog, small dog, horse, guinea pig, outside animals, desexed, microchipped, wormed, vaccinated. These essentially help select for responsible people who are anal about looking after their pets and less likely to cause any trouble. You're welcome to list yours for free in exchange for some feedback as I'm still working on making it user friendly.
As a vet, I do see some cats that spray urine. This is quite easy to fix by desexing, and recommending that the tenants use feliway (pheromone that reduces stress that makes cats mark new territory). We have products like urine off that get rid of urine smells, and cleaning companies also carry better products that get rid of all traces of urine (more toxic ones).
The cats I live with love to scratch...but given the choice between scratching posts, fabric couch, doorframes and wooden floorboards they would rather go for my fabric couch! The key is for tenants to give them appealing scratching options so they don't scratch floors.
I would advertise your property as pet friendly, don't worry about the broken fence. I personally know of a few tenants that have offered to pay to fix fences if they want it to be secure for their dog. Win-win situation for both
Yes I agree with the general consensus here that pet owners tend to be longer term and stable tenants, and a good relationship between landlord and tenant is very important.
How I feel about charging more rent for certain pet friendly properties is to cover extra maintenance costs, rather than taking advantage of pet lovers. More tenants (human or furry) = more wear and tear. Some properties do cost more to maintain, others cost the same so don't need to charge more. Tile or lino floors will cost less to maintain than carpet. Many tenants understand this and are willing to pay higher rent, according to this article $20 is quite reasonable. http://www.firstnational.com.au/med...2012/February/Renting-With-Pets,-Think-Again…
I had a lawyer look into price differentials for with and without pets, and his recommendation was that it is legal because you are advertising two different products. Same logic as price differentials for furnished vs unfurnished, or charging more for air conditioning. http://www.rentwithpets.com.au/index.php/landlords2/are-property-price-differentials-legal
DT, could you please send me a link to the part of act that specifically prohibits different prices for having pets. If that is the law I need to change the website to reflect this.
In terms of what pets are considered, I found that common real estate sites like domain, REA, gumtree don't address this well. For Rent With Pets, I've built checkboxes into the listing itself to help set guidelines on what pets are considered. eg. big dog, small dog, horse, guinea pig, outside animals, desexed, microchipped, wormed, vaccinated. These essentially help select for responsible people who are anal about looking after their pets and less likely to cause any trouble. You're welcome to list yours for free in exchange for some feedback as I'm still working on making it user friendly.
As a vet, I do see some cats that spray urine. This is quite easy to fix by desexing, and recommending that the tenants use feliway (pheromone that reduces stress that makes cats mark new territory). We have products like urine off that get rid of urine smells, and cleaning companies also carry better products that get rid of all traces of urine (more toxic ones).
The cats I live with love to scratch...but given the choice between scratching posts, fabric couch, doorframes and wooden floorboards they would rather go for my fabric couch! The key is for tenants to give them appealing scratching options so they don't scratch floors.
I would advertise your property as pet friendly, don't worry about the broken fence. I personally know of a few tenants that have offered to pay to fix fences if they want it to be secure for their dog. Win-win situation for both
Seems to me that with a tenant like that, that if they hadn't had cats the place would still have ended up trashed anyway. Mentally stable people usually don't live wallowing in cat faeces.
Tend to agree with this.
You may have all the animals the tenants want and have nil damage, if the tenant is a responsible person. If they aren't very responsible, then even a small cat, or dog can cause all the damage in the world.
Yep, I've seen that with some vet nurses. They bring their animals to work during rental inspections, and there is no trace of the pets in the properties at all
I would take a vet nurse as a tenant any day, they are excellent cleaners too.
