Do you allow pets?

[ffc1883_1996]

I love animals... I have 2 cats and 2 dogs myself.

It's the dishonestly of the situation, and the fact that there appears to be NOTHING I can do about this.

I know exactly how you feel but your PM is telling you the same as what I've been told over the years.

There's not much that you can do except try and find a way to sleep at night until the lease comes up for review again. Then you can consider your options taking into account dishonesty, pets and everything else.

If you let it be known that you're disappointed but that you grudgingly accept the change in circumstances, I think it will weaken their negotiating position when next you try to put up the rent.

 

[Xenia]

I love animals... I have 2 cats and 2 dogs myself.

It's the dishonestly of the situation, and the fact that there appears to be NOTHING I can do about this.

I see in the lease that at section 29 and I quote:
"This agreement my be amended only by an agreement in writing signed my Landlord and Tenant"

If I wrote something along the lines of

"Tenant Having undertaken to get a dog and by doing so has breached the lease agreement, I wish to ammend the lease as follows. Rental increase to $195 as of May 2008 and that the tenant pays for pest treatment on Vacating premises"


Does this sound reasonable??

You cannot "amend" a contract due to a breach! You can however terminate the contract due to the breach!

The above statement will be thrown out the door by a tribunal judge!

Muffit my only suggestion to you is to keep emotions low! Property investing is a business and you cannot afford to go into this "it's not fair..." attitude.

There is a clear breach of contract by the tenants which makes their lease agreement "voidable" this gives you, "the landlord" the option to terminate the contract based on the breach.

These are your rights in black and white! "Why the tenant did this or the fact that you didn't want it or they are paying too little or the dog could cause damage and I want to put the rent up" has nothing to do with the current legislation that you need to adhere to as a "professional business owner".

 

[Perp]

You're best to insert appropriate clauses - ie deodorising, flea treatment, or whatever conditions you consider necessary - even if the tenant doesn't intend to have pets, ie "Pets are permiited with the following provisos:..." because as so many have highlighted, if you end up with a pet that you hadn't allowed and have no clauses covering pets, you're really screwed. At least in this way you'll retain some control over it.

And I agree with all the "allow pets" arguments: your tenants will be grateful and likely to stay longer, pets generally don't do much damage anyway, if they do damage it can be claimed against the bond as for any other damage, etc.

 

[MissMuffitt]

These people are on a 12 month lease.

So I can not do a rental review till Jan 2009!
Can I next lease write a rent review in for every 6 months?
Or do I have have a 6 month lease instead?

Yes I will defiantly let the PM know how disappointed I am with the whole dog situation.

In the lease I did allow their cat, but I can not see any thing about pest spray in the lease....

I guess I have just learnt a lesson, and again, not a happy one!

Next time the Pest will defiantly be written into the lease.

 

[Dazz]

It's the dishonestly of the situation, and the fact that there appears to be NOTHING I can do about this.

Oh dear,

I don't think you've quite come to terms with what it really means to be a residential Landlord. Having all the responsibilities does not confer upon you many rights at all, as you are finding out.

It's nice when many varied people all say the same thing to you in your time of stress "You cannot do this, you do not have the right to.....we cannot enforce this.....now they have it there is nothing you can do....your only recourse is to.....the tribunal will throw that out....". Joy !!!

Being in Victoria, you are contractually up against one of the strongest Tenancy Union Advocates in the country.....they literally set the agenda for what goes into the RTA - the legislation that controls your "property business".

Apparently they are in agreeance with their WA brethren in that they are calling for a review to the RTA, as they believe the Landlord has too much power, and they wish to strip alot more of it away and hand it to the tenant's side of the Contract. What gave you the idea you had no power to do anything ?? Apparently you've got too much !!!

From your reaction - I guess you differ in your opinion vastly from the people who set the agenda on the subject.

We butted our head against these brick walls for many years and finally came to the only acceptable resolution to our woes as a Landlord.

In conclusion.....as so oft quoted from the magnificent film Once Were Warriors... "It's just your lot in life Gracie"....

I agree with Xenia. Don't get emotional about it. Just grab that compulsory jar of special Ressy Landlord KY jelly (only $ 399 on special in all good pharmacies) and brace yourself Nelly, ya gonna need it.

If I'm not mistaken, this puts the count of "this just isn't right, doesn't seem fair and I can't do anythign about it" up to about # 426.

Big picture....big picture....big picture, just keep thinking about the big picture as all of this unfolds.

 

[The Y-man]

When they asked if they could have pets I said "Cat OK" and that is in the lease.

Please refer to
http://www.tuv.org.au/pdf/resources/pets_fs_r_102005.pdf

You will note that a Breach of Duty can only be served if the pet is causing damage or nuisance.

Best bet for you here would be to have the property inspected regularly for damage (every 6 months), and also checking with neighbours - in fact the dog attacking the neighbours will result in an immediate Notice to Vacate....

Even with a "No Pets" clause, the matter must be taken to the tribunal. My understanding is that once again, unless the said animal is causing damage or nuisance, it may be difficult to take any action.

I have certainly had much bigger issues with tenants causing a nuisance (loud music, fights, etc) than animals...

Cheers,

The Y-man

 

[Ausprop]

yeh no point being too stressed, at the end of the day the tenant can do whatever they like within reason and you can only hope they pay close to on time. if they don't you take it on the chin and move them on, will cost you a few months rent or whatever but lets face it, when resi rents are virtually negligible you aint losing muich!

at the end of it all you just have to hope that the property goes up enough in value to cover all of yor garuanteed losses and any headaches incurred along the way. All this at the end of one of the biggest credit expansions in history, a falling share market, rising interest rates, possible recession.

 

[steveadl]

I agree that the rules suck as usual for the LL's side of the argument. In your situation MM, I'd feel the exact same way - hate dishonesty. The others are right though - there's more problems with tenants doing damage than their pets.

Looking from my own perspective - I have a large German Shepherd, and two cats. The cats have free run of the house, the dog is only allowed to walk from the back door to a mat in the lounge room.

The dog does no damage to anything, and whilst the cats like sharpening their claws - they do this on the rugs (or occasionally my furniture ). I guess if we had carpet it may be more of an issue - but that's about the extent of it. For this reason, I don't have a problem with my tenants having pets (I even make point of this in ads). Upon vacating, a good clean will get rid of lingering hair, and hey presto - IP is pretty much unscathed.

I also know that LL's would look at me an say 'hmmm nah, next applicant.' I guess, given the choice between myself and someone else without pets - all else being equal - I'd go for the one without pets too.

 

[ianvestor]

I'm reading all these replies and thinking "Could this be yet another reason why Australians are so obsessed with owning their own home?" Because it's more conducive to having pets.

I wonder in these countries which have been talked about recently, where much longer leases are common, if many tenants have pets or not.

 

[jaycee]

I'm reading all these replies and thinking "Could this be yet another reason why Australians are so obsessed with owning their own home?" Because it's more conducive to having pets.

I wonder in these countries which have been talked about recently, where much longer leases are common, if many tenants have pets or not.

I wouldn't think we are that unique re our view taowards pets (?) Can't speak about other countries but in Greece, a LOT of people rent, and have pets too (very common, and very big pet lovers)

 

[ianvestor]

I wouldn't think we are that unique re our view taowards pets (?) Can't speak about other countries but in Greece, a LOT of people rent, and have pets too (very common, and very big pet lovers)

But that's what I'm wondering Jaycee... are Greek (and other) landlords more accepting of pets than Australian landlords, hence making Greeks not as obsessed with owning their own home (because they can have pets anyway)?

Just a thought.

-Ian

 

[fernfurn]

I am just about to rent out my ppr and had said no pets, but after reading this post I think I may consider one and really like the "pest control" on vacating clause. I had a friend in a rented premises once, and the cat used to fly at the curtains and slowly drag itself to the floor, suffice to say the curtains were in tatters - same with the flyscreens. I guess she thought the bond would cover it when she left. Another friend bought a fab 2 storey house in Hawthorn which had been rented out. Top floor was the dogs domain and was so stinking, he bought it for a song. Carpet went, smell still there. Finally he had to take out all the FLOORING upstairs and replace it. smell went. He had a bargain. All this has put me off having pets. On the other hand I love them and can see it would widen my market. Just dont want to have to replace carpet or wooden venetains as my house is only 18mths old

 

[Skiddy]

I would only consider a per if I was renting out the place unfurnished but my preference would always go to someone with no pets.

About 18 months ago we had to go away urgently and new we would be away for about 2 months. I asked around for someone to house sit as I was worried about leaving it empty for so long.

We have never had pets there as my wife hats the smell of pets however one girl from my work was happy to come as long as she could bring her cat which was about 10 years old and toilet trained and would spend most days outside and nights in the laundry.

We agreed as we had no time to look for someone else however when we returned the cat had destoyed two lounge suites and the chairs from an expensive dining suite. There was also a smell that I couldn't trace for about two months. Finally after the floor boards started to warm in the corner of the lounge room I worked out the cat had been using that area as its bathroom.

Since that time I hate cats.