Quick question for Landlords - response most appreciated

[pet friendly properties 0]

Hello Landlords

 

Hope you're well? Wondered if I could ask you a quick question please?

 

With nearly 50% of all households in the UK having a pet & Property rentals on the increase overall, there is a much needed service of providing Pet friendly rental accommodation.  My question is, what would it take for you to open your properties to responsible pet owners please?

 

Your thoughts would be most appreciated.

 

Best,

 

Victoria

[richard brown 720]

Hi Victoria

 

These things tend to help:

 

Pet deposit in case of damage caused by the pet (chewed carpet and that kind of thing)

Rent premium (which I personally prefer to a deposit anyway)

Pet referencing - yes, such a thing does exist

Meet the pets to see for yourself

Pet-friendly environment, such as hard flooring on the ground floor in the case of dogs and lockable cat flaps for cats

If tenants would ALWAYS seek permission in advance it would also go a long way to improving relations with their landlord

 

Personally, I have no objection to people bringing pets with them, provided they are well behaved, suitable for the particular property and of course permission is obtained first. I agree with your sentiment that it opens up the rental market to more potential tenants as well.

 

I hope that helps,

Richard

[Vicky Nunes 89]

On 2017-6-28 at 11:39 AM, pet friendly properties said:

Hello Landlords

 

Hope you're well? Wondered if I could ask you a quick question please?

 

With nearly 50% of all households in the UK having a pet & Property rentals on the increase overall, there is a much needed service of providing Pet friendly rental accommodation.  My question is, what would it take for you to open your properties to responsible pet owners please?

 

Your thoughts would be most appreciated.

 

Best,

 

Victoria

Hi Victoria, I am including this in the newsletter going out tomorrow, so hopefully will get you some interesting responses. 

[noel andrews 3]

Hi Victoria

Ive welcomed pets (cats and small dogs) in my two bed modern mid terrace house in Devon since I started letting it out five years ago. My thinking has always been to help people stay as long as possible.

 

My last tenants may however have changed my mind. All was fine, they moved out and I completed the checkout inspection as normal. Returned the deposit within a few days of them leaving.

 

One week later with a batch of hot weather the house started jumping! My new tenant had already moved in and had the horrible experience of a pretty heavy infestation of fleas. 

 

Thankfully he was very reasonable about it and I dealt with it swiftly. Off the shelf products were with him that day to fumigate the house and I then brought a rprofessional in two days later when the standard products hadn't been sufficient.

 

So whilst I've always supported pets this has put me off as I haven't yet figured a way to protect myself from fleas appearing after checkout.

 

All in all I do think it's good to allow pets and it certainly sets you apart from the majority of landlords that won't.

 

Good luck

Noel

 

[chris irving 2]

Hi Victoria

 

From my experience pet owners can be great and long term tenants.

 

Few things to consider:

 

Ask for a large deposit of a minimum of twice the monthly rent.

 

Take out a professional  inventory including photos of the property prior to the tenants and four legged friend moving in.

 

Meet the dog.

 

Get a reference or speak to the previous landlord

 

i tend to replace carpets and laminates every few years anyway. These are something that can get damaged by pets

 

let the property unfurnished

 

Check your lease allows you to have pets in the block if its a flat

 

Insist of professional cleaning once the tenancy is finished

 

Good luck

 

Chris

[gareth b 3]

Hi Victoria

 

I was a bit miffed to find my previous tenant had acquired a cat without asking when I went to do an inspection. They genuinely seemed to think it was OK and were surprised when I mentioned that it wasn't part of the tenancy agreement. In the end they were very apologetic and there were no issues with any damage to the property.

 

Having a cat and a dog myself, the two are clearly very different animals. We only have a dog because my wife works at home, as I wouldn't want to leave one all day on its own. If I had a tenant who worked from home I would consider it, but not if it was going to be left all day.

 

That's just my personal opinion but I think it's definitely something worth considering as it can set you apart from other landlords. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

[pet friendly properties 0]

Hello All!

 

Thank you for your replies so far.

 

Some really great advice, thank you. I am delighted that my question will be appearing in the newsletter!

 

As another option, do you think that if there was an Insurance policy to cover any potential pet damage (which could even perhaps form part of the Tenancy agreement/be a condition of) would that give you assurance that your property would be covered?

 

Best,

 

Victoria

[andrewv 1]

I'm not currently a landlord but have been previously for several years.

 

In general I think it's short sighted not to allow pets. An extra security deposit is a good approach or having them pre-pay for replacement of the carpet. I had a friend with a pug and it completely destroyed the carpet. 

 

Some multi-unit buildings have pet size limits and rules about pets going in and out. 

[michaelt 1]

as a recent renter myself, luckily we managed to get a mortgage, we did look at other rentals, we had been in out last rental place 16 years, looking for a LL to take us and two dogs was a real chore, no one wanted to do it, those that did wanted silly deposits for the dogs, which amounted proportionately more than us humans lol, i do understand why this is tho, not every one who had a dog can afford 250 each animal.

i dont know what the answer is, but good landlords are rare, but good pet friendly landlords are rarer

[The EP Investor 130]

Just bear in mind that with the most recent announcements you won't be able to charge a higher deposit for tenants who want to bring pets. So that's not going to help pet owners out there. 

 

I agree with Ricky Richardo Richard about ideally charging a slight increase in rent (5% increase seems to be easy enough for people to swallow). Alternatively you can offer to charge quite a bit higher for say the first 6 months, and then sign a new tenancy 6 months later that is back to market rate. 

Harder to explain that to tenants and you do end up keeping the additional rent (so it's not a refundable deposit). So win for you, sucks for them. 

 

I've always had pets growing up so don't have a problem with tenants bringing pets in. And provided they aren't asshats and do a runner or trash the place, there's usually enough in a deposit to pay for any deep cleaning if the place stinks of pooch once they go. 

[charles d 10]

My existing tenant has recently asked permission if they could have a cat in the property.

They have given me assurances that the cat would have regular flea treatment and get the flat professionally pet cover the cost of a specialist pet cleaning service at the end of our tenancy.

 

They're willing to pay a extra deposit also however I know the they're some changes in the law that may prevent me doing this. 

 

They're good tenants and have been there just over a year and haven't given me any trouble. 

 

What should I do to safe guard myself.

I know I can possibly charge them extra per month but wouldn't want them to think about moving out anytime soon as long-time long term tenants are hard to find. 

If I opt for the deposit and professional clean should I get an inventory done at the cost of the tenant and addendum to the existing AST (Is this possible)

I appreciate your feedback.

 

Many Thanks 

[gareth b 3]

Good morning Charles

 

If they are good tenants and have been treating the property well for a long time I would be fairly relaxed about them getting a cat. If they agree to getting it cleaned professionally at the end of the tenancy that will save you the expense and make it more appealing to the next tenants.

 

I suppose my only concern may be that the property itself was suitable for a cat and that it had easy access to get outside. Also, is it a cat they want to get or a kitten that requires toilet training? Best to discuss the details with them just to see how it would work out in practice.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Gareth

[charles d 10]

47 minutes ago, gareth b said:

Good morning Charles

 

If they are good tenants and have been treating the property well for a long time I would be fairly relaxed about them getting a cat. If they agree to getting it cleaned professionally at the end of the tenancy that will save you the expense and make it more appealing to the next tenants.

 

I suppose my only concern may be that the property itself was suitable for a cat and that it had easy access to get outside. Also, is it a cat they want to get or a kitten that requires toilet training? Best to discuss the details with them just to see how it would work out in practice.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Gareth

Hi,

 

Gareth,

 

Thanks for replying and some food for thought.

 

I will ask relevant questions regarding the cat. 

 

There is easy access via the window. But I'm guessing they would want to probably want to install a cat flap for the back door in the garden.

 

The property has laminate flooring throughout and only a 3 steps that has carpeting so embedded fleas would be kept to a minimum risk coupled with the tenants assurances.