Criterion for Allowing Pet Owning Families to Rent Homes in your Property
For pet owners, pets are integral parts of their family. They love and care their pets as if they were their family members. As a property manager, you have to weigh the pros and cons before allowing any pet owning family into your property. Pets can be a high risk for any rental property and the damages caused by them can have far reaching consequences. On the other hand, you can attract families that own pets by allowing pets in your property. Should you put a blanket ban on pets or allow them with certain conditions? Here are 4 criterion's that will make it easier for you to decide which pet owning family to accept and which to decline.
Questions to ask the pet owner
Be ready with a set of questions about the pet when a family owning pets applies to take a house on rent. Answers to these questions will help you in deciding whether to allow the family inside your property or not.
How long has the pet been owned?
Has your pet received house-training?
Has neutering of your pet been done?
Do you have a vet?
Has your pet been vaccinated?
Is there any history of your pet biting or attacking human beings?
Is there any history of problems with landlords on account of your pet?
Do you plan to adopt more pets?
Analyze the behavior of the pet and the owner
Set appointment with the owner and ask him to bring his pet along with him. By observing the behavior of the pet, you can check whether he is in control of the owner or not. You can also find out about the behavior of the pet towards strangers in this meeting. If the pet appears to be docile, you can allow the family inside your rental property. If you observe any abnormal behavior of the pet or the owner, you can politely decline the pet owning family.
Make a call to the pet’s vet
Most of the answers to your queries about the pet can be obtained from his vet. You can confirm all the details the owner of the pet has provided to you by making a call to this vet. Many questions that you could not ask the owner can also be asked directly to this vet without any hesitation. The vet can give you detailed record of the vaccination as well as his analysis about the behavior of the pet. He can also tell you everything about the health history of the pet. This verification of the details provided by the owner go a long way in deciding whether you should allow the family inside your property or not.
Explain your pet policy and get the owner to accept it in totality
You must have a comprehensive policy about pets in place. Give this policy document to the owner of the pet and ask him to go through each and every point before giving his consent to it. Going through this policy, the owner gets to know what is expected of him and the pet. This policy should have a clause abut pet deposit that the owner has to pay upfront. He should also be made to pay a cleaning deposit.. Finally, there should be a monthly deposit as property fee for assumed property damages caused by the pet. Check with your insurance company if the damages caused by pet are covered by your policy or not.
Once you are satisfied with answers to these criterion you have set for pets, you can easily decide whether to let in the pet owning family or not.
If you’d like to talk more about the value of inspections, or you need help with Everest Property Management, please contact us at Everest Realty.
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As a top producing Realtor and Property Manager; Terry specializes in sales, extensive construction homes, rentals, REO’s, short sales, and all aspects of Real Estate. After graduating the University of Michigan with a master in MBA, Terry continued his endeavor and now has over 15+ years of experience in the Real Estate world. If there is anything that has to do with Real Estate and sales, you can always be sure of Terry to provide important, specialized knowledge.
