Advice needed: Request from tenant to bring in pets

Landlord Discussion
1

Hi, new landlord to the site. My tenants moved in early this year, prior to moving in we agreed that pets were not allowed in the property. Recently, the tenant have asked if they can bring in their two dogs due to some circumstances with the dogs caretaker, I appreciate that the tenants have been good so far, paying their rent on time and taking care of the property, however i’m not sure I want to take the risk of having dogs in the property as they can cause damages, noise, smell etc - i’m sure there are some amazing dogs out there who are well trained.

I am not sure how to approach this the tenants, my preference is not to have pets in the property but I wonder if I say no then they might start acting up or still bring the dogs anyway without my knowledge. Please advise, thanks

2

stick to the agreement they have only been in a few months Where the dogs theirs in the first place? You will regret letting 2 dogs in your property

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3

Thanks for the reply, the dogs are currently staying with the tenant’s parents who are going through a divorce, the dogs need a new home until things have settled although I feel it might be a permanent move

4

so the parents want to push the problem on to someone else

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5

It is a bit tricky as landlords no longer are allowed to take deposits above the cap to take into account additional damage caused by pets. There are many posts on this if you search, with strong arguments on both sides. While you can sympathise with your tenants about their circumstances, you are still within your rights to not allow pets in your property (for the moment at least, this may change in the future!), and I would be transparent and tell them this.

6

Don’t let someone else’s problem become yours. Business over sob stories. The risk is far too high, you only have something to lose and not gain.

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7

Thanks all, much appreciated!

8

We are, ourselves, animal lovers. We have had 4 dogs at one point, currently have one dog and a cat.

We rented our current house to family members and they went and got a dog (without asking but likely thinking that we love animals so wouldn’t be a problem).

We were getting the house ready to sell or put back on the rental market and discovered that their dog had chewed skirting boards and chewed/scratched the bottom of doors.

Not the cheapest of repairs to tackle, so not sure I’d allow pets again.

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9

If you do entertain this request then make sure to get an agreement about how they will dispose of the poop. E.g. in our area the binmen refuse to take any bin containing dog poop, we have to collect it for a week then bag it and take to a public bin that is designated for dog poo. Some tenants will flush down human toilet… others hide it behind the shed…

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10

Thank you, I’ll bear this in mind

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