Originally published at: https://blog.openrent.co.uk/should-i-consider-renting-to-tenants-with-pets/
Rental adverts that specify ‘no pets’ are a common sight on any lettings website in the UK. But as the makeup of the rented sector broadens, it’s increasingly important for landlords to consider all tenants for their rented property. This article gives some compelling reasons to consider allowing tenants to keep a pet. It also…
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a good post Sam… Personally I dont want pets in my rentals .( I have none at home)… I am not bothered if I have a void period as I have no mortgages… I have worked in peoples homes where I can smell their animal ,that has put me off …One bad experience can influence you
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Thanks Sam. I agree with Colin, In addition, my familiy have related allergies and as they do the repairs and maintenance it is a no go area.
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I have always been open to considering a pet as I have a jack russell myself and our house is spotless. So I considered this tenant who had a JR, lovely dog and nice people, house is kept nice. I had to visit last week, I counted 20 lots of dirt in the garden,very hard to avoid not stepping on one, she blamed the kids for not clearing it up. I said how can the dog use the garden and not step in this and then into the house ?.(and all over my carpets) It has put me off renting to a dog owner again.
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you cannot entirely clean up dog muck .I bet there are trace elements in the house ,Yuk
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I have no problem with pets but not cats. We bought the flat that stank of tom cat pee and ripped out every carpet in there and fumigated. Also the deeds have a covenant that no pets are allowed. 2 other houses have dogs and they are well looked after. Other houses I have been reek of dog. A pet is not a necessity in life and we should not be held responsible for other peoples choices.
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I allowed a dog for my last tenants and had to replace the living room carpet for the new tenants as it stunk of dog pee. I replaced the carpet with laminate as the new tenants have 5 cats. They have a 12 month contract and I have costed into my thinking that I may need to replace stairs and two bedroom carpets if they move at the end of that period - however, I would have replaced one of the bedroom carpets before they moved in but they said they would do that at some point so that I only have to do it once when they leave. They intend to stay until they can buy somewhere so if everything works out its good for both parties. They do appreciate that not many landlords would allow so many pets.
I started a similar conversation, not as well laid out as yours. I allow pets, and all tenants who have pets have been good ones. The nasty experiences have never been pet owners.
However, the outcry from landlords saying no was huge.
Doesn’t change my opinion. I allow pets - and it’s down to the vetting (excuse the pun) nothing more I feel.
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Tenants can barely take care of themselves, let alone a pet. Take 5 weeks deposit, not much comfort if tenants don’t pay last month’s rent… you are left with 1 week deposit for any damages, which is likely to be nowhere near enough. How does a tenant pay for a cat or dog who has damaged wood flooring ? Sand the whole room down and re lacquer?
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It depends on the property. If you have a property in an area that will attract conscientious professional people who you can trust to look after the property, especially with a garden, then you would be a fool not to consider pets, because you can ask for more rent. If you rent out lower market properties (e.g. compete with social housing) then the risk could outweigh the reward. Either way it’s not a black and white ‘pets are good’ or ‘pets are bad’ - it’s different for different areas. The naysayers will always shout the loudest, but you can and should give each situation its own thought! The government needs to provide fair ways to spread the risk of pet damage - there are so many possibilities for that.
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Why any landlord would want stinking animal mess to clean up I have no idea. In my experience the tenant promises the landlord how great the property will be looked after and then walks away leaving a filthy urine soaked, stinking damaged mess behind. Destroyed carpets… urine soaked through to underfloor, units damaged, furniture damaged, smells soaked into wall coverings, ruined lawn… the list goes on. It
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Just what we need. Another pet thread!
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NO MORE PLEASE please please
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Every single comment here saying “no” to pets here seems like have had more of a problem with the tenants but being decent human being than anything else.
I wonder how much their own decency is, if they were ok in renting to those individuals.
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I am both a landlord and a dog owner. I would never rent to anyone with a dog. Puppies pee everywhere, poop a lot, bite a lot of furniture, and you will fight to get it back from the deposit. Don’t bother, life is too short.
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I’m a first time landlord. I’ve made every mistake possible.
Firstly I rented my property to a friends friend how is now my enemy and is advising my tenant how to find all the loopholes and legal mistakes I’ve made.
Didn’t do any credit check, didn’t ask for references, wage slips. No passport. Nothing just took the ressured promise off my ex friend that he was a good guy. Also he came with a medium sized dog.
The house is fully refurbished with new boiler and radiators. Rewired, new plumbing, re plastered new bathroom, kitchen. Even new chrome plug sockets.
The problem was that he didn’t like me going up to the house to do maintenance cos he lived lived Dracula. Sleeping all day and drinking frosty jack all night. The final straw was when he casually told me he’d put seller tape around the kitchen tap to stop it leaking. After going mad with him he told me he didn’t bother telling me by text cos he thought he’d tell me face to face instead he thought hed tell me on my next visit. Whilst fixing the tap I inspected the oven. Had to clean that too it was absolutely full of mucky grease.
I let my tenant get 2 months into arrears then contacted a solicitor who told me I couldn’t serve a section 21 only a section 8. Having read and researched for hours I found that if I serve all the documents/ certificates/paperwork photo copies this would be fine. I also returned the deposit into his bank account. I did all this before I served the section 21.
Now my tenant is 3 months in arrears and I’ve just served him with a section 21.
The other day I received a letter from a government debt advice insolvency service saying my tenant is now in Breathing space for 60 days and I must not contact him asking for rent money. He’s receiving universal credit housing benefit and not passing on to me. Also he’s recently sold his car so as got surplus cash from that too. Also he works has a DJ in a town centre pub.
I think my ex friend who is very savvy is going to advice my tenant to stay in my property for as long as possible. Also I think my tenant will claim the 3x deposit money even though I’ve returned it.
So to summarise, the first solicitor was trying to lead me down the long expensive judge discretion section 8 because its more profitable for him. And secondly my ex friend and tenant are gonna exploit my inexperience to the last drop of money.
Of course at the end of all this I’ll be a very wise landlord and I guess I had to learn the hard way.
Please tell me members if you’d do anything that I might of forgotten.
Thanks in advance.
He might have been suggesting s8 for a reason. Was there a gas safety certificate in place when you first let the property to this guy? If not, and the property needs one, then you cannot use s21 to evict. Check the nearly legal s21 flowchart I linked for you in another thread.
Yes there has been a gas safe check all through my tenants tenancy but didn’t issue him with a photo copy untill now. My tenant has signed 2 of the gas safe certificates himself.
The first solicitor said that because I haven’t given my tenant the gas safe certificates before he moved in I couldn’t use a section 21. But I’ve read different.
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User 62 We have all made mistakes Join the NRLA. NEVER be swayed by a hard luck story or someone who knows someone else… The man who never made a mistake never made anything… I bet the Inland Revenue would like to know about the DJ job. we can only learn from a bad job
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