PETS AND RENTALS
Larger Tenant Pool
Statistics indicates that 75% of renters own pets, and 60% of those pet owners claim that they struggle to find a pet-friendly rental. You will widen your tenant pool by allowing pets – and your listing will the first one that a pet owner responds too, lessoning the marketing time.
Increase Renewals
With a scarcity of pet friendly properties, you tenants don’t want to move at the end of your lease term. In an analysis of landlord surveys by Firepaw Inc., (https://firepaw.org/) tenant with pets were found to stay significantly longer, by an average of 23 months compared to 15 months.
Make More Money
Since many properties are not pet friendly, an owner with a pet with pay more to rent a property. You can usually lease a property up for more rent and in a shorter amount of time. Adding on a monthly pet fee will also increase your income.
Protect Your Property
When you allow pets on your property, your pet policy provides protections against pet damage in the way of a pet deposit, liability coverage through renter’s insurance, and established rules and expectations regarding pet behavior. If you do not allow pets at your property you run the risk of your renters sneaking in an unauthorized pet. Unauthorized pets will cause damage and have the potential to hurt people on your property, all of which the property owner will be responsible for if the tenant leaves.
By allowing pets on your property under certain conditions outlined in your lease and pet policy you decrease the occurrences of unauthorized pets. You can ask your tenants to issue a pet deposit to cover property damage (if allowed by your state laws).
Additionally, when you collect a significant pet deposit from your tenants ($200+) they will be more likely to prevent pet damage because they have money on the line. If you simply collect a non-refundable pet fee, your tenants have no monetary incentive to prevent pet damage.
How Much Damage Do Pets Actually Cause?
In the FIREPAW, Inc study, 85% of landlords permitting pets reported having some amount of pet-related damage at some time, But in most cases, the cost of damage was covered by the required security deposit and the homeowner experienced no real loss. In reality , the data suggests there is little difference in damage between tenants with or without pets. In the FIREPAW Inc study, the biggest difference in damage from tenants with pets and those without was under $40 with an average of $323 in damage for tenants without pets and average of $362 for tenants with pets.
Pet Screening
At Maple Leaf Property Management, we make sure that every pet goes through pet screening (petscreening.com) and the references checked out. In general, a well-behaved car of dog causes less wear and tear on a home and a yard then a young child. An additional pet deposit or pet rent is recommended per pet.
Pet Policy
Having a clear pet policy, outlined in the lease agreement, will help minimize risk and establish clear expectations about acceptable animal behavior in your rental property. A good pet policy provides the foundation for maximizing your rent at your investment.
Maple Leaf Property Management does business in accordance with the Federal, State and Local Fair Housing laws and welcome Persons of all Race, Color, Disability, Religious Creed, Ancestry, Sex, Familial Status, Sexual Preference, Gender Identity, Age and National Origin. We process applications and score is on the criteria described in this policy. We do not accept comprehensive reusable tenant screening reports.
