Pets and rentals. Things property owners should consider.

Wondering if you should allow pets in your income property? Statistics show that 75% of renters own pets, and 60% of those pet owners claim that they struggle to find a pet-friendly rental. There are many things to consider when deciding whether or not you want to allow your tenants to have pets.

Vacancies and Renewals
By allowing pets, you generally widen your tenant pool and lessen the time a property might be vacant. On the other end, tenants in pet-friendly properties were found to stay significantly longer, by an average of 23 months compared to 15 months.

How Much Damage Do Pets Actually Cause?
Studies indicate that 85% of landlords who permit pets reported having some amount of pet-related damage at some time. In most cases, however, the cost of damage was covered by the required security deposit and the homeowner experienced no significant financial loss.

Protect Your Property
When you allow pets on your property, a pet policy provides protections against pet damage in the way of a pet deposit, liability coverage through renters insurance, and establishes 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.