Sadly, many landlords do not accept pets. Personally I have had many good experiences with tenants and their pets and some very bad ones. At the end of the day, my policy is that I accept pets as often as possible.
What makes me keep accepting pets? I volunteer at the animal shelter and I see so many people with the last of their belongings packed in or on top of their car as they move from one rental to another. The last stop they make is to the animal shelter to drop off their dog or cat. The new landlord does not allow pets. It is incredibly sad. The owner surrender animals are the most depressed.
Some of these animals will get new homes. Most will not. They will be put to sleep, sent to rendering plants and made into lip stick. Not joking about that.
I helped rescue one dog who had been adopted three times by different families and returned to the same shelter because the families needed to move and could not find a pet friendly rental. Pluto was 5 and in the shelter for the third time. Older and with no options he was rescued by a wonderful foster who kept him for 5 months until he found an adopter. He was incredibly lucky and rare. Most animals do not get out of the shelter. 10 million animals per year are killed in this country in shelters.
Pit bulls have no chance at all.
It is very sad but what can we do? If you are a landlord accept pets. You will be saving lives. My policy? Cats are welcome and I am flexible about numbers within reason. I am very open to considering dogs of all sizes. My restrictions are that the dog must be non aggressive and not a barker. I do not care if the dog is the size of a small pony. I am flexible on numbers of dogs too. I am very clear about the dog being a good citizen. No lonely barkers, no I heard a noise barkers. I interview the owner about barking before I schedule an appointment to see the unit. Prospective tenants either answer “my dog is very quiet” in which case I will consider them or “dogs bark” which means their dog is not trained. My rules: the dog is allowed to bark when someone comes to the door not when someone walks by. I can’t have the peace and quiet of the other neighbors disturbed by barking. There are collars that mist citronella which aid in no bark training. There is a period of adjustment with any dog new to the property but is should be days not weeks. If a barking problem continues I will insist that a solution is found immediately.
What about damage? I charge a deposit for dogs of $500. This refundable fee covers multiple pets and is in addition to the regular deposit. Rarely have I had destruction that wasn’t a simple fix by a carpenter and a painter. Most of my pet tenants received their full deposit back. I always have tile or hardwood floors and I treat the floors with very durable polyurethane.
My pet contract also requires that the dogs be walked off the property to urinate and defecate. Why? Because it burns the landscaping. Most of my tenants have been very respectful. On a couple of occasions I have had to send out very stern group letters regarding dog feces on the property, However, problems are few and far between as long as everyone KNOWS WHAT TO EXPECT IN ADVANCE.
Do I require an extra deposit for cats? No, the amount of damage from cats is usually very small and covered by the regular security deposit. And besides, as my husband says, “cats are cool”.