Two of my housemates are moving out in the next month, and I’ve got two co-workers who’d like to move into my house. It’s a pretty desirable place both because of the location and the low rent, but the lease stated that pets, even something as minor as a fish tank weren’t allowed. That said, upon asking about said fish tank and later about a guinea pig, we were allowed to get those pets a couple years back, so there’s clearly some flexibility. We no longer have the guinea pig.
Which leads to my dilemma: one of the potential housemates has a small dog, and would also like to take in her mother’s cat. Both pets are adults. The dog is a dealbreaker for her, the cat is not. I’m going in to the property management company tomorrow to ask permission to have pets. I know for a fact that the property management company does not own this house, but rather manages it for a local owner. (Why he doesn’t manage it himself, I don’t know. He’s your stereotypical retired handyman landlord, and a nice guy the one time I met him.) I also know that we’ve been great tenants and that the last tenants in both this house and in the neighboring unit have been really terrible*, and since we’re right in the middle of a college-y area, good adult tenants who definitely don’t party and will be here past the end of the year are desirable. How should I go about asking for permission for pets? For the record, the rent on the place is $895 per month (total, not per person) and the deposit was something close to that.
*The phrase “took the front door off its hinges and used it as a sled” was the example he used.
I’d explain: “I have a really great potential roommate-- she’s quiet, she’s got a good job and steady income, she’s even great at helping with house upkeep and stuff. The only issue is that she does have a small dog and cat-- both adults, both house trained, totally non destructive. She could leave the cat with her mother, but the dog does have to come with her. I was wondering if this is something you would be willing to work with, since she is such a fantastic prospect as a tenant?”
I wouldn’t even bring up pet rent or a pet deposit, let them do that.
If I had a nickel for every time I heard, “my pets are totally housebroken”, I’d have been able to retire 20 years ago. Almost without fail when they move out, we’re tearing out and replacing at least carpet padding, and often entire carpeting. You just cannot remove pet urine odors, even with the best professional carpet cleaning and enzymes.
A vet explained to me once that every time you move to a new place with your pets, house training has to start all over again.
I’d be even more concerned as a petless roommate, moving in a new roommate with critters. Any damage caused by your roommates animals, you will be held just as responsible for.
If deposits don’t cover the cost of damages, your landlord will probably pursue the balance in court.
I’d have to like a roommate pretty damn well to risk my own security deposit, potential future expenses, dings against your credit and difficulty finding another place to rent anytime soon.
Well for one no, a dog does not need to be re-housetrained every time they move. In new environments a dog may go in the home whereas before they didn’t, but most dogs that would happen a couple of times before they adjusted. They wouldn’t need to totally relearn something they had already learned. Dogs are highly trainable and something like housebreaking, once properly learned by the dog, sticks mostly for life.
As for the carpet situation, you can actually avoid pet odors ruining carpet if the urine or feces is immediately cleaned up and the area sprayed with some of the better enzyme based pet deodorant cleaners. But yes, a pet owner that just dabs up the urine and maybe sprays a little water on it or whatever will eventually have a carpet fully reeking and no amount of after the fact professional cleaning will fix it.
That being said, many States require the land lord, when making a claim against a tenant or the security deposit for carpet replacement, to factor in depreciation. I’ve heard some states where any carpet older than 36 months, you can’t go after the security deposit or the tenant at all as that is legally considered to be “life expectancy of the carpet.”
In my State that isn’t so hard coded, but our residential developments rent is priced with the cost of replacing carpet every 3 years priced in. Carpet might last 10 years or more in a family home, but even the best tenants tend to go through carpet faster. That’s why most rentals you get the cheapest carpet and replace it much more often.
Because of what does typically happen to carpet with pets, many land lords adopt the policy of replacing carpeting anytime a pet owning tenant moves out, regardless of length of tenancy. That can explain why they charge the pet fee and additional pet rent. But for many other land lords who already price 3-5 year life expectancy in carpeting into the rent, the additional pet rent and pet fee honestly just represent extra profit–although there are occasionally damages other than carpeting resulting from pets.
As for reasonable pet rent or deposit, that’s always going to be a negotiation, and I’ve seen it all over the place. I’ve seen $200 pet fee + $25 a month, and that’d be “typical” around here. I’ve also seen one month’s rent + $10 a month, or one month’s rent and then no monthly fee. The absolute most that I’d say I’ve heard is the one month rent + additional monthly fee. I’d say “fair” relative to what other people pay is several hundred dollars up front and 10-30 a month extra.
And saying, “he doesn’t need to be housetrained again, he’s just going to pee in the new house until he learns,” may not strike the landlord as terribly persuasive.
I reckon you can argue with the vet, but my experience pretty well bears out his contention.
Any ethical property owner or management will of course take carpet depreciation into account before taking it to court. However, with the typical two bedroom place averaging 2500 to 3000 for even the cheapest carpeting, any jurisdiction requiring replacement every three years is going to have outrageous rents.
Actually though, my point was that the OP needs to consider taking on responsibility for their new room mate’s critters. I know I wouldn’t want to pay for someone else’s damage.
FWIW, I’m on the market for an apartment that will allow pets, and a lot of places say “pets negotiable”. So far that means something between testimony of a prior landlord that the pet does not cause damage, and/or an extra monthly fee (RI state law doesn’t allow a deposit above one months’ rent). That fee has ranged from $15/month to $50/month for our two cats.
There’s a special place in hell for people who charge pet rent. Deposit, fine (although I understand that the Rhode Island example above makes it harder).
If it were, it would be impossible to travel with dogs, or visit for the weekend.
If it’s that bad, then I except the tenant to have caused other damage by themselves. A pet having an accident every once in awhile won’t linger if immediately and properly cleaned. A home where the clothes pile in the corner gets a daily cat soaking is going to be more of a problem.
Clearly, having a pet in a home has the potential to cause more damage. Pets, even well behaved ones, are likely to do some extra damage to a living area. It’s not at all unreasonable (and certainly not immoral) to charge to cover that.
When I look for a rental, only about 10% of places advertise that they allow cats. Maybe another 10 or 20% will consider it if you ask. It’s even worse for dog owners. I’d much rather that people would just charge a bit more to cover their risk and let the market sort it out. A deposit would be better, but there are often laws against having a large enough deposit to adequately cover the risk.
I just wrote out a check to the flooring company to pull and replace just the carpet padding on a room measuring about twenty by twenty feet, that was more than 500 bucks. That was after paying nearly $500 for professional cleaning of the carpet in the whole house, which is done after each vacancy.
I wouldn’t get a roommate with pets, either, with or without a pet deposit (and certainly not without a hefty one). I have a cat, and as good as she is, she still does damage to the house. Dogs and cat both barf, pee, and poop on carpets, and dogs and cats also chew and scratch things. Dogs also bark, creating a new bunch of problems.
Do you have a yard? Fenced? If not, I’d say pass on the doggie.
I am a landlord, and yes, I allow pets. My rational is that people who love their critters stay longer for lack of options, but a dog needs a place to go. If there is a yard, then make firm arrangements for poopy pickup, like every day. At least.
I owned a condo then rented it out after I moved out. I had cats, and I grew up with dogs, so I have no prejudice against animals. However, I do hold a grudge against pet owners who are not responsible. I let my tenant have a dog. The dog must be have locked in a back bedroom at least part of the time because he had clawed part of the carpet down to the backing. He scratched the molding by the front door so badly it looked like someone went after it with a rake. She made no effort to repair any of this or notify me in advance of move-out so I charged it against her security deposit.
As to pets and housebreaking, cats can be rather fragile about changing homes. It is very different depending on the cat. I had a cat, an adult male, about 5-6 years old who suddenly started spraying after I moved in with my fiancée. There can be multiple causes for this but the vet believed it was the stress of moving. The cat had been treated with surgery for cystitis and was on a special diet but had not been spraying. The vet actually prescribed Buspar, a drug used to treat anxiety in humans. It didn’t help much. My other (female) cat seemed to adjust fine.
My cat is a vertical claw-sharpener - she tunes up on all the door jambs in our house. My husband’s cat was a horizontal claw-sharpener - she clawed up all the carpets.
