Pets in a Rental Property

Hi All,
A trusted friend has just advised me they saw a small animal (not sure if a cat or dog) in the window of our rental property.
On signing a Tenancy Lease/Agency Agreement I attached a Letter stating I prefer NOT to have pets, but if a Tenant did insist on having a pet I would want to negotiate weekly rent or be commensuate to cover damage as our property is only 6 months old. I recently received a Rental Inspection report and it did not mention any Pets (do PM's have a duty to disclose this information to Landlords?)
I have in the past also leased a property with this particular Property Manager, about six months into the Lease they rang me to ask if the Tenant could have a dog - I said no as the property was also brand new and I was planning on selling it after 12 months and wanted to keep it fresh - so they know my feelings on this matter.
What action should I take to cover myself if I need to replace anything from damage. How do I find out if the animal lives in the house or just visiting - I am not sure the PM will tell me the truth now? Because there is nothing specific in my Lease (although I had a letter attached to it) does that mean I have no grounds to do anything?
On another note, my 2nd last statement stated they took money out of my rent to pay for a repair we had on our property and two months later (after requests as service was under warranty) have not reimbursed me. They also tried to Lease our property out for Less than what was written on our Lease and made out that I might loose the Tenant as I was asking for more rent - which I wasn't.
Am I being petty or would you find another Property Manager? Any advice would be great. I pay 8.8% commission per week.
ThanksTara

You need to bring the pet issue to the attention of the PM. I am with you. I donot allow pets of any disciption in my Ip's. If there is a pet and the Pm was aware of it they are not acting in your interest and I would suggest you find another Pm who will comply with your requirements.
If there is a pet in the property without permission...even visiting......you need to advise the tenant that pets are not permitted and the pet needs to be relocated .
Regards
Kel

Kelvin J Brennan

Hi,

I work in a real estate agency and all tenants must notify of there intention to obtain a pet then it is up to the owner to say yay or nay, the person who does the inspections ( not necessarily the property manager)  should know if there is an animal unless they took it else where while the inspection was being done. also 8.8% is a little on the dear side try to renegotiate especially if this is you 2nd property. Usually if owners agree to a pet they opt to put the rent up by $5 -10 and put a clause in the tenancy agreement that the tenant is liable for any damage, carpet and flea treatments. if you pm wont listen tell them you will go else where if that doesnt do anything then i would definatley find some one else.

nicole

Thanks for the reply's.
Nicole - as our Tenancy Agreement still has about six months left, can you add a Pet Clause/increase Rent without notice mid Lease or do we have to wait until this Agreement Expires?8.8% is the lower negotiated price - it is normally 9.3% 
ThanksTara

Nicole,
    Okay basically you are stuffed you CAN NOT modify a lease after it has been signed without both parties agreeing to it. 2nd you need to confirm that there is in fact a pet in the property, you left yourself open by saying you would prefer not to have pets, if you don't want pets then say in the lease plain and simple NO PETS.
If there is in fact a pet then you would have case for breach of contract, but you would need to go to the tribunal to have the tenant removed and show that the pet did in fact reside in the premises.
In most cases I deal with you will be compensated  for any damage that is caused, you'll need to check with your LL insurance if you don't have LL insurance then you'll need to go to the tribunal to have those damages awarded to you.

I should point out this is pretty general advice to. Getting angry at your manager will do nothing unless you suspect them of knowing and not telling you. Even if you do change agents the lease remains the same.

If you'd like more help drop me a line only to happy to help.

Benjamin

I ahve a few brand new homes in Aust and NZ and allow my tenants to have small pets, to date I have had no issues, and I have not charged tenants extra either. What I have found is it is very hard for tenants to find nice properties that allow pets, and when they do they tend to stay a lot longer, and love it as there own home. I have had more issues, and damage with children in the properties, so now if it is a professional couple or elderly people or a single with a pet- I know they will 99% be long term tenants, want to look after all- paying rent, home care and be happy and settled.

I have a brand new lovely home and a small mini fox terrier, she comes inside only at night to sleep, and outside in the day, I wash her 3 x per week, and mop/ vacuum a few times a week, my home is like a show home- so I guess it is up to the people. If we sold and we had to rent til we built again or bought elsewhere I would be discriminated and maybe find it difficult to find a home to rent as we have a small dog.

Also I feel it is always better to pay very good money mgt fees and find the best PM you can, and the good ones will not work for peanuts- my rentals I pay my PM 9.1%, rent is paid to me 2 x per month on time, they email all statements, look after all bills, M/R, and I get a quick email update monthly. I make it my policy not to get emotionally involved with my investments.

Maybe you need to find a better PMGR and also pay them more, and write a list of expectations and get them to sign it, also ask the PM how long they have worked for the company, as good to get a stable company and Property Mgr.

Goodluck- maybe ask for a meeting with the tenant and an inspection- if you react too emotionally you could upset a good tenant and they may go elsewhere, just so they can have their little pet! bye-kylie

I also have two small dogs and my home is like a display home, it all depends on the owner of the said dog. I'm looking at renting a place for a while so i can invest more and hope that i can find a decent property that allow pets. Making people pay more money to have pets is just going to annoy them and they will move on you either allow it or you dont. 

We generally allow pets in our propertys - as we too have a dog and have had issues renting in the past. We specify that we dont want them inside (dogs) , and that no Jack russels and yap yap dogs purely as a courtesy for the neighbors - but other than that I think you are more likely to get an 'average/normal' type tennant, either as a family or older single/couple that will hopefully be more inclined to really feel 'at home'.
Just my thoughts.....*** While I think of it, we once rented a place ourselves, and simply made the suggestion we would be happy to pay an additional bond. We did, with the only conditions being we had to get the yard and house sprayed etc after vacating (even though our boy is an outside dog only) . No drama at all - and the next guy put up a nice fence for our dog to keep him in as a result of the good 'feedback' from the last property manager.  (Also because we are nice and he was frightened of the dog perhaps? )

If the tenant has a pet in the property in breach of their lease then the lease can be terminated.  Yes, if the tenant is difficult and wants to take you to the tribunal then it may be a long and drawn out process.  But if the tenant is keen to stay then it would be fairly easy for your PM to let them know that you want the old lease terminated and a new one including a pet clause signed.

Get your PM to breach the tenant and then renegotiate a new lease.  You pay the PM enough money - make them earn it.

Cheers

K

In my experience I have found children damage a property, pets don't. I have had tenants keep pets, have never had a problem with them at all as I generally find that good tenants will take good care of their pets and be grateful that they are allowed to keep them. It is children now that I dread, drawing on walls with crayons, kicking walls....children are also more annoying for the neighbours if they misbehave (especially in unit blocks). I would take a small pet anyday. Maybe organise to do an inspection yourself, and if the place looks fine don't stress. For all you know the tenant may have just had a relative's pet over for the day while they were in hospital, and if they are paying the rent and keeping the place neat, it's not worth losing a good tenant over.

It's a tough one; they won't want to get rid of the pet that's for sure, and you normally can't change the lease mid-term.

Personally, I think pets are o.k, but charge a premium for them to cover damage such as urine, smell etc. In many cases the doggy smell etc in the carpet means new carpet

You will have to get the PM to tell them they are in breach of the lease contract first, but with a suggestion that if they want to keep the pet, then they will need to pay more rent to cover it, and there will need to be a new lease put in place to cover the pet in the property.

Then suggest that if everyone (you and the Tenant) agrees, you will set up a brand new lease which includes the pet and with a higher rent.

The P.M can set up a new lease easily with the new conditions written in. over here in the US, it's not uncommon for pets to cost an extra $150-$200 per month. Depends on how much rent your tenant is paying of course, but you may suggest an extra $50 per month.

This way, everyone wins.

Cheers,
Marc.
erardent@hotmail.com

"we get sent lemons; it's up to us to make lemonade"

My PM got the tenant to fill out a form which states that they have to do carpets/flea/insect treatment and repair all damaged caused by the dog..woof woof!!!!

This message is brought to you by the mind of Andrew K.
To buy or not to buy..that is the question...
http://propertyinvestinginaustralia.blogspot.com/

It will be really hard to change the lease.  The tenants will probably claim the dog is "visiting" or that they are "minding it for friends".

We had an issue with one of our IPs when we found out that instead of the 5 people listed on the lease there were actually 9 people living there.  The tenants claimed they were "relatives" who were "visiting" for a few weeks.  And grandma also came over every day "but went home at night" because she was helping mind the kids.  So it was 10 in all.  And to top it all off the place was a pigsty (and that is an insult to pigs).  We had lengthy discussions with our PM who basically told us that if we took it to the tribunal we would almost certainly lose - tenants are allowed to have family visits.  I would think your chances with the tribunal over a dog would be a waste of time.

Tenants were most annoyed when we refused to renew the lease.

I suggest you bring it to your PM's attention and get them to talk to the tenant, and be very particular with your inspections when these tenants move out.
Marg

Hi Everyone,It has been a while since I first made this post, but it had taken this long to sort it out. So this is what happened.It turned out the Tenants did advise our PM they had a pet from day one. Our PM changed our Lease to include a pet after we signed it and didn't tell us. Our PM has since left this particular office and we have been assigned a new one so no-one can really clarify what happened.Our new PM told us basically tough; there was nothing we could do about it because it is in the Lease.The PM then told the Tenants we knew nothing about the Pet and now had to keep it outside. I didn't think this was fair on the Tenant, technically they had done nothing wrong and were upfront from the start.I knew this would cause problems but knew I had done the right thing complaining as the next day when I got to work (the office I work from is rented and a residental house) - their was a HUGE stain on the floor where the Boss's dog had S@#* on the carpet.The agency has dropped our weekly Commission rate and reimbursed us the balance.The Tenants have purchased a property and will be moving out soon (before the Lease expires)

Tara.