Tenant's Pet
When my tenant moved in the apartment, I made it very clear no pets. After 3 years with me, she decided to adopt a dog. And she let me about it after the fact. After getting initially getting upset, I am ok now as the dog is not very big and rather cute :). Plus,…
When my tenant moved in the apartment, I made it very clear no pets. After 3 years with me, she decided to adopt a dog. And she let me about it after the fact. After getting initially getting upset, I am ok now as the dog is not very big and rather cute :). Plus, she is willing to sign any lease rider to protect me from any damage.
Any idea where I can get a rider like that or what I should include there?
Any advice will be appreciated.
Thank you.
A well meaning friend of mine who worked very long hours got an Alaskan sled dog puppy, and the poor thing was untrained and lonely and barked and whined all day and chewed up the doors and part of a counter.
‘that dog will poop and pee on rugs and hard wood floor”
:-/
doubt it. cats are more like to spray their wares all over the apt than a dog. dogs like to go outside. i still think it was wrong of the tenant to bring in a dog knowing she lived in an apt that said no pets allowed (and im a dog owner btw). there’s reasons people dont want pets, smoking, etc in their buildings and houses… those reasons are persnoal, obvious, sometimes ridiculous, but as a tenant you need to abide by those rules.
i take it, as a landlord, you didnt have any strange reasons for not wanting pets other than that they might be more of a nuisance than those people with pets.. so that’s good, you dont have allergies, etc etc. she got lucky to have an understanding landlord like you. i dont know, people like that come across as a little more entitled than they should be. she willingly went out and adopted a pet.. is that suppsoed to make you feel more sympathetic than if she spent 5000 dollars on an imported yappy poodle?
it’s hard renting when you have a pet, but when people do stuff like this it makes landlords who might consider to allow 1 pet to think twice and be like well is this person going to bring in 50 more, might as well make a hardcore no pet rule.
essentially she took advantage of you. she MUST have known she could take in a stray dog and youd be cool with it, or else she wouldnt have done it. it’s great that she adopted a dog in need, but at the same, it’s YOUR house. im sorry but if i owned a house there would be a hardcore NO CATS ALLOWED rule, (dogs are okay). if someone leased from me for 3 years than took in a cat without me knowing id be kinda pissed. then again if she got knocked up and had twins there would be nothing you could about it. things that make you go hmmmm
*rob*
Protect yourself like they’ve all said above me, but also be happy that you have a tenant of three years and help nurture that relationship. You would get more damage from people moving out/in every year than a steady tenant. get the extra month security, That dog will poop and pee on rugs and hard wood floor.
You sound friendly with the tenant, but do both if possible. In my experience having something written is just as important as the money. Just getting a deposit won’t specify it’s not okay to get more pets, that the pet is vaccinated and is healthy, what you expect for excessive noise, that the pet won’t roam the halls free, etc.
I’d say get the deposit, since clearly she has a problem with keeping her word. In this case, money is much more valuable than a rider (or her word).
^^ but do add anything else you want in your own form.
the PetFinder link from Vinca looks pretty good.
Rider should be simple plain English in numbered list format. If you have a lease with numbered paragraphs, just continue with the next number for the rider. Write the extra pet deposit amount on the rider if you decide to collect. Don’t forget to add signature line or initials line and date for you and the tenant then sign or initial.
You can write it anyway you want I don’t have mine handy, but I specify the in the rider the number of pets (to make sure it doesn’t cover additional acquisitions), type of pet), that the tenant should be able to provide a vet reference and proof of vaccination, add a statement that damages caused by the pet are payable by the tenant during tenancy and can be deducted from the security deposit at end of tenancy.
Get teh add’l deposit. Also, you want the rider, covering noise, disturbance, etc., because in the unlikely event this turns out to be a disaster, you want to be able to show a clear breach of lease terms, and you may not be able to use the dog itself as the breach of you’ve acquiesced for a while.