Some landlords think of pets in their property as a ticking time bomb while others see it as a good way to attract more tenants and charge a higher rent. There are both advantages and disadvantages of renting to people with dogs and other pets and landlords have different views on whether it is right for a rental property.
Many landlords who have landlord insurance are not willing to accept pets in a rented property, but those who do will instantly expand the number of tenants to choose from. In fact there are a small number of landlords who actually prefer renting to a pet owner because they find them to be much more responsible. Another bonus of renting a property to a tenant with pets is that they are more likely stay there longer as it is harder for them to find another landlord who will accept them. Essentially, a landlord will find tenants a lot quicker if they allow pets, which will ultimately save them money.
A landlord who allows a tenant to have a pet will sometimes ask for a pet deposit. This works just like any other security deposit and a landlord can deduct money from it to pay for any cleaning needed or any damage that the pet has caused. As well as the pet deposit, a landlord will sometimes increase the monthly rent, and a tenant with a pet is usually willing to pay more rent in order to keep the pet, as long as the rent increase is not unreasonable.
A landlord who refuses pets does not mean that they are pet haters. Sometimes they may just be ill-informed or more likely, they have had a bad experience with pets and their owners in the past. An untrained pet will have the potential to cause a lot of damage to a property and if they are not toilet trained, they could cause some nasty odours and stains around the property. A dog who barks constantly, a cat meowing or even chirping from birds could lead to noise problem especially if the neighbours live close by. The last thing a landlord wants is to have to deal with complaints from the neighbours and other tenants all the time. A good landlord will make quarterly inspections of their property whether they allow pets or not, but especially if a tenant does have a pet, so they can monitor how well behaved and clean the pet is.