To Landlords, would you Rent to a Pet owner?

PlymouthMaid

I would probably say no to cats again unless there was a massive deposit or pet bond as the last tenant had a cat and it destroyed the new carpet with its scratching and also left fleas behind. It cost me a lot of money when she left. May allow a dog but it is safer all round to say no pets although a guinea pig may be ok.

Pixie5740

Innys1 wrote: »

Read some of the posts on this thread and you'd get the impression that a landlord's allergy would be a minor irrelevance to some tenants. After all, once they've moved in, it's their gaff.

It is the tenant's gaff. So what if the landlord is allergic to cats, the landlord doesn't live there. If the landlord is allergic to peanuts does that mean the tenant isn't allowed to have peanuts in the property too?

I can understand pets not being allowed if the freeholder says otherwise but in the case of an unfurnished property I don't see what the big whoopsiedoo is. When I was looking for my last rental place I had a pet hamster and I got knocked back until I just stopped being upfront about it. I always managed to hide my hamster before inspections (but I won't tell you where) and managed to not get caught.

Mossfarr

Pixie5740
I carry out repairs as soon as the call me.
I redecorate and renew carpets every 2 years.
I help them look after the garden as one is disabled.
I provide bedding plants each year and help to plant them.
I help them with paperwork to claim their benefits and go with them to the HB office if they ask me to.
I also allow them to go into arrears when the disabled tenant loses time from his job.
I don't need to tuck them into bed or read stories - I allow them privacy in their home to do that themselves!
Also, it may be their home but it is still my house.
mossfarr

Pixie5740

Mossfarr wrote: »

Pixie5740
I carry out repairs as soon as the call me.
I redecorate and renew carpets every 2 years.
I help them look after the garden as one is disabled.
I provide bedding plants each year and help to plant them.
I help them with paperwork to claim their benefits and go with them to the HB office if they ask me to.
I also allow them to go into arrears when the disabled tenant loses time from his job.
I don't need to tuck them into bed or read stories - I allow them privacy in their home to do that themselves!
Also, it may be their home but it is still my house.
mossfarr

Not this old chestnut about property ownership again!

That's big of you to fix repairs and allow tenants privacy in their own homes. Well done you.

That's nice that of you to help out with HB claims but ultimately that money ends up in your pocket so it's not entirely selfless just a good business decision.

Mossfarr

pixie5740,
you are hilarious - I have really enjoyed winding you up but I've had a long day counting all my money so its beddy byes for me.
I would say 'live long and prosper' but that's clearly not going to happen.
mossfarr

Pixie5740

Sorry to disappoint you but I am far from wound up. I'm glad you enjoyed raking up a thread to have your little rant about cats though. =^..^=

AdrianC

Mossfarr wrote: »

I ... renew carpets every 2 years.

Have you considered buying half-way decent quality carpets?

justwondering25

I rent my property to a couple , after they had been moved in for a couple of months , they asked if they could have 2 cats in the property.....hmmmm I thought 2 cats , something tingled my spider senses and I wondered to myself...I bet they have these 2 cats already....so a minor investigations , I went to my property and looked in the bins , the bins had a fair few cat food tins in there and cat litter, I was not very happy at this point as I clearly stated no pets.

Long storey short.....went round with the letting agent , to investigate....went inside the property , the cats had ruined the leather 3 piece sweet , there tiny sharp claws/nails had put hundreds of puncture marks into the leather sofa , they had taken to sitting on the upstairs banister , full of scratches , wallpaper in the hall had become a favourite scratching place , cat hairs covered my deep pile carpets.
So I had two choices , wave goodbye to the nice tenants with destructive cats , or keep the tenant s and put up with the cats....at the end of the day , the cats had already done the damage !

So what happened....well the tenant have been there now for nearly 3 years....solution was increase the rent by 50 pounds a month (to slowly help pay towards damage) , take a upfront deep cleaning fee £300.00 (needed as the cat hairs can cause people with allergies to have issues) and basically at the end of the tenancy they will lose their deposit......

But I will be left with lots of work to do , re-wall papering , repainting , new carpets , new sofa.....I won't profit from the extra charges , as it will need to be re-spent, in fact , I dare say it will cost me more than 1800 (36 x 50) + 300 + 700 deposit = 2800 , is unlikely to buy me a new 3 piece leather sofa , re-wallpaper my hall stairs , landing area , main bedroom and various repainting....!!

But anyone that thinks cats do no damage to a property , well trust me they do .

fairy_lights

I'm amazed that some people's cats have done enough damage to warrant an entire house being redecorated and recarpeted, the worst my cat has done is get a few muddy footprints up the walls (we have no idea how).
He spends most of his time outside which files his claws down so he doesn't scratch at the carpet, we don't have wallpaper but even if we did I can't imagine him being motivated to rip it up. He has never had fleas, and although his fur does get everywhere we hoover it up.
I suspect that tenants who will let their cats cause huge amounts of damage are the sort of tenants who won't take care of a property themselves anyway, and would leave it in a terrible state regardless of how many pets they have.

Pixie5740

Depending on how long your tenants stay, wouldn't you redecorate before the next lot of tenants anyway? Undoubtedly the cats have accelerated the deterioration of the furniture, carpets and wallpaper (and you can claim for damage caused by the little furballs) but those things have a finite life anyway. You're not entitled to betterment so you won't be able to deduct the full cost of a brand new sofa from the deposit or the full cost of redecorating anyway regardless of how much damage the cats have caused.

With a bit of luck your tenants will be long term tenants since so few landlords are willing to accept tenants with pets and then everything will balance out more or less.