Pets And Renting
I'm having a hard time getting my only SFH rented. It has been on the market for amost 2 months and has been vacant over 3 weeks. I have shown the house 6 times, 4 of which were in the last 4 days. However, out of all this, I only have 1 person who has filled out the application. She has a cat which she says is litter box trained. I'm inclined to believe her, but have heard horror stories from my wife of cats gone bad - who spray everywhere and the smell will never go away. The house is 3 bed, 1.5 bath and mostly carpet with a fenced yard. Should I force her to keep the cat outside? To give it away? Let her have the place and just theaten to keep the whole deposit if she doesn't completely clean up any cat messes? I'm only asking a $300 deposit from her if I accept the application, b/c that is all she has in her trailer right now. I don't think she can come up with much more. But I need to get the house rented so I quit paying the utilities and have someone to cover the payments.
My stated policy is no pets, but the house is in a small town where EVERYONE has a pet and nearly all landlords there seem to allow them.
You may have to just bite the bullet and go with the flow. Increase the security deposit to cover pet abuse. If the applicant does not have a full security deposit on hand, take it in two or three installments.
Does anyone have experience with renting and indoor cats? How much is fair/sufficient for an additional pet deposit? How much does it usually cost to repair?
Have never rented to anyone with a cat but have rented to people with a dog. I have them give a deposit for the house and then a seperate deposit for the pet.
Also in my market you can charge extra rent for the privilage of having a pet in your place. I always meet the pet and I never rent without refrences who have let that pet live there (no puppies or kittens). I always try to get three. Hope this helps.
Cats do change their bathroom habits. I have two cats.
Increase your deposit enough to cover the carpets. Have an animal policy in your lease. My animal policy is two pages long and specifically meantions that cats must use a litter box and if any terms of the policy are broken I can ask the owner to either get rid of the pet or move out with 30 days notice.
Do quarterly smell inspections.
Brenda
Talk to her present landlord about their property. Ask open ended questions about the condition of the apartment.
You can get a bigger deposit by having her pay in installments. $300 upfront and $25 per month for $800 total or something like that.
How much will it cost you to replace the carpets if the cat destroys them (which is entirely possible).
I'd come up with some excuse to drop by the place that she's living now. Go in, sit down, review her application with her, ask to use the bathroom, get a drink of water, etc. If she's lived in it for 6 months or more and it's in good shape, I'd consider the gamble.