Allowing pets in Rentals, what major problems are there?
invite response
2012 Sep 24, 9:42am 36,114 views 87 comments
« First « Previous Comments 66 - 87 of 87 Search these comments
New Renter
2012 Sep 25, 2:50pm
ope. My best friend let her baby crawl around without a diaper a lot and the landlord had to replace the carpet when they moved out of the house. Pretty disgusting. The landlord thought they had been keeping a pet without permission. Nope--just a kid peeing all over the place.
How old was the carpet and how long had your friend been living there? The carpet may have needed replacing anyways.
rufita11
2012 Sep 25, 2:59pm
ope. My best friend let her baby crawl around without a diaper a lot and the landlord had to replace the carpet when they moved out of the house. Pretty disgusting. The landlord thought they had been keeping a pet without permission. Nope--just a kid peeing all over the place.
How old was the carpet and how long had your friend been living there? The carpet may have needed replacing anyways.
I visited a few times and the carpet looked new. The house itself was only about 15 years old. They kept the house very clean, but liked to air out the baby ;p.
New Renter
2012 Sep 25, 3:34pm
Regarding carpet and pet/kid stains.
Mohawk did a publicity stunt a few years ago where they installed smartstrand (triexta) carpet in the living enclosures of a black rhinoceros, six African elephants and a few camels. The animals lived on the carpets for a few weeks doing what they do best. The carpets were then cleaned using ordinary methods (hot water extraction, spot cleaning etc.) The results were pretty impressive, at least what can be seen on the videos.
http://www.smartstrandchallenge.com/
I have since read some comments elsewhere that the test samples did have some residual odor but given the severity of the tests and the ordinary methods of cleaning this is not surprising. I'd guess that using a dilute bleach solution would kill any residual odors.
It shouldn't matter anyway as the carpet has a lifetime warranty for pet stains. Put this or similar carpet over a good spillguard carpet pad and pet/kid stains should not be much of an issue.
New Renter
2012 Sep 25, 3:36pm
They kept the house very clean, but liked to air out the baby ;p.
That's what lawns are for!
Rent to good people and it won't be an issue!
Of course, MOST of the good people are homeowners. The best tenants are mostly the best of the rest, give or take a few market timers, folks in temporary transition*, etc.
* Even this isn't necessarily a great tenant, because s/he's going to move soon and require turnover.
10) Dog owner behavior.
Dog owners EXPECT everyone to love their dogs and if you don’t then there is something wrong with you. Dog owners invade your space. They ALWAYS let their dogs come up to complete strangers and press their wet noses on their leg.
You could easily replace the word DOG with KID and tell the same story.
As for toy/small dogs being better, they are the worst of the dog kingdom. They are usually the yappers and incessant barkers, and often, the dogs that are aggressive and wannabe-dominant over other dogs and people. Hence the term "small dog complex".
Are you really complaining about cleaning the carpets between tenancies? Isn't this required by law in many areas?
What god forsaken town is that? If you have ever owned, did you replace the carpets every year or two? If so, why?
Oddly, paint and carpet lasts homeowners for years if not a decade or more, but tenants only a year or two.
New Renter
2012 Sep 25, 4:08pm
Are you really complaining about cleaning the carpets between tenancies? Isn't this required by law in many areas?
What god forsaken town is that? If you have ever owned, did you replace the carpets every year or two? If so, why?
Oddly, paint and carpet lasts homeowners for years if not a decade or more, but tenants only a year or two.
If you actually read my post I said CLEAN, not REPLACE
Mea culpa re: your post.
The tenants should clean at moveout however - some leases specify this (where allowed by law). And my comments about the lifespan of renter paint and carpet vs owner paint and carpet stand.
ELC
2012 Sep 25, 9:59pm
The carpets were then cleaned using ordinary methods (hot water extraction, spot cleaning etc.) The results were pretty impressive, at least what can be seen on the videos.
My friend had four cats and the management finally changed the carpet after seven years. The padding almost fused into the concrete. They had to use a shovel to scrape the padding up. We sprayed enzyme deoderizer on the stained concrete. The smell was so bad the worker almost passed out. We found him on the lawn on his knees puking. But once the new carpet was in you would never have know there were cats.
New Renter
2012 Sep 26, 1:18am
The carpets were then cleaned using ordinary methods (hot water extraction, spot cleaning etc.) The results were pretty impressive, at least what can be seen on the videos.
My friend had four cats and the management finally changed the carpet after seven years. The padding almost fused into the concrete. They had to use a shovel to scrape the padding up. We sprayed enzyme deoderizer on the stained concrete. The smell was so bad the worker almost passed out. We found him on the lawn on his knees puking. But once the new carpet was in you would never have know there were cats.
That sucks. Hopefully the management company took some precautions this time by sealing the concrete and using a quality carpet pad.
New Renter
2012 Sep 26, 1:25am
Mea culpa re: your post.
The tenants should clean at moveout however - some leases specify this (where allowed by law). And my comments about the lifespan of renter paint and carpet vs owner paint and carpet stand.
Which is also why most SFRs demand a substantial cleaning deposit.
Your post implies I had said the carpet should be replaced between renters which I did not. Of course carpet - properly installed and maintained - should have a useful lifetime of many years with the length of that lifetime proportional to the quality of the carpet, pad, install, maintenance and degree of use.
freak80
2012 Sep 26, 1:38am
A box is all he can afford in San Fran.
All those homeless people you see in SF are investment bankers making six figures.
Before people started getting abusive and discussing one off situations, it seems that allowing pets isn't terrible. What I would call "cheap" damage is that around doors where they might scrape things. That isn't horrendous, and their deposit will cover that.
The carpet/flooring issues are a little troubling, but it appears that the limited supply and higher rents for these places will attract many extra good tenants, allowing for higher possible rents and at the very least, a larger pool of people to select from. Over all it is probably worth it.
I will avoid large dogs that might cause death, that could be a costly law suit, even though extremely unlikely. These places aren't suitable for large dogs anyways, so it's partially moot. But smaller pets and cats seem ok. There are decent ways to repair the damages a cat/dog might cause.
The comments regarding children doing similar underfloor damage, that was some extreme one off case. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone else making those complaints. Those are just things to deal with in life, not something to worry about. There are plenty of odd people out there, but I'm just interested in the cases I'm likely to run into.
I will avoid large dogs that might cause death
While a large dog might be inherently more dangerous due to size, strength, bigger teeth, it is really the breed and the way the dog has been socialized and trained that determines how dangerous it is. Pitbulls aren't that large, but they are probably more dangerous on average than a giant Newfoundland, a breed known as the gentle giant.
New Renter - I addressed my error in a follow-up post. If you want an apology, here it is: Sorry for misreading your post.
New Renter
2012 Sep 26, 3:39am
New Renter - I addressed my error in a follow-up post. If you want an apology, here it is: Sorry for misreading your post.
My apologies, my Latin is sorely lacking as you may have already gathered :)
New Renter
2012 Sep 28, 5:46pm
New Renter says
You still wear pants? Why?
I have a buffalo sofa and I'd chafe like hell sitting on that without some sansabelts. Sometimes I can get away with just a Kimono.
Lose the sofa, you can thank me later.
curious2
2012 Oct 24, 4:53pm
Romnesia might tie them to the roof of a car and drive off to Canada.
« First « Previous Comments 66 - 87 of 87 Search these comments
Most complexes simply deny pets. Those that allow them, often charge pet premiums which I assume is just a money grab because they know pet owners have limited choices. Then there are those that ask for larger deposits ($250-$500 per pet). Or those asking for cleaning deposits when they move out($150-300).
So far, I've let people own pets and not really worried about it. I'm renting to premium people. These units are very nice and the quality of tenant has been very strong so far.
I figure if they leave and the animal has done damage, they won't make me go through a small claims case, and if it's over their deposit amount, the $500 extra isn't going to do anything anyway because their rents are already in the $2000 range. I could see asking for $500 extra if they were renting for say $1000, but in the $2000 range, I have a decent amount held anyway.
Is there anything I am missing? Dogs could scratch up the floors or stain it with pee/crap that is left there for hours while someone is at work. Possibly redoing part of the floor. Repainting, some touch up work.
Cats spraying, that concerns me. I've never dealt with it, but I suspect it's not that easy to clean up.
I see pet owners are generally being abused by the system, so they're happy to not be screwed by someone and will actually pay slightly higher rents because of their limited choices.
Are there other reasons not to accept pets? Any major horror stories?