To say that no pets mean no pets?

[Aprilcherry04]

I currently have lodgers in a 3 bedroom semi. They seem nice enough and the neighbours say they are well behaved. However their contract says no pets and I found out they have 2 cats living in the property. I was visiting a friend and saw a cat sitting on the window ( inside) as I passed. They contacted me a couple of months back to ask if I was likely to renew contract and I said yes - subject to a house inspection. They have also mounted a 60 inch tv on the living room wall without permission. I have a strict no pets no smoking clause on the tenancy agreement. I have a cat allergy. Contract needs renewed in a month. Aibu not to renew?

I think you're being ridiculous re: nails in the wall and asking for permission. Also if the TV wasn't an issue you wouldn't have mentioned it, you're just trying to justify your attitude.

The cats I can understand totally. DH has an allergy and it's something we always have to check when moving house.
It would bother me too. But you can't keep treating them like this as if anything they do breaks the rules.
And actually as long as they return the property to you in it's original state there is nothing you can do. Holes can be filled and repainted.

If they pay on time and haven't damaged anything I would simply increase their rent to account for the car, good tenants are hard to find

They’re your tenants, your not doing them a favour etc they broke the rules so they don’t get renewed. End of

OP we're renters and although our landlord is very laid back re. redecorating etc we wouldn't dream of mounting a TV without asking and we definitely wouldn't get pets without asking permission! You have a tenancy agreement for a reason and they haven't abided by or respected that. YANBU for being annoyed but as others have said it's done now and if they are otherwise reliable tenants it might be worth picking your battles. Would be pretty harsh not to renew the contract but you should have a word with them about the pets and make it clear they'll be expected to cover damages (if any) caused by the cats.

A good tenant doesn't break the rules outlines in the contract. Getting a pet, against the rules absolutely does make someone a bad tenant .

Any experienced landlord will tell you that a large percentage of tenants will have ‘ secret ‘ pets . It’s often the case of having a ‘ bad secret pet’ tenant or no tenant . No tenant means no rent .

I’d be ok with the cats but not the TV and holes in the bloody wall. My cats are naughty too but they only wreck my furniture and not the fixtures and fittings!

Why not put in their contract that they have to pay for any repairs and damages that the cats may cause and they have to get the place professionally cleaned when they leave?

I private rent, I hate not having my own 'home' and living in someone else's house. Obviously I'm grateful, but I have to ask permission for everything, I have people round to inspect the place, it's intrusive, I have to call up for repairs and wait rather than just cracking on with it ourselves, I'm lucky my landlord allowed our dog & 2 cats because it's hard finding a house to rent when you have pets. But then my landlord knows we will repair/replace anything that gets damaged due to the animals. We've lived here 5 years and luckily they haven't done any damage.

This is why inspections are important. I was okay with our tenant having cats but they caused a lot of damage as they were kept indoors.

We rented previously with two cats, they never damaged anything and we always paid for extra cleaning. Cats are far less destructive than my children . Glad we don’t rent anymore though.

I agree with other posters if you ask them to leave you will have the hassle of fixing the holes in the walls, deep cleaning the house and finding new tenants who may well be worse.

Could you let them know you are aware of the pets and are therefore considering charging them more to cover any damage?

If they are otherwise good tenants, I'd tell them in writing that they will have to make the wall good when they leave, and that they can have a maximum of however many cats they currently have.

I've had good experiences with tenants with pets, but always put in contracts that they need to ask permission before acquiring any pet, but this permission 'will not be unreasonably withheld' - basically two cats yes, six cats no. A corn snake yes, eight pythons and twenty tarantulas, no. Lady who worked from home or nearby with elderly pair of dogs, yes. Couple with distant full time jobs and no money for doggy daycare, no dog for you.

Landlord insurance asks about pets. If you say there are no pets and then it turns out there are, it could invalidate insurance (or at least make claims more difficult).

A previous tenant of ours had a 'secret' indoor cat which destroyed wallpaper and carpet in a corner behind a sofa (or they had moved the sofa to hide it )
It's not just the cost of repairs that is an issue, it's all the time and hassle involved in getting decoraters/carpet fitters in to quote and do the work.

I have lived in two rental properties in which the previous residents had pets. Although both were supposedly professionally cleaned before we moved in, we had issues, so I can empathise. The first property was infested with fleas which didn't emerge until the warmer weather came - multiple treatments of the entire house had to be applied two years in a row. The second property appeared to have been cleaned well, but I started to have a (non-serious but irritating) allergic reaction - we had the carpet professionally cleaned which eradicated the problem. My point is that I appreciate the OP's feelings on the subject.

If I had tenants that were otherwise quiet, weren't a public nuisance and they aid their rent on time - I'd want to keep them!

I'd wxpect yo do minor repairs after a tenant moved on.

I did have nightmare tenants once - I would never want to repeat the process.

If the 2 cats aren't playing loud music until 4am. Fighting/shouting in street, putting old furniture and rubbish in garden....id happily let them stay

Cats are the best, most chilled out pets in the world, and will really cause no damage at all to your property

That may be the case but the OP is very allergic to them and it's her property!

Tread warily please! They are tenants and I hope that you have in place tenancy agreements and registration with local authority for house in multiple occupation.

Do please consider that a section 21 agreement simply gives them notice to leave after 2 months. It does not compel them to do so and to enforce it you will need to get a court order followed - perhaps - by High Court bailiffs. It would be far better IMHO to discuss this with the tenants and perhaps to see if a new tenancy could be arranged with a clause for extra cleaning if needed

@Aprilcherry04

@runninguphills

If I had tenants that were otherwise quiet, weren't a public nuisance and they aid their rent on time - I'd want to keep them!

I'd wxpect yo do minor repairs after a tenant moved on.

(I did have nightmare tenants once - I would never want to repeat the process.

If the 2 cats aren't playing loud music until 4am. Fighting/shouting in street, putting old furniture and rubbish in garden....id happily let them stay

All of this!

Our last tenants let their kid put stickers onto the F&B painted kitchen island .

They also pulled up the weed membranes up from the small allotment in the garden, never grew anything, and never deweeded it, leaving the weeds at about 3ft high.

Left dog shit all over the lawn.

Put the wrong rubbish in the wrong bin, so I had to go through both and sort before the binmen would collect it.

Moaned that the oil heating was too expensive and wanted us to fit a new boiler. There was nothing wrong with it!

Complained that the gardener (part of the tenancy, paid by us) was too noisy. I've yet to source a silent petrol mower

Were constantly late with rent.

We served a section 21 as we wanted to sell the house and thought it best to sell empty - they then didn't pay rent towards the end of the tenancy because 'the deposit would cover it'!!!!

After they left, it cost us nearly £3k in mates rates to get the garden and house sorted and cleaned.

Seriously, if cats and a few drilled holes is all that's upsetting you, think really hard before serving notice.

@Ferretyone they're not in the UK (certainly not in England/Wales anyway) so S21 doesn't apply.

I would leave well alone.

People with pets tend to stay longer in rented accommodation than people without and if they are good tenants it could save you an awful lot of money in the long run.

I have had cats for years. I have never known any of them to damage anything.

If you are allergic you could always get someone else to do the inspection.

Shay if you got rid of these tenants and took on some tenants from hell who really did trash your house

I can see why you'd want rid of them.

1. They've broken a very simple contract. Specifically, they've broken two rules. What else will they do? It's quite easy to follow a contract and they've agreed to it by signing it. Would you stop paying rent because you can't be bothered anymore? No. So if you want a pet and it says no pets, ask politely but expect a no. That's the drawbacks of renting.

1. They've went ahead, ignored you and got two cats. Are they going to pay extra to clean it thoroughly by a company when they leave? I doubt it. Will they kick up a fuss if you take that out of their deposit? You bet they will.

1. The TV bracket would be OK if they had asked. The problem of any potential damage is now known to you. How do you know they've put it up properly? It could easily be a bad job and fall off, taking part of the wall with it. Are they going to pay extra to fix that? Who knows.

If you continue with them, I would be telling them that they have now lost their deposit for breaching a contract twice, because deep cleaning will need done and repairs will need done. If they would prefer, they can be evicted and have that against their names. Evicted tenants with pets will find it harder to get another place to live.

People might disagree with this, but maybe just don't be this stupid as to manage to break a contract. It's really simple to follow, it's not difficult. There are consequences for breaking contracts.

Yes the op owns the property but she doesn’t live there.

ChristmasSweet

Have you ever rented property out as a business?

Getting on your high horse and getting rid of perfectly good rent paying tenants is going to cost money.

Can Aprilcherry04 actually afford to have void months or potentially bad tenants in the future that could wreck the house

Youre within your legal right to not renew tenancy over a cat, but I think its rather cunty and a bit stupid if they are otherwise good reliable hassle free tenants

If they are good tenants who pay on time and the house is on good shape, then I would allow it.

If you continue with them, I would be telling them that they have now lost their deposit for breaching a contract twice, because deep cleaning will need done and repairs will need done.

Oh yes, I’m sure threatening the tenants with the loss of their deposit before any inspection has been formally carried out will go down a treat with the deposit protection scheme