Tenants with pets

[loosenknot]

So... trying to rent out my house. It has just had a major refurbishment - including beautiful wood floor downstairs, light in colour. I’ve been warned by the builders that it’s hard to sand (quite thin) and difficult to take up (waterproofing system and underfloor heating).
A middle aged couple with two dogs want to take the house (unfurnished). They are offering an obove the asking price rent and a larger depositi.
My issue is that I don’t want to compensate for damage - I don’t want damage in the first place
Should I be nervous about renting to a person with a Labrador and a tiny little scuffle dog (Pomeranian)

I won't lie. I wouldn't. I have a dog, as much as we try and as well behaved as he is there is always evidence of him. He has scratched our wood floor to bits but it's engineered wood and a bit crap! It doesn't bother me but obviously it's my house and my dog. Sorry if anyone else disagrees!

I wouldn't tbh.

I wouldn't . We have had pets in our property and no matter how many times they say they are good there is always something. Some things you don't pick up on immediately they vacate either.

Re wood floors - it’s because one day it’s going to be my home!

Could you put a cheap carpet down on top for while they're there and then lift it after?

I wouldn’t

If it's thin then either the damage deposit covers full replacement or no.

I would question why you went with thin though? If you want them life long solid would have been better. I have had a dog have a second and two cats and and I haven't needed to sand my solid oak in 5 years.

Don't treat a rental home like your own. You put those finishes in when you move in. I'd second the carpeting over or vinyl until you want to move in.

As a recent tenant with 2 dogs I really hope you do. It's almost impossible to find landlords who will take pets. We were in a real bind as we moved from the USA and needed a short term rental. Yes there's dog hair etc but honestly our dogs are tidier than our kids! If they're offering a higher deposit you've little risk.

We needed to rent short term and struggled to find somewhere we could rent with a dog...to be fair my children caused more damage to my own home than a dog would, fortunately the children weren’t in the rental place with us.

We moved into a newly refurbished house with one dog. Honestly she causes no mess at all although it was laminate floor so I guess less prone to marking than real wood floors. The landlord was adamant no pets however I met with them and offered a much larger deposit and this swayed them. We moved out at the start of this year and got our full deposit back, the landlord even commented on how clean the house was mid tenancy when we renewed! I guess it just depends on the sort of people they are, for us our rentals are our home and we are house proud and keep it as we would if we owned. Some people are naturally just messy/don't care and I guess you can minimise risk by saying no families/ no pets but it doesn't mean 100% there will be no damage and that's just part of renting your house out!

I think for us offering a higher deposit showed we were serious and confident that there would be no damage which is what swayed them. Our deposit was an extra £1000.

they've offered me over the asking price and a higher deposit.
can't change the floor now - so need to work around it.

It is obviously up to you but I have been so grateful to my landlord for letting me get a cat! I wish more would consider it but I suppose there are a lot of horror stories.

We allow pets in our rental on a case by case basis, eg one well trained dog or cat - fine. My cousins wife with her three untrained dogs and habitat of taking in strays - not fine.

You are mad to put in an easily damaged floor though. Rentals need to be hard wearing and reasonable to replace. A tenant/ child is just as likely to damage it.

Seeing as it's down now though, I'd go with a carpet over the top.

Why on earth would you put such an unsuitable floor in a rental? Dogs or no dogs it's a mistake that you'll come to regret.

I wouldn't.

Some good advice here: www.letswithpets.org.uk/landlords/good-practice-for-landlords

I wouldn’t take tenants with dogs. Your floor will undoubtably get marked, and there will be an eau de dog for about six months after they move out, no matter how clean it is.

1. You can allow or disallow what you like but you're really cutting down your potential tenant base.

2. you were rather foolish to refurb your house the way you want it for you to live in. From bitter experience, renting out your home (as opposed to a business investment) is very very hard. And almost always disappointing to say the least.

Maybe look at purchasing large rugs to cover the floor? At least then it will limit the damage as long as the tenants keep the rugs down. I would save the extra money that they are paying to get work done to the floors after they leave and charge a larger deposit?

Personally I wouldn't rent to dog owners (we have one too) I would t mind a cat but dogs can cause so much damage especially if the owners work all day.

Our landlord put a pet clause into our contract when we adopted our cat which basically meant we would have to pay for any damage she made. She was very good and didn’t damage a thing and he rented it to people with a dog when we left. Pet owners really struggle to find homes which contributes to animals being put in shelters. Give them a chance but put that pet clause in the contract.

My brother lost his home and business in the recession. They had a dog and really struggled to find a rental property. A landlord took a chance on them and because they improved the property so much he returned their deposit mid tenancy. They never left the dog for long periods though.

I would. I have wooden floors and two dogs and I cannot think of any way in which they are likely to damage a floor!