Renting out house - tenant has 2 big dogs

[FeeFee382]

I'm going to be renting out our house for a long let.

The house has been completely refurbished - new carpets etc.

The tenant has 2 large dogs but seems a good tenant with good references.

Would you be happy to have the dogs?

Should I put anything in the contract?

Tia

I don’t rent any more, thank goodness, but I did for years, with my dog. He came to work with me, so wasn’t alone at home all day, and when I did need to leave him (to go to the shops, for instance) he was crate trained and stayed in there, so couldn’t do any damage. Then when I met DH he worked from home, so ddog always had co pant one way or another. We also had the carpets in our last rented home professionally cleaned when we moved out. Our landlady nearly cried, according to DH - because she couldn’t believe how clean we’d left it. She didn’t want dogs either, but the letting agents messed up and wrote into our contract that we could have a dog without telling her So we felt extra-obliged to leave the place spotless!

Ask what happens with the dogs during the day and for dog references (I had one from my trainer and could have had one from my work as well) but don’t write all dog owners off automatically - you might miss out on a really good set of tenants.

@mencken that's great advice. I'll ask about whether they will be alone!

I wouldn't take them.

@zenith good to know, thanks!

House being rented unfurnished! We won't live there again. We've bought a family home elsewhere and are renting this home because we couldn't sell it! Had 5 buyers ALL drop out due to chain issues so we gave up and have decided to rent it.

It's in a different part of the world and will be a long term let / investment.

It's a gorgeous big house in the middle of a city.

Not a house for dogs which is strange .... very small garden!!!! Townhouse too!

Probs giving too much away.. yikes!

I've gone back and asked about lots of aspects. Anything else I need to ask about?

The dog won't be buried in the garden. It's a patio garden and no grass. Also, I think I'd sound absolutely insane if I ask them not bury their dog in our garden?

You don't have to accept those tenants. It is up to you and you have to be comfortable with them. Many many LLs would say no.

Only say yes if you have got satisfactory answers to lots if Qs such as whee dogs will be in day, how many hours they will be left alone for, references from previous LL who accepted them with pets, plus additional rent charge which you will use to cover replacement of carpets etc.

You can't add onto the deposit, but you can charge more rent. Tenants with pets expect to pay more....and dogs do increase the costs on turnaround for landlords, so that's fine. There is still risk of bigger cost than the additional rent. Check the terms of your landlord insurance too.

Feel free to say no if you want to.

We rent and have a cat - we'd been in the property two years when we asked the landlord if we could adopt her. We offered to pay for deep cleaning when we move out (still there three years on and have just signed another 12 month lease) and also to make good any damage. Our landlord was fine with that, possibly because they know we always pay the rent early and take really good care of the house. No cat damage has been done, but no matter how much hoovering and sweeping we do, the atmosphere is about 90%% cat hair.

I have a small dog and have always found it extremely difficult to rent any where that would allow me to keep him. For years I rented a house that wasn't suitable with a very dodgy landlord. The house was riddled in damp, dodgy electrics and a leaky roof. I took it because it was the only house I could get. If the tenant has trained the dog properly and isn't destructive then I would allow it. Kids make more mess!!

To those who say they would automatically turn down a tenant who wanted to keep a pet, I don't think that if they ask permission you can have a blanket "no pets" rule any more. You need to have a good definite reason for not allowing pets or for saying that the property is not suitable for pets.
If a tenant moves in a pet without asking permission then that's a different story.

We recently rented a house that the owner lived in before us.
They had two big dogs, the whole house was professionally cleaned and carpets shampooed before we moved in but you could smell dog especially in the bedroom when it was warm.
They had wooden doors that were all scratched at the bottom and dog hairs still appeared after we had lived there for a while.

You sound nervous about it so I wouldn’t if I were you!

Labour didn't get elected and so it is not illegal to say 'no pets'. Once a tenant is in there are issues with 'not unreasonably refused' but 2 huge dogs in a townhouse with a small garden is grossly unsuitable anyway.

discrimination laws apply to humans.

As someone who may be looking to rent a family home in the near future - and our family includes a large dog - I would like to think that a landlord would be open to negotiation. When it comes to pets, I have certainly seen larger deposits mentioned in ads (although it has been pointed out here that that's illegal). I would be happy to have an additional agreement to cover professional cleaning at the end of the tenancy. Possibly a higher rent to cover costs.

I guess it depends on the market though - if you turn down the tenant with pets then how long will the house be standing empty while you find a tenant without pets, and how much will that cost you in lost rent?

@ritatherockfairy very true! Our rent is £2,000 pcm so I'm thinking that if it takes another month to find someone, that £2,000 would more than cover the damage as the alternative is to wait until someone comes along and we've already had 3 people want to view with dogs!!!

It's right next to a HUGE park.

As in, the house is empty at the moment!

Well it's not empty - we live in it! But we don't have tenants in!

Depends on the person I think.
Some people with dogs are very careful to not make a mess and some people without pets will destroy your house.

Whatever you do, don’t accept a tennant with a cat (lighthearted). I love our cat but she’s much more of a home destroyer then any dog I’ve had has ever been!

But unless you’re also paying rent/mortgage on the next place you’ll be living in you’re not losing anything at the moment?

Nope...dogs can do a lot more than 2k worth of damage. If it had solid floors maybe but not with carpet.

That house doesn’t sound suitable for dogs unless they are extremely well trained. In your place I would just drop the rent slightly if that’s an option.

Err, right next to a huge park is pertinent. It really explains why dog owners think it's suitable. Very different to "right next to the ringroad."

Personally, I would be inclined to rent to people with pets. But then I'm a (small) dog owner in a rented flat.

Questions about where the dogs will be all day and barking are very sensible. I'd be a bit worried about the patio though - if the dogs are going to be let out there to pee etc. it's going to stink. Not nice. And probably not easy to get rid of. This doesn't have to happen, but it certainly could.

@Reginabambina why would I drop the rent?

@LimpidPools not worried too much about the garden smelling. I'm sure some bleach and a brush will get rid.

They come with excellent recommendations and they are retired. So will be with the dogs! Thoughts?