Should owners allow pets in their rental property? I say yes but be smart about it.
Many landlords just reject the idea of having pets in their rental property. Their concerned about damage, complaints, and dog bites. These are real issues, but they can be resolved.
But why even bother with pets? Why not just avoid the potential problems? Here’s why.
Pet owners make up the majority of renters. According to data from the American Pet Products Association, 71% of U.S. households own a pet.
If you have a rental property and don’t accept pets, you’re eliminating over half the market, and the property may sit on the market for a while.
Here’s another fact. According to PetScreening, allowing pets increases rental applications by 40.78% and increasing lease renewals by 23.4%.
It’s very clear, pets are more important to renters than ever before. And if you want a property to rent faster and have the tenant renew their leas and stay longer, allowing pets would be the way to go.
But what about pet damage? That’s what Pet Fees and Pet Deposits are for. I prefer a pet fee over a pet deposit. I’m not a fan of pet deposits. I would rather just require a higher security deposit than to charge an additional pet deposit.
Okay, so you see the writing on the wall, and you decide to accept pets.
I have some bad news for you. Well, bad news and good news.
First the bad news. Unfortunately, most insurance policies in Florida no longer have any pet liability coverage.
So if you’re an owner who has tenants with pets, you need to check your insurance policy. Like now. You most likely have no pet liability coverage, which means you’re totally exposed if there’s a pet accident.
Personally, I would not allow any pet in the property with pet liability coverage. The exposure and risk are just too great.
I would want a pet liability policy, even if I didn’t accept pets. Reason being, if a tenant snuck a pet in and there was a pet accident, the owner would probably be liable even though the pet was unauthorized.
Okay so what’s the good news. The good news is owners would have pet liability coverage by having us manage your property.
A big benefit with our property management, is every owner, yes every owner, receives 1 million in liability insurance at no additional cost. And this policy also covers pet liability.
It’s not available to owners, but we qualified as a property manager and now have this coverage to protect owners.
This is so extremely important because our owners are no longer totally exposed to liability from pets or support animals. With us managing your house, you have pet liability coverage and general liability coverage up to 1 million dollars, and the best part it’s at no additional cost to you. Let me repeat that, no additional cost to the owner.
So bottom line, if you want your rental property to rent faster with tenants staying longer, accept pets, but make sure you have the proper pet liability coverage in place.
I hope you found this helpful. My name is Michael Bielon, if I can be of any help with your property, please reach out to me. Thank for watching.
