Tenants just moved in - with undisclosed dogs

Thursday 2 weeks ago agent conducts routine inspection which we were not able to attend. We attended the property on the Saturday to do some maintenance items and found dog crap all over the front and back yards. They had approval for one dog and 2 cats upon moving in 8 months ago. One dog was outside an we needed to go in to one of the bedrooms where the door was closed. Turns out daughter was hiding dog number 2 in there, along with a bird. The one dog approved was not supposed to be inside. Dog bowl was sitting on the carpet in lounge room. So we talked to agent on Monday who said they had seen the dog and told tenant to remove it but this was not mentioned to us nor was it on the inspection report. We instructed agent to have dog removed and gardens cleaned up. Tenant came back asking for permission for 2 dogs, 2 cats and a bird. We responded with a new 12 month lease to take effect immediately at increased rent which the tenant has agreed to. The agent will deliver the new lease tomorrow full of specific clauses to do with the menagerie that we discovered. That is a good outcome for us as vacancies are around 6% so probably couldn't have raised the rent without this bargaining chip.

Tools

 

Hey Tools,
Flip -this sounds like a bit of a worry ?!
Dogs in the house and water bowls flip ?!! I would never allow that in my own house lettlown a rental.
Or is it an older lower end property ?

 

Hey Luke,
It is an older property but well renovated and not low end. Regardless of what the property is, the tenant signed a lease that said no dogs inside the house but it seems she thought that didn't apply to her.

A little bit more to the story above. The tenant had raised a few minor maintenance items with the agent in the week prior to the routine inspection. One of the items was to change the light globes in two of the bedrooms that had blown as apparently the ceilings are so high that even with a ladder she couldn't reach. We told the agent that it was the tenants responsibility (not sure why we had to tell them that !) but if she had the globes then we would do them for her on the Saturday when we had arranged to be at the property. So agent goes for the inspection on the Thursday and all of a sudden there are no maintenance issues that require attention. I called the agent and asked what happened to the blown globes, broken tilt mech on a venetian blind, loose door handle and cracked lamp holder on the hall light that meant she couldn't fit a globe in ? Our suspicions were raised that they didn't want the owners in the property and were expecting that we would just lube up and send old mate handyman at our expense. We insisted that as the maintenance items had been raised that we would be there to attend to them plus replace a downpipe that we already knew was on its last legs.The menagerie that we came across on the day explained why she didn't want us there and if we had just sent out old mate handyman then we would have been none the wiser.

Tools