Tenants with undisclosed pets

Until they scratch the crap out of everything.....then they are not

 

Will you need the pet clause filled out and signed etc for any later potential insurance claims.

 

The residential tenancy act is currently silent on pets, so you can’t actually breach them for pets despite the lease. (They make it complicated bacause a lease can not contract outside the residential tenancy act, so what happens when the act is silent?) anyway, you can issue breaches on nuisance or damage. If you can not prove either, there’s nothing to breach them on.

If it’s a concern, then you can move to terminate by issuing an end of lease notice provided the dates match up (60 days plus post for a 6 month lease or 90 days plus post for a 12 month lease.).

As a pm, I’ve been through the process at an owners request- breach for nuisance, wait 3 weeks, not gone, breach, 3 weeks, not gone, third breach, notice to vacate, VCAT application, hearing is like 3+ after initial breach... then no possession. Members use their discretion to see who is being disadvantaged and who is suffering loss. If they have a pet who causes no obvious damage and you’re not getting complaints about noise, next to impossible to get possession that way. What’s worse, if you then go through all that, then try the 120 day notice to vacate, the tenant has a good case to state retaliation and have that thrown out too!

All that is likely to change soon depending on what the legislation amendments bring, but as it stands, that’s where it sits now. Let me know if you want more info / happy to chat.

 

I had tenants who didn't have a cat.. despite cat food bowls.. etc. when they left the local vet sent a 'check up letter ' and the non pussy cat left us with all its fleas.
At the very least make sure your property is fumigated for fleas when they go.
I hope this helps.

 

My tenants have left. Bad stain noted on carpet and carpet edges frayed probably all pet related and also odours difficult to air off. I really prefer house to be pet free. Hoping my next tenant doesn't sneak in pets like previous.

 

Don't let this tar your opinion of tenants with pets!

I've never had a bad pet with a good tenant, and it sounds like you just had sneaky and uncooperative tenants this time.

You can get a specialist carpet restorer to make a comment on the cause of damage to the carpet, which will assist you in the bond claim. They're usually surprisingly cheap.

 

Thanks, @Tom Rivera. Fortunately we managed to claim all the repairs through the bond.
We got a carpet guy to cut out and patch the stained area and the frayed section using carpet from the wardrobe. He did a great job.

 

Its no secret I am not a fan of these new changes regarding pets. Have another anecdotal experience on which to reinforce my view.
Tenants had pet rabbits undisclosed and also inside the house. Damage - al curtains have been chewed and gnawed at the bottom. All corners of the carpets in each room chewed. Balls of Rabbit droppings under the freestanding wardrobes hen we moved them.
We have no recourse because - tenants broke the lease and moved but continued to pay until new tenants were found. 3 moved out initially and left one. PM allowed the 3 to clean their areas and then she followed up the last one. Because these tenants continued to pay rent for some time as we couldn't find a suitable tenant - the PM felt sorry for them and said well the curtains were probably in need of an update. (They were only 2 years old!) The PM also failed to notice the ring around the bath and the unclean tiles. But we as landlords should be lucky because they continued to pay the rent. They had a contract that they broke and we also after a period of time let them stop paying to be reasonable.
Rabbits in houses now!
Sorry for the rant.

 

I don't see how it is that you "have no recourse"? Or why that sort of damage from the pets is any different from any other sort of tenant-caused damage in terms of dealing with it or recovering costs.

 

Ha ha ha.....

 

Lets put it this way, you have tenants, they are not really from outer space, they have peys like others...

So

You have

Ones who do not tell you and you just find out.....

Or

You have those that disclose on application or when they want one into a tenancy.

I ptefer when they communicate.

 

There are some things that you can pursue and some things you cop it and move on - doesn't mean one is happy about it. The PM did not do a proper post inspection. She told the tenants they were all good to leave. We took possession 3mths later and were not aware of the damage until then. It is challenging to find a PM who works for the Landlord. But I also have empathy for property managers - I think its a tough gig.
We are considering selling our whole portfolio - I'm trying to take the emotion out of it but it comes down to me not wanting to spend any of my valuable time on it anymore. I want to spend my time doing other things I enjoy. To be fair overall we have had a pretty good run with tenants. All the issues are really minor issues in the scheme of things - but I'm getting older and I want to spend more time with my kids and not this.

 

It sounds like your issue is with the poor performance of your PM, and that's where you should direct some questions. Where was the exit report and why were you only aware of these issues 3 months later? And what is the PM going to do about it it terms of keeping your account? Then you can consider some empathy.

If you are really done with your portfolio, for your reasons stated in terms for higher priorities, then hopefully you get some reasonable prices in an orderly sell down.

 

Didn't actually receive an exit report.
Walked past another IP of ours today - the tenant has attached a trellis to the brick of the house and inserted several fixings into each of the mortar joins so he can grow a plant up it.

 

No pun intended, I also have a pet peeve with tenants (or anyone), nailing or drilling into the face of brick wall masonry. One tenant once nailed four large hooks into the inside of a garage wall. I know it's cheaper, but wouldn't it be easier to buy a set of free standing shelving racks?

 

Sometimes it really does feel like the PMs side with the tenants.

 

Interesting read. A couple of items to note:
1) As @Michelle Evans commented, the Act is silent on pets. Note also the expressed intent of the current reforms to allow pets. Doubt you'd get a positive VCAT response to a "no pet breach".
2) No such thing as a "pet bond" in Victoria. The bond amount is agreed upon letting and lodged with the RTBA. A separate pet bond will certainly go against you if you ever went to VCAT.

All being said and done, there is little you can do. Agree that they should have declared it up front though.

I have a tenant who's application was conditional upon me accepting her two small dogs. She's been in for 3 years thus far with no issues.

 

[QUOTE="

After much experience I no longer permit any pets in any of my properties. Pet bonds are inadequate, the legal system is weak and biased towards protecting criminals and when things go awry it is the property owner who loses money. For me the risk is not worth it.[/QUOTE]

Is there a pet bond? I don’t see if there is one in NSW?

 

We have had good experiences with pets, key being they are disclosed and there is a positive rental history, much inclined to take them and it does open a wider tenant pool for selection, in some areas much wider.

The negative experiences around pets (smells, fleas) have mostly been poor tenant selection in my experience, happy to say ones we have inherited rather than put in place. Otherwise watching out for scratching of floor boards is an issue to be aware of, make sure the entry report has lots of good photos.

 

As an investor I’d play the long game here.

Most pet owners are great tenants, and by your account they’re looking after the pets well with clean litter boxes.

Cats don’t relocate as well as some other pets, this may be on the tenants mind when you renegotiate the lease renewal.