Did you know that over 90 million families in the United States own at least one pet? The vast majority of those families own a dog or a cat, which can be a factor for a landlord when deciding what pet policy they would have.
If you are reading this, you are probably asking yourself, "should I allow pets in my apartments?"
These are some of the biggest pros and cons to pet friendly apartments.
Pros of Pet Friendly Apartments
As stated above, several people in the United States have at least one pet in their household. Logically, this means that if your apartment were to allow pets, you would be opening up the door to a much bigger tenant base.
On top of having access to more potential tenants, you could also increase the morale of said tenants in your apartment building. Pets naturally increase the serotonin and dopamine in your brain.
In essence, that means that it makes people happier to have pets around and they are less likely to be stressed or angry because of this. The natural assumption here is that if a tenant has higher morale and happiness because of a pet, they are more likely to be happy where they are living. Then, they would be more likely to renew their apartment to keep a stable environment for their pet.
From a financial perspective, allowing pets can also benefit you the landlord because you can charge more money for the apartment that you are renting out.
Landlords that allow pets typically charge a pet fee. This fee can be as much as hundreds of dollars.
Cons of Pet Friendly Apartments
Now, while there are several good reasons to allow pets, you need to keep a few things in mind if you are going to allow pets in apartments.
One of the first things to keep in mind is the possible reaction of other tenants. There are some people that are afraid of certain animals and others that are allergic to certain animals.
If the presence of that pet is too strong, it could force someone that is allergic to move out. Then, if somebody is afraid of a pet and that pet ends up attacking them, it could lead to legal trouble for the landlord of the apartment.
Another con to having pets in your building is the possible damage to the property that they can cause. An example of this is if a dog has fur on the hallway carpets or uses the bathroom in an unauthorized area.
Even worse damage can be what they end up doing to a room's carpet or floor if they are not careful.
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These are just some of the pros and cons of having pet friendly apartments. Whether you are willing to take the damage risk for extra potential rental income and tenants is something that you have to decide.
Do you want further advice on how to manage your property? Get free rental analysis today.