Bond Could Ensure More Dogs Get To Live Another Day

[mantis]

landlord insurance can cover unpaid rent and damages - I think it's a fairly standard cover to take that out.

bond is usually enough to pay the excess on a claim.

All depends on the quality and integrity of your tenants. Let's face it, when the agent asks for references given most likely by friends and associates of the prospective, you can bet your bottom dollar there won't be a bad one amongst them. It's a risk that the landlord takes and saying that, most tenants are fair and decent, but all it takes is a bad one and that puts a spanner in the works and I'm not talking about fair wear and tear either.

I always got a reference from my previous landlord.

[coogie]

We have had both bad and good tenants, the bond has never covered the cost of the bad tenants. They simply stop paying rent before they move out and leave all the damage to boot. Landlords insurance will cover malicious damage but won't cover picking up mountains of poo from the yard,removing further mountains of poo from sheds,replacing every plant you had, replacing your carpets if you as a landlord have stipulated pets are allowed inside, secure your property whilst you have to leave all the windows open to try and get rid of the stench of faeces and urine dried into your floorboards/tiles/walls/doors. It won't repair your relationship with the neighbours who despite complaining bitterly to the agent got no action until they rang the Council to report the place as a health hazard.

Domestic cleaners will not want to touch your property with a barge pole you will be obliged to either spend back and heart breaking days/weeks doing it yourself or hire professional cleaners who deal with biohazards - they will be very, very, expensive. More than the amount of the bond - just for the cleaners before you can start repairs.

Of course you can take the property manager and tenants to court (if you can afford it in either dollars or hours). You can listen to endless people telling you what a privilege it is to own an investment home in the first place,despite the fact they have no idea how long and hard you worked to get it. Once you are a landlord apparently you are living high on the hog and should put up and shut up, you should have little or no say in who rents your property or what they do whilst they are there. You should definitely ignore the fact your landlord's insurance jumps 35% some years due to an increasing number of bad tenants leaving properties in a disgusting state.

Or you can do what I now do and still allow animals (inside and out) but check every prospective tenant very, very carefully, often ignoring the agent's choice. You can ask to meet them, their dogs and other pets and you ask for dated photos of each and every inspection, you can insist that the smallest repair request is actioned immediately so your tenants are happy in a well maintained property. We tend not to go for rent increases if we have a good tenant (which we currently do, pets and all). The neighbours now have my mobile so if the agent doesn't respond they can call me directly.

It is rarely black and white and I'm sure there are bad landlords in their thousands as well, and that for every bad tenant story there is probably an equally shameful bad landlord story, but it really annoys me when people assume that the insurance/courts will just fix everything - in my experience it just doesn't happen that way. In my humble opinion a pet bond will not make a scrap of difference.

Edited May 18, 2012 by coogie

[twodoggies2001]

landlord insurance can cover unpaid rent and damages - I think it's a fairly standard cover to take that out.

bond is usually enough to pay the excess on a claim.

All depends on the quality and integrity of your tenants. Let's face it, when the agent asks for references given most likely by friends and associates of the prospective, you can bet your bottom dollar there won't be a bad one amongst them. It's a risk that the landlord takes and saying that, most tenants are fair and decent, but all it takes is a bad one and that puts a spanner in the works and I'm not talking about fair wear and tear either.

I always got a reference from my previous landlord.

Yes, obviously you were a good tenant but if this is not the case, then it is the agent's duty to disclose the real picture to the prospective landlord.

[Maxiewolf]

I think as opposed to paying more Bond for my pets I think over all Id actually be happier to pay $5 - $20 more per week for the house, more like a pet "levy" rather than a pet bond.. coming up with extra bond at the beginning is usually hard enough when your trying to move, the LL can put that towards the premiums of their insurance should the pets damage anything.

Really If you start coming up with extra fees for pets, Id be wondering what was next? a Kids bond? a Teenager bond? But yeah Id pay the extra (and usually do anyway) to get a house that would take my dog, I was basicly thrown out of a house because of a house mate not paying rent, I had to pay a fortune to board my dog for weeks because I was homeless and had to find a way to get Brutus to Dad's house in NSW till I got another place to live. Unfortunately because I was literally living in a caravan park of no fixed address I had to take what I could get which was a no pets house, so Brutus stayed with dad for nearly 2 years still I could move again. But hell or high water would have had to come before I would have dumped him at the POUND. We would have BOTH lived in the car if we had to!

[Panto]

$5-$20/week extra is still $260-$1040 per annum. A week's bond I am guessing for most people will be well within mid range of that, and to be able to get it back at the end because no damage has been left no doubt would be well worth it.

Goes to show how much you can save just by putting that mere amount each week...

eta:

But hell or high water would have had to come before I would have dumped him at the POUND. We would have BOTH lived in the car if we had to!

this is me too if it comes to it, though I will do everything I can to make sure it doesnt get to that stage!

Edited May 20, 2012 by Panto

[felix]

I don't think pet bond will change anything. It is usually 2 weeks rent, which IMO doesn't make significant difference.

We had tenants couple years ago that stopped paying rent about a month before they disappeared. The house was left in a huge mess, with carpets destroyed by their dog. Some walls were damaged too, doors scratched and smell of dog's pee was horrible. Insurance didn't cover any of the damages made by the dog because they were not 'malicious'. They only covered the rent and broken toilet bowl. We had to pay for cleaning (which was not cheap), carpet and painting before the new tenants could get in. The house was of the market for about 6 weeks, and of course we still had to pay the mortgage. The total loss we had was more than $3000. Pet bond would cover less than $500.

To rent the house to another tenant(s) with a dog, I think I would much rather have a good reference(s) from previous landlords.

[Panto]

I don't think pet bond will change anything. It is usually 2 weeks rent, which IMO doesn't make significant difference.

We had tenants couple years ago that stopped paying rent about a month before they disappeared. The house was left in a huge mess, with carpets destroyed by their dog. Some walls were damaged too, doors scratched and smell of dog's pee was horrible. Insurance didn't cover any of the damages made by the dog because they were not 'malicious'. They only covered the rent and broken toilet bowl. We had to pay for cleaning (which was not cheap), carpet and painting before the new tenants could get in. The house was of the market for about 6 weeks, and of course we still had to pay the mortgage. The total loss we had was more than $3000. Pet bond would cover less than $500.

To rent the house to another tenant(s) with a dog, I think I would much rather have a good reference(s) from previous landlords.

Needless to say they didn't get any of their bond back? That's circa $1500 (bond + pet bond based on your pet bond appx).

The agent should have had those things fixed faster than 6wks though, a week or two to fix, and a week or two to get the place rented again, unless it's in an area where there are a fair few rentals available.

Sorry you had that $hitty tenants experience, that sucks.

[SnoPaws]

We have had both bad and good tenants, the bond has never covered the cost of the bad tenants. They simply stop paying rent before they move out and leave all the damage to boot. Landlords insurance will cover malicious damage but won't cover picking up mountains of poo from the yard,removing further mountains of poo from sheds,replacing every plant you had, replacing your carpets if you as a landlord have stipulated pets are allowed inside, secure your property whilst you have to leave all the windows open to try and get rid of the stench of faeces and urine dried into your floorboards/tiles/walls/doors. It won't repair your relationship with the neighbours who despite complaining bitterly to the agent got no action until they rang the Council to report the place as a health hazard.

Domestic cleaners will not want to touch your property with a barge pole you will be obliged to either spend back and heart breaking days/weeks doing it yourself or hire professional cleaners who deal with biohazards - they will be very, very, expensive. More than the amount of the bond - just for the cleaners before you can start repairs.

Of course you can take the property manager and tenants to court (if you can afford it in either dollars or hours). You can listen to endless people telling you what a privilege it is to own an investment home in the first place,despite the fact they have no idea how long and hard you worked to get it. Once you are a landlord apparently you are living high on the hog and should put up and shut up, you should have little or no say in who rents your property or what they do whilst they are there. You should definitely ignore the fact your landlord's insurance jumps 35% some years due to an increasing number of bad tenants leaving properties in a disgusting state.

Or you can do what I now do and still allow animals (inside and out) but check every prospective tenant very, very carefully, often ignoring the agent's choice. You can ask to meet them, their dogs and other pets and you ask for dated photos of each and every inspection, you can insist that the smallest repair request is actioned immediately so your tenants are happy in a well maintained property. We tend not to go for rent increases if we have a good tenant (which we currently do, pets and all). The neighbours now have my mobile so if the agent doesn't respond they can call me directly.

It is rarely black and white and I'm sure there are bad landlords in their thousands as well, and that for every bad tenant story there is probably an equally shameful bad landlord story, but it really annoys me when people assume that the insurance/courts will just fix everything - in my experience it just doesn't happen that way. In my humble opinion a pet bond will not make a scrap of difference.

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