Landlords benefit from offering pet friendly housing

I am a pet friendly landlord of a busy Airbnb property located in suburban Bayside and have had a positive experience renting to tenants with animals. We even had some parrots come and visit for a few weeks!

I am a dog lover and have one of my own, named Scout. I definitely need to have a dog around for the house to feel like a home!

Since I started leasing my property, more than eight different families and their fur babies have stayed at the house, and all were respectful by not using guest linens or dishes for their animals (I supply pet towels, blankets and bowls). They also picked up after their pooches with supplied doggie bags. I have house expectations which guests read and there has never been an issue.

I once rented the house for six weeks to a family with a Golden Retriever that shed a lot. When the family left, the house and yard were prefect and the only thing that needed replacing was the doormat!

I understand landlords can face some challenges with pet owner tenants. As my property is fully furnished, perhaps pups chewing furniture or cats using furniture as scratching posts could be an issue.  The lawn or garden may get damaged, but all is replaceable.

I think there is still a lot of work to do with landlords who are precious about renting their property to tenants with pets. The majority of tenants are responsible; having a pet in the property shouldn’t be an issue. The media report on the smallest percentage of tenants that have numerous cats or dogs and really cannot look after themselves let alone an animal.  Media hype that unfortunately stays in people’s minds.

Advice for other landlords

What may make landlords’ experiences with pet owner tenants more positive is to ‘meet and greet’ and have a mutual, clear understanding that if there is any damage, the tenant must rectify it. Landlords can also benefit from offering pet friendly housing by receiving more applications.