I think tenants should be allowed to have pets, unless it's totally unreasonable like, say, someone wants to breed a truckload of snakes in the second bathroom. It's hard enough being a tenant in Australia without having to say goodbye to your favourite fluffy friend as well.

Just remind them that any pet-related damage needs to be rectified before they leave.

For a house yes, an apartment... no.

I let someone have their "poor old dog" he lives outside, never again, three dogs all inside cream carpets ruined walls filthy garden wrecked and no poo pick up. I also had a tenant who got a puppy without asking, similar story but the dogs damage was superseded by the children carving there names into 1900's fire places! I love my dogs but I would never let one of my property to a "pet" again the bond your permitted to charge just does not cover the repairs! (I also try to avoid children!)

I always allow our tenants to have their pets. I want happy tenants so I would never consider not allowing animals. I think kids are capable of more damage at the end of the day.

Depends on what type of animal and how good their references are regarding the pet. Cats aren't smelly and are cleaner than dogs. Charge more rent and bond. An excellent Property Manager is key!

Thanks for your input, Daniela! Very interesting to see how this polarises people. I feel as though many would keep the pets anyway and try and hide it, so best to preempt and accommodate accordingly to meet in the middle. Probably on a case by case basis, like youy said Sonya - you'd get a feel for it.

What precious pups, maggiekn! Well behaved I assume ;)

No one pair of overgrown hoodlums, but I love them! (woolfies are such sooks)

I think each individual landlord should choose.

I've always allowed pets in my properties and have found these tenants take better care of the property and tend to stay long term. I just add a section in the contract that stipulates they must have professional carpet cleaning at the end of the tenancy. It's better to do it this way than have people hide it from you; at least there's more transparency. To be honest, I've had a lot more trouble, damage and issues/complaints from neighbours over the years, when renting to tenants with children. I've never encountered these issues with pet owners as it is so difficult to get tenancies that allow pets, so they seem to be more careful not to breach the lease.

Tassie contracts require professional carpet cleaning pet or no pet same with curtains but I have never had a tenant clean curtains......and most try to get away with self clean on carpets. Me, I am a bit of a sook and if I think it's not too bad let it go ,life's to short. Agents lack the guts to pursue proper treatment. But even after two sets of good pets I have had too many bad pet owners to go there again, Did I mention the dogs that smashed through the front window glass to get at a passerby! and the owner who left it like that for a fortnight until the lady opposite called me............bless her, no more pets in rentals for me and yes children are worse what we need is support from governments that limit the bond and the rights of owners! without private landlords......well it does not bare thinking about, but I find the "rights" daunting I think I likes to way my granny rented, a shell, add what you need and can afford yourself!

Really I suppose its younger tenants, not their pets or their children but just an attitude to life, there seems to be a large number out there who think the world owns them a living, and they colour 'our" thought about the general run of hard working clean considerate tenants, which is not fair but very human. (mind I did have a pair of teachers who allowed the kids free expression at the expense of my walls?)

do people really rent out houses that have cream carpets?? I am for dogs. I don't like negative gearing so if you want to make money and rent out property perhaps tenants should be selected VERY carefully.

@maggie - I don't think there's always a direct correlation between age of tenants and behaviour. I haven't lived out of home yet, but being quite young myself I would hate to think I would be passed up in favour of someone else due to a stereotype of my age. Like many situations, bad eggs ruin it for us good ones!

@maggiekn Wow! What an awful experience! As I mentioned, I've never had trouble with pet owners, but I have to say I was extremely careful about references. I tend to micro-manage agents a little as I don't trust them, so I give them a list of what kind of tenants I feel will suit the property, and the rental history and references I expect, and I don't deviate from it.
Also (unfortunately) am starting to agree with your comment about age groups, although, thankfully, there are exceptions!

Yes, Barbara I do rent out properties decked out in the way I would do my own home, why should a tenant settle for second best? So cream is not way out for carpets and curtains. Yes, I love my dogs and yes, I used to use an agent one would think experience would help,..... Things have improved as I now deal myself...I don't negative gear we don't earn enough for that to be an option and I like to keep rent down as its equity growth that floats my boat not "instant" profit. I have had many more excellent tenants young and old over my too many to mention years, but you never forget "the few" and Gioenne was asking for a general rule for her rental, there will always be an odd exception, Susanna, like the nice professional couple who sold and then the new house fell through they and their ridgeback where good and responsible tenants,but the bad eggs have finished renting to pets for me! A bonus of course is I can attend repairs without insisting that the tenant is home to wrangle the dog! (always happy if they wish to attend in my place, but very often its easier for the tenant if I deal)

Yes allows pets, and as mentioned definitely add in a clause regarding professional carpet cleaning. I'd die if Max was forced to stay outside!

In our experience, landlords take a couple approaches. 1) A weight limit for animals (usually 20 to 35 pounds) so the size of the dog is controlled. This automatically excludes Pit Bulls, Rottweilers and other "nuisance dogs" from the apartment. 2) An additional security deposit (or bond) to ensure any additional animal damage is covered. A couple other notes: Cats are often much more destructive than dogs, since they rarely leave the apartment. Floors can be ruined by careless tenants who don't clean the litter box, cats' propensity on urinate on walls and rugs, and scratching of walls rugs and furniture (a huge issue if the apartment is furnished). In addition, people sometimes own multiple cats, magnifying all those issues and creating odors which require time to "air out" -- preventing a quick flip of the apartment to a new tenant. Because of this, landlords may allow dogs but ban cats. I may help to have a pet owning tenant sign an additional document so it's clear they know and acknowledge the pet rules.

Another note: Due to allergies, there are people who simply won't rent an apartment or house if a previous tenant had a pet. This is similar to apartments not able to be rented after a cigarette smoking tenant leaves. On the other hand, there is often a great shortage of pet-friendly apartments (New York City, for example) so the pet-friendly apartment can be priced at a premium due to scarcity.

Ah tool lab, 35 pounds? my poor girls would be homeless, Blue is a modest 52kilos and little Plummie weighs in at 60 kilos..............................but then I own not rent and have designed the house to suit pets (Hard floors, leather sofas wash down walls) in dog allowed areas, I still think its up to the owner of the property to decide, you made an excellent point about smells of cigarettes and pets putting a rising number of new tenants off and also about the rental premium for having a "pet welcome place" So thank you to Gioenne for making me really think about the issue I will stick with my no pets as a general rule with the odd exception for older more stable tenants!

We have 4 rentals and we allow pets. Make sure you have a good property manager. Tell the property manager to be very vigilant for pet damage in her 3mth inspections. Never be fooled into thinking the tenant will keep the pet outside. The majority of tenants are wonderful they are just living and working. Keep in mind we all live differently !

Yes you can but inform the property manager that you have pet. Also take care of damage caused by your pets like vomit on carpet or mattress, cat scratching and many more.

I think it's completely up to the owner so it's not a "all should or all shouldn't" scenario. Some homes are suitable for pets, some aren't. Depends on the rental market as well if you can be fussy enough to allow pets or not as you would rule out a portion of your market, but if you have all carpet through a house then is it worth the risk of a couple of accidents or the lawn ruined by dog pee? We're renting at the moment and made sure we put photos of our dogs in our application so that the owner could see that they were clean and treated like (better than!) part of the family!

Not sure all states allow a landlord to take an extra bond for pets. I know it wasn't allowed in Queensland a few years ago.

Yes I completely agree, as long you're responsible with pets in and out of the house I don't see why the landlord should have any issues. We have a few guinea pigs and they spend most of their time in a guinea pig cage which helps to keep things in order