Sunday, March 15, 2020

No Pets Allowed! Professor Ramos Blog

No Pets Allowed! Lisa Towell has been a volunteer at her local pet shelter and tells a story about what happened to an animal which the owner surrenders to them. â€Å"I remember one handsome, friendly black-and-white tuxedo cat who was dropped off at the shelter a while ago. We had lots of other cats available, and the tuxedo cat wasn’t adopted quickly. He handled his new world very well at first, but as the weeks turned into months, he became irritable and unhappy. Eventually, the shelter staff made the difficult but humane decision to end his suffering by euthanizing (to death humanely). He was just 5 years old† (Towell). No Pets allowed! This event is the worst and common to see while looking for a new place to move into. Driving around and you see starving scared stray dogs and cats on the streets, and why is that? That is because approximately 6.5 million companion animals enter the U.S. animal shelters nationwide yearly (ASPCA.org). This event could be for many reasons but one of reasons is abandonment. One way that we can fix that is by more landlords letting renters have animals, and landlords don’t like pets for these reasons. They can cause damage to the property, animals being snuck in, and animals cause liability. Pets for landlords can benefit landlords also by making them more money. Many animals can cause from little to major damage to a property. They do this by going to the bathroom inside, chewing on things, and scratching and shedding. landlord will continuously have to replace carpet and furniture especially if the tenant has a miss behaved dog. This event can be fixed by having pet rent, and a deposit for the future cost. Also, the landlord can limit the sizes of the dog to smaller dogs. This event would lessen the damage if there is any. According to AAOA (American Apartment Owner Association) constant problem landlords face is tenants who sneak in their pets. The Balance Small Business says â€Å"if you allow pets, it will decrease the chances of tenants trying to sneak in pets that you have not approved (Eberlin). Also, you could state on the lease agreement if an unexpected pet is found the violator will be charged a fee plus pet rent from the beginnings of their contract. Some dogs can be aggressive or vicious by nature and landlords are afraid of being held liable. If you are a landlord to lessen the chance of that happening, you can restrict the breeds and avoid the more well-known aggressive or vicious breeds. However, the landlord’s liability is limited. According to Nolo’s legal encyclopedia, â€Å"in general courts hold a landlord liable only if the landlord knew the dog was dangerous and could have had the dog removed; or harbored or kept the tenants dog- that is, cared for or had some control over the dog† (Randolph). If you are worried that a dog might be a problem for you, landlords could ask that the owner would produce of go get a Canine Good Citizen title. According to AKC (American Kennel Club) a Canine Good Citizen â€Å"is designed to reward dogs who have good manners at home and in the community† (AKC). With the restriction on breeds, limited liability, and the Canine Good Citizen landlords should have a pi ece of mind. All worries you might have can be fixed and maintained, but allowing these animals open up the opportunity’s for landlords to make much more money. By allowing animals to your renters opens up a mass pool of candidates. â€Å"that almost 50% of renters own a pet. Therefore, if you make your property pet-friendly tenant as you will have a larger group to choose from† (Eberlin). More tenant options make it more likely for you to lease units much faster. For example, â€Å"David Last, a property manager, developer, and the founder of Last 2 Development, also in Boston, agrees and offers this example, â€Å"If you have 30 units that you can lease even 10 days faster by allowing pets, that’s the equivalent of an additional 300 days of rent. Assuming the average monthly rent is $2,000 per unit, that’s about $20,000 of extra (annual) income† (Gallant). Pet owners make more money and are better tenants. â€Å"According to Practical Apartment Management, b y Edward N Kelly, 65% of pet owners earn over $50,000 a year† (Eberlin). Responsible Pet owners are more responsible because if they are able to take care of a pet they are able to be more responsible about what they are renting. Pet owners tend to stay longer with their lease. This event is because it is harder for them to find a pet friendly place. Because there are fewer pet friendly places landlords can get away with charging a little more for rent if you allow pets. If we bring down the wall of fear that landlords have about pets on how they can cause damage to the property, animals being snuck in, and animals cause liability we can decree the chances of animals being abandoned on the streets or being put into shelters. And we knock down that wall by making the pet having tenants have a pet deposit and pet rent, not harboring known aggressive animals, and have a pet policies and restrictions in place for animals. By doing this, we can save an animal’s life because â€Å"each year, approximately 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized (670,000 dogs and 860,000 cats)† (ASPCA), and avoid the pain of family’s separation from their pets. â€Å"6 Reasons to Allow or Not Allow Pets.† AAOA, 18 Jan. 2016, https://www.american-apartment-owners-association.org/property-management/latest-news/6-reasons-allow-allow-pets/. Eberlin, Erin. â€Å"The Pros and Cons of Renting to Tenants Who Have Pets.† The Balance Small Business, The Balance Small Business, 30 May 2019, https://www.thebalancesmb.com/should-you-make-your-property-pet-friendly-2125005. Kriss, Randa. â€Å"What Is Canine Good Citizen?†American Kennel Club, 26 Oct. 2017, https://www.akc.org/products-services/training-programs/canine-good-citizen/what-is-canine-good-citizen/. â€Å"Make Your Rental Properties Pet-Friendly.†Buildium, 4 Mar. 2019, https://www.buildium.com/blog/pet-friendly-properties-can-make-more-money/. â€Å"Pet Statistics.† ASPCA, https://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-surrender/pet-statistics. Randolph, Mary, and J.d. â€Å"Landlord Liability for Tenants Dogs.†Www.nolo.com, Nolo, 23 June 2014, https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/free-books/dog-book/chapter4-7.html. Towell, Lisa. â€Å"Why People Abandon Animals.†PETA Prime, 20 Sept. 2018, https://prime.peta.org/2018/09/why-people-abandon-animals/.