In my experience, most tenants that have dogs do a good job of training their dogs. The most notable problem that comes up for property managers is the damage to the unit once these tenants move out. Some units have a powerful aroma that has penetrated soft surfaces in the carpeting and some of the wood fixtures. Needless to say these odors are often difficult to eradicate, so plan on longer vacant time.

Obviously walls, trim around the doors and baseboards and flooring are all often damaged by dogs. Kitchen cabinets may also see damage, and these fixtures aren’t as easy to fix. I have personally seen what happens when dogs are left without supervision. Recently we saw a tenant that had to move from another apartment complex because their neighbor’s dog chewed through a supply line to the toilet when the tenants weren’t home. The resulting damage affected not only the unit with the dog, but the neighboring units and because of the vacancies also stacked the costs in opportunities as well to rent.

Emotional support animals cannot be discriminated against, check your local laws regarding these animals to be sure your are compliant always. Be aware that there are some mental health professionals that offer documents providing legitimate claims to these ESAs without even consulting with their “patients”, for a fee online of course.

In the end, a growing number of tenants expect to be able to rent an apartment or house with their pets. It is possible to have longer vacancies if you don’t allow pets, but perhaps you may come out ahead in the end, maybe not.