Pet Damage Guarantee

Should Pets be Allowed in a Rental Property?

Over the years, we have struggled with the issue of whether pets should be allowed in a rental property. Many owners have expressed sincere concern that allowing pets may cause significant damage. Cats have been known to soak carpets with urine, dogs can cause damage by scratching doors and trim. Even requiring additional deposit may not cover the damage that can occur.

So Why Not Just Ban All Pets?

The problem is that as much as 75% of the potential applicants who are looking for properties to rent own pets. Preventing these people from being considered for a property makes it very difficult to rent a property quickly and for the highest rent possible. Frequently we must discount the rent to find a tenant that does not have pets. In addition, Oregon has extremely lax rules regarding "Companion Pets" and people can easily bypass a pet restriction by simply getting a letter from their doctor. In those cases, we wouldn't even be able to require additional pet deposit! (This isn't fair, but it is the law.) Advertising a property as "No Pets" encourages people to convert their pets into companion animals, and when that happens, we are not able to collect a deposit or pet rent to protect you from potential damage.

Our Guarantee

To alleviate the concern of our clients, we now offer a Pet Damage Guarantee. This guarantee is our promise to you that should any pet-related damage occur to your property that exceeds the tenant’s deposit, we will repair the damage to a like-new condition out of our own pocket! This would be no charge to you… it is absolutely free! There would be no deductible; one hundred percent of pet caused damages would be covered. We will automatically provide $1,000 of coverage, and you can increase that coverage to $5,000 for a nominal charge.

To fund this guarantee, we retain all the additional pet rent that we collect from tenants and place those monies into a damage pool. As needs arise, money is drawn from that pool to repair any pet related damages. In exchange, we allow pets at all of the properties that we manage.

Details

This Pet Damage Guarantee is only available to our current clients on long-term management agreements. We cannot guarantee against loss if you cancel management services.. This protection applies to damage from cats, ferrets, and dogs of any breed; it does not apply to service animals, companion animals, or emotional support animals. At least one animal in each unit must be paying a pet rent in order for the entire unit to qualify. For example, if the tenant has one service animal and an additional animal classified as a pet, and the tenant is paying a pet rent for the "pet", then any damage caused by either animal would be covered. Participation in the Pet Damage Guarantee is no charge and is mandatory. Opting out of the Pet Damage Guarantee program would add one percentage point to the management fee.

In summary:

• No cost to property owners and no deductible
• First $1,000 of coverage is free, option to increase coverage to $5,000
• Pets will be allowed by paying a pet rent to fund the protection
• Owners may opt out of the program with the understanding that their property will be harder to rent and any damages are their responsibility
• Opting out will incur a one percentage point (1%) increase in the management fee