Renting Primary Residence-what to put in lease

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn’t a lot of this depend on the state/county? I don’t rent in Va, I’m in Montgomery County in MD, but there is standard lease here that landlords must use.

There are certain requirements that must be met but of course you are not required to use a particular lease.

But often trying to put maintenance obligations on a tenant is illegal.

Something is screwed up if you need to clean out a drain every day in the fall and I doubt any tenant is going to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Doesn’t a lot of this depend on the state/county? I don’t rent in Va, I’m in Montgomery County in MD, but there is standard lease here that landlords must use.

There are certain requirements that must be met but of course you are not required to use a particular lease.

But often trying to put maintenance obligations on a tenant is illegal.

Something is screwed up if you need to clean out a drain every day in the fall and I doubt any tenant is going to do that.

I’m a lawyer who works in housing and I’ve never seen anything that would suggest this is illegal. I also doubt a tenant would do that, and not sure exactly how a landlord would enforce it, but you can include it in the contract if both parties agree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re guidance about no pets - we never allow cats because they cause so much damage but we always allow dogs. People who own dogs tend to be out in the yard and neighborhood more, and that helps keeps the house in connection with the neighborhood. Dogs also help keep the house and neighborhood safer since they deter robbers.

Use the boiler plate. Don't go off on your own. Add addendums if you seriously think you need to but, honestly, when people start doing that they tend to get too restrictive and crazy. And the fact that your property is your "primary" house only matters in your own mind. Once you rent it, it is a rental. Contact Landlord-Tenant for your jurisdiction and get their info on what's required for your area.

We thought we were fine with a dog but our tenants let their dog pee and poop and throw up all over the carpets and either didn’t clean up for did a terrible job. They also apparently let the dogs scratch out several of the windows screens and claimed to have no clue how it happened. So no more dogs. This is why we can’t have nice things.

Cats spray and that destroys walls. You can't get rid of the smell unless you completely replace the wall. I'm okay with replacing carpets using the tenant's pet deposit. But you raise a good point about vetting the pet.

I often see people saying they don’t allow cats because of the damage they cause. How often has a cat sprayed a wall?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re guidance about no pets - we never allow cats because they cause so much damage but we always allow dogs. People who own dogs tend to be out in the yard and neighborhood more, and that helps keeps the house in connection with the neighborhood. Dogs also help keep the house and neighborhood safer since they deter robbers.

Use the boiler plate. Don't go off on your own. Add addendums if you seriously think you need to but, honestly, when people start doing that they tend to get too restrictive and crazy. And the fact that your property is your "primary" house only matters in your own mind. Once you rent it, it is a rental. Contact Landlord-Tenant for your jurisdiction and get their info on what's required for your area.

We thought we were fine with a dog but our tenants let their dog pee and poop and throw up all over the carpets and either didn’t clean up for did a terrible job. They also apparently let the dogs scratch out several of the windows screens and claimed to have no clue how it happened. So no more dogs. This is why we can’t have nice things.

Cats spray and that destroys walls. You can't get rid of the smell unless you completely replace the wall. I'm okay with replacing carpets using the tenant's pet deposit. But you raise a good point about vetting the pet.

I often see people saying they don’t allow cats because of the damage they cause. How often has a cat sprayed a wall?!

??? Don't you know anyone who has a cat? It is a known thing. Cats spray.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re guidance about no pets - we never allow cats because they cause so much damage but we always allow dogs. People who own dogs tend to be out in the yard and neighborhood more, and that helps keeps the house in connection with the neighborhood. Dogs also help keep the house and neighborhood safer since they deter robbers.

Use the boiler plate. Don't go off on your own. Add addendums if you seriously think you need to but, honestly, when people start doing that they tend to get too restrictive and crazy. And the fact that your property is your "primary" house only matters in your own mind. Once you rent it, it is a rental. Contact Landlord-Tenant for your jurisdiction and get their info on what's required for your area.

We thought we were fine with a dog but our tenants let their dog pee and poop and throw up all over the carpets and either didn’t clean up for did a terrible job. They also apparently let the dogs scratch out several of the windows screens and claimed to have no clue how it happened. So no more dogs. This is why we can’t have nice things.

Cats spray and that destroys walls. You can't get rid of the smell unless you completely replace the wall. I'm okay with replacing carpets using the tenant's pet deposit. But you raise a good point about vetting the pet.

We had two cats in a rental for several years. Neither cat ever sprayed anything. Could this happen more if the cats are not neutered or spayed? We had a neutered male and a spayed female, no spraying.
I often see people saying they don’t allow cats because of the damage they cause. How often has a cat sprayed a wall?!

??? Don't you know anyone who has a cat? It is a known thing. Cats spray.

[Anonymous]

No AirBnB or subletting the home. It’s an insurance issue - if the home is used for that, insurer must be notified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re guidance about no pets - we never allow cats because they cause so much damage but we always allow dogs. People who own dogs tend to be out in the yard and neighborhood more, and that helps keeps the house in connection with the neighborhood. Dogs also help keep the house and neighborhood safer since they deter robbers.

Use the boiler plate. Don't go off on your own. Add addendums if you seriously think you need to but, honestly, when people start doing that they tend to get too restrictive and crazy. And the fact that your property is your "primary" house only matters in your own mind. Once you rent it, it is a rental. Contact Landlord-Tenant for your jurisdiction and get their info on what's required for your area.

We thought we were fine with a dog but our tenants let their dog pee and poop and throw up all over the carpets and either didn’t clean up for did a terrible job. They also apparently let the dogs scratch out several of the windows screens and claimed to have no clue how it happened. So no more dogs. This is why we can’t have nice things.

Cats spray and that destroys walls. You can't get rid of the smell unless you completely replace the wall. I'm okay with replacing carpets using the tenant's pet deposit. But you raise a good point about vetting the pet.

I often see people saying they don’t allow cats because of the damage they cause. How often has a cat sprayed a wall?!

??? Don't you know anyone who has a cat? It is a known thing. Cats spray.

Do you have a cat?? I know this is a problem with some cats, but I hardly think it’s common. My cat of 12 years has never sprayed anything or gone to the bathroom outside the litter box. I’d be more inclined to allow cats in my rental (which is also my primary residence) than dogs. But there’s no carpet in my house to worry about. Either way, get a bigger security deposit and charge pet rent.

[Anonymous]

One of my question to potential tenants is how many people will be living in the house and how many parking space do you need?
This is to protect overcrowding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No pets.

Most people who rent houses have pets.
My best tenants have pets.
Most apartments are allowing pets.

[Anonymous]

Learned the hard way: make sure they change the air filters regularly. I would buy the ones you use to have on hand. Know someone whose hvac system basically exploded when the air filters were never changed by the renters and it wasn’t spelled out who was responsible to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Learned the hard way: make sure they change the air filters regularly. I would buy the ones you use to have on hand. Know someone whose hvac system basically exploded when the air filters were never changed by the renters and it wasn’t spelled out who was responsible to do it.

This and include running exhaust fan and that tenants are responsible for mold on caulk and grout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No pets.

Most people who rent houses have pets.
My best tenants have pets.
Most apartments are allowing pets.

Not really for a 2m property

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Learned the hard way: make sure they change the air filters regularly. I would buy the ones you use to have on hand. Know someone whose hvac system basically exploded when the air filters were never changed by the renters and it wasn’t spelled out who was responsible to do it.

This and include running exhaust fan and that tenants are responsible for mold on caulk and grout.

Mold, caulk and grout is the landlord's responsibility if it's anything beyond basic cleaning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No pets.

Most people who rent houses have pets.
My best tenants have pets.
Most apartments are allowing pets.

Not really for a 2m property

Are you saying people who live in 2m houses don’t have pets?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Re guidance about no pets - we never allow cats because they cause so much damage but we always allow dogs. People who own dogs tend to be out in the yard and neighborhood more, and that helps keeps the house in connection with the neighborhood. Dogs also help keep the house and neighborhood safer since they deter robbers.

Use the boiler plate. Don't go off on your own. Add addendums if you seriously think you need to but, honestly, when people start doing that they tend to get too restrictive and crazy. And the fact that your property is your "primary" house only matters in your own mind. Once you rent it, it is a rental. Contact Landlord-Tenant for your jurisdiction and get their info on what's required for your area.

We thought we were fine with a dog but our tenants let their dog pee and poop and throw up all over the carpets and either didn’t clean up for did a terrible job. They also apparently let the dogs scratch out several of the windows screens and claimed to have no clue how it happened. So no more dogs. This is why we can’t have nice things.

Cats spray and that destroys walls. You can't get rid of the smell unless you completely replace the wall. I'm okay with replacing carpets using the tenant's pet deposit. But you raise a good point about vetting the pet.

I often see people saying they don’t allow cats because of the damage they cause. How often has a cat sprayed a wall?!

??? Don't you know anyone who has a cat? It is a known thing. Cats spray.

I’m a veterinarian and this is a rare problem with male cats only who were neutered too late in life.

Cats and dogs (and humans too) often lose their ability to control their bladder and bowels at the end stages of life.