Issue 8 | Feature brought to you by Dot Property’s trusted real estate agents
Having pets when you’re a tenant looking for a new rental property is a problem – trust me because I’m in exactly that situation myself at the moment. Even my two middle-aged cats that have been living in a fifth floor condo for 99 percent of their lives are stopping me, in the nicest possible way of course, from choosing from the entire Bangkok rental property market.
I decided to investigate to see whether my own experiences that there are some condos and some landlords that do not accept pets of any kind are indicative of the Bangkok rental market as a whole.
Real estate agent Justin Sirias Chan of Bangkok-based FAT Property Asia Co. told me: “Rental agreements usually do not mention if pets are allowed in the unit, however with most cases I handle, the landlords do not have much of an issue with pets in their units.
“It is more about the Condominium House Rules; if the condo allows pets in the building then usually you will not have any issue with the landlord.”
That seems to be the problem so far as Bangkok is concerned.
Many condominiums, especially newer developments, simply have a carte-blanche “no pets” policy. I’m more than happy to pay a little but more to have my two cats with me, and if they cause any damage of course I’d pay.
Justin added: “We do not charge any higher rental premiums due to pets, however we do ensure to inform tenants that they will need to pay for any repairs and major cleaning costs for the unit, which usually they are willing to do. Perhaps I’ve just been unlucky with my property search so far? But what about elsewhere in the world?
What are the rules regarding pets in rental properties?
Ella Sherman is a Singapore-based property agent for Premiere Realty, and she is also on the management committee of the Singapore SPCA (Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), so is perfectly placed to understand both sides of the story.
She told me: “With the fast growth of pet ownership in Singapore, landlords are now much more open to having a pet stay at their rental property.
“As a property agent I always inform landlords in advance if the client has a pet. Individual landlords, on the whole, are fine with pets – especially landlords of landed properties. However corporate landlords still have clauses in their tenancy agreements stating no pets allowed, and in my experience they are non-negotiable on this.”
She added: “Unlike the United States, in Singapore there is no premium for keeping pets at a rented property. However normally there is a clause in the tenancy agreement relating to damage caused by pets.”
So there’s no real differences between Bangkok and Singapore.
How about further afield, London for example?
Marc von Grundherr of London-based Benham and Reeves Residential Lettings said: “The most important thing is to establish ground rules with the tenant. If the tenant already has a pet, ask the tenant’s former landlord if it was well behaved. Some tenants even have written references prepared from landlords, neighbours and vets.
“If, as a landlord, you do allow a pet then take a much higher deposit to ensure you’re covered for any damage, require the pet be groomed regularly and have the managing agent make regular inspections of the property to assess wear and tear.”
That’s certainly more stringent than in this part of the world, and in my case I believe at least one of my two cats would have a problem with the ‘grooming’ clause.
Again from the U.K., Louise Reynolds, Director of awardwinning overseas property agency Property Venture is someone who understands both sides of this issue.
She said: “Whilst I help investors buy property abroad, I also own buy-to-let properties. I let tenants keep cats in one of these as it has a cat flap and a garden. This helps keep void periods to a minimum as there is not a huge selection of petfriendly properties on the market, or landlords who allow pets. My property tends to be a bit smaller than others of a similar rent level, so this helps balance the playing field a bit when attracting decent tenants.”
Citing one bad experience, said added: “I had a tenant who has not trained a cat, which clawed the carpet and caused damage. That’s okay as long as the damage gets paid for by the tenant, or a sufficiently big deposit has been taken to cover the additional costs associated with pet damage.
“Tenants don’t tend to like admitting they are at fault if that costs them money, so invariably it means a battle to get the damage paid for.”
Perhaps U.K. tenants have a different mindset.
If my pet caused damage I would certainly feel obliged to pay for it. Viv Harris of U.K. lettings agency Heathgate recently had a situation where the landlord permitted two dogs in her house in Northwest London.
She said: “These two dogs were both large animals and caused an immense amount of damage to the property. From deep scratch marks on all the wooden floors, gauges in the doors where the dogs have scratched at the paintwork to general mess and mud sprayed up the walls from the animals shaking themselves off when having been for a walk when they were wet.
“It ended up costing the Landlord approx. £12,000 to repair. The tenant was obviously liable for some of these costs but a certain amount have been put down to wear and tear.”
Viv added that the key to a successful letting with pets, in her view, is to ensure the landlord has taken enough deposit to cover any extra damage, and she recommends that a larger than average amount is taken to account for any extra dilapidation due to the animals.
Larger deposits do seem to be the norm in London.
Nicole Ratzker, Head of lettings at Aston Chase, said: “Some properties, particularly in new apartment blocks, simply don’t allow pets to enter the building which rules out tenants with a pooch in tow.
“It’s true that there are landlords who refuse to accept pets in their rental properties; this may be down to a previous bad experience, or the property is in a terrace so noise could disturb the neighbouring residents.
“As agents we include a clear dog clause and will usually request a larger deposit from the tenant in order to satisfy a landlord’s concerns.”
My own search for a new home for me and my cats in Bangkok will continue, hopefully without the need to pay a significantly higher than average deposit, but an obviously understanding in the contract that any damage will be paid for.
