Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Oh no, not more dogs?

I showed the apartment tonight to a woman with two children. She was aware that the place is being renovated but wanted to see it anyway. It turns out that it isn't what she's looking for. While up there though, several interesting things happened.

First, I wanted to see what else needs to be done before the place is rented. It is actually looking very good, and should be rentable this week. The largest outstanding items are the windows, but I have the quotes and know now which windows I'll completely replace and which ones will only get new glass.


The other ridiculous thing that happened is that one of my current tenants, who has been there for multiple years, informed me that she has already bought a puppy and wants permission to keep it. First of all, this is against her lease, which as of now forbids it without written approval from me (the pet agreement). I did tell her about 6 months ago that I would allow her to have a dog if she filled out the extra pet agreement, but that was before the dogs shmogs incident. Today I just said that I'm going to have to talk to my lawyer to determine if she can keep it. After I left, she called me to say that she spoke with her finance and decided if they can't keep it they're going to move out.


Of course, it isn't just any dog. It's a bullmastiff puppy. From what I've read, these things get huge, are powerful, and will defend its family well. I did find one funny note, according to Wikipedia's bullmastiff page:


The Bullmastiff is courageous, loyal, calm, and loving with those it knows. It has a very strong protective instinct and will defend its people against anything it perceives as a threat. However, it doesn't normally attack to protect, instead it simply knocks the intruder over with its massive size and pins them to the ground. Bullmastiffs become immensely attached to their families and do best when they can live inside with their people.

I don't know if I can deal with dogs anymore, especially large ones. At the same time, they have been very good tenants. Also, if I did allow them to keep it I would certainly require more rent.

I'm going to sleep on it. If you have an opinion about bullmastiffs, please let me know!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know anything about that breed but I am LMAO about your Wikipedia description!

Seems to me that if you told her you would let her get a dog if she signed the extra agreement, and you didn't give any parameters (breed, size, etc.) you would have to honor your verbal agreement. However, having her move out would be a better option. Any puppy is going to have potty training issues that go well beyond what a security deposit will pay, let alone scratching and chewing walls and woodwork while they're away at work.

Good luck with your decision! A vacancy may be in your future...?

Pete said...

So, what did you do? I am in almost the same boat. Only I got the call from another tenant who was threatened by the new dog owner (seems the dog got caught in a door). Anyway, mine isn't going so well. They refuse to get rid of the dog OR move. Eviction in progress...
They were willing to pay extra, but the whole incident told me this was not a good idea.

Rick Morrison said...

Pete: As soon as a tenant is threatened by a dog or another tenant, I definitely think that you have no choice but to get them out.

I will be posting shortly about what is happening with my situation. Thanks for the post!

Kimpowerful said...

As a Bullmastiff owner who lives in a small narrow house in the city, I can say that Bullmastiffs are fantastically behaved dogs by nature (read a little more and you will see this over and over again). My dog does not bark or shed and is much like having a large cat in the house, since she sleeps all the time. She is a typical Bullmastiff and was like this from the time I got her at 12 weeks. You would have better luck with a Bullmastiff in your property than with a smaller dog, as the smaller ones can be very loud and needy (causing issues). I'd still make the tenent pay you an extra security deposit, since they did violate your existing lease. I'd also ask them to commit to repair or pay to repair any related dog damage, over and above the deposit and strongly suggest that you will be more receptive to the dog if they take required obedience classes. Anyone with a large breed needs to have firm control and this might make you feel better anyway.

Good Luck.