How to Rent Out a New Apartment Without Forgetting About Pets
Renting out a brand-new apartment has one major advantage – everything is new, clean, and free from previous wear and tear. At the same time, this is precisely why the owner may be more concerned about who they entrust their property to.
Recently, I was looking for a tenant for a brand-new 2+kk apartment in the Nad skálou Barrandov development. The apartment is now reserved, so we are no longer looking for another tenant. However, the selection process once again raised an interesting topic that I encounter quite often when arranging rentals.
What should you do when a prospective tenant has a pet?
What if the prospective tenant has a dog, a cat, or another pet? For many landlords, the answer is simple: they would rather choose a tenant without an animal.
But is that always the best approach? And what should a landlord actually consider when a potential tenant has a pet?
🏡 A brand-new apartment you want to keep in excellent condition
The apartment in Barrandov was an ideal example for this type of consideration.
It is a brand-new 2+kk apartment in the recently completed Nad skálou Barrandov development by Metrostav Development. It has an internal usable area of 50.66 m², a total area of 55.20 m², and a 5.90 m² terrace.
The apartment is located on the sixth floor, the second-highest floor of the building, and one of its main advantages is its south-facing orientation. The main windows and the terrace face south, and the terrace can be accessed both from the living room and directly from the bedroom.
The apartment also offers a separate walk-in wardrobe, a high-quality fitted kitchen, vinyl flooring, a modern bathroom, and a brand-new Bosch washing machine and dryer. A parking space in the underground garage is also available.
In short, it is an apartment that no one has lived in before.
And with a property like this, it is understandable that the owner wonders what condition it will be in after several years of being rented out.
🐕 A tenant with a pet does not automatically mean trouble
I often see landlords react negatively as soon as they hear the words “dog” or “cat” during the tenant selection process.
To some extent, I understand why.
A dog can scratch floors or doors. A cat can damage a sofa or other furnishings. Some animals can cause odours, noise, or problems with neighbours.
However, the simple fact that a prospective tenant owns a pet tells us very little about the actual risk.
Just as we assess the individual tenant, we should also consider the individual animal and, above all, how its owner looks after it.
There can be a huge difference between a well-trained ten-year-old dog that sleeps for most of the day and a young dog that is left alone for eight hours and is not used to being on its own.
The same applies to the difference between one indoor cat and several animals living in a small apartment.
That is why I would never make a decision based solely on whether someone “has a pet” or “does not have a pet”.
🐾 What kind of animal will be living in the apartment?
The first question should naturally be what kind of animal it is.
With a dog, I may want to know its size, age, temperament, and whether it is used to living in an apartment.
With a cat, it can be useful to know whether it is an indoor-only cat, whether it has scratching posts, and how it is accustomed to behaving indoors.
With rabbits and some rodents, there may be a risk of chewing furniture, doors, or electrical cables.
A terrarium, aquarium, or several exotic animals may represent a completely different situation again.
The aim is not to turn the tenant selection process into an interrogation. However, a few normal questions can give the landlord a much better idea of how the tenant, the animal, and the apartment are likely to function together.
🔎 Ask about experience, not just the type of pet
I consider previous experience to be very important.
Has the applicant already lived with their dog or cat in a rented apartment?
For how long?
Was there ever any damage?
Were there any problems with neighbours?
If someone has lived with the same pet in another rental property for several years and the previous landlord had a positive experience with them, that tells me far more than the dog’s breed or size.
In some cases, it may also be possible to ask for a reference from the previous landlord.
A responsible tenant with a pet can be a much safer choice for the owner than a tenant without a pet about whom we know practically nothing.
🛋️ What can a pet actually damage in an apartment?
Every apartment needs to be considered individually.
In a new-build apartment such as the one in Barrandov, the more vulnerable areas may include:
flooring,
doors and door frames,
the kitchen,
built-in furniture,
walls,
sofas and other furnishings if the apartment is furnished.
A dog’s claws can damage certain types of flooring, a young animal may chew doors or furniture, and a cat can damage upholstered furnishings.
On the other hand, a properly chosen durable floor can cope very well with normal everyday life with a pet.
That is why I believe it is important not to think only about whether the tenant has an animal, but also about what kind of apartment is being rented out.
A fully furnished luxury apartment with expensive wooden flooring presents a very different situation from an apartment with durable vinyl flooring and minimal furnishings.
📸 A detailed handover report is essential
Whether or not the tenant has a pet, one of the most important elements of any rental is a thorough handover report.
For a brand-new apartment, I would consider this absolutely essential.
It is not enough simply to state that “the apartment was handed over in good condition”.
The condition of the property should be documented in detail with photographs, including, for example, the condition of:
the floors, walls, doors, kitchen, appliances, bathroom fittings, built-in furniture, and any other furnishings.
With a new apartment, documenting the condition is even easier because practically everything is new at the time of handover.
When the tenancy ends, there is then a clear basis for comparison.
Without a detailed handover report, it can be very difficult several years later to prove whether a particular piece of damage occurred during the tenancy or whether it was already there beforehand.
🛡️ What about liability insurance?
Insurance is one area that I believe property owners still tend to underestimate when selecting tenants.
There are liability insurance policies that also cover damage caused by pets. Some policies can also be extended to cover a tenant’s liability for damage to the rented property.
This can provide an interesting additional layer of protection for the landlord.
However, there is one important point to keep in mind.
Not every insurance policy will automatically cover everything that a dog or cat damages in a rented apartment.
The terms and conditions vary between insurance providers, and there may be an important distinction between damage caused to a third party and damage to property that the tenant is renting or using.
That is why I would not be satisfied with someone simply saying:
“I have liability insurance.”
It is much more useful to find out whether the particular policy genuinely includes tenant liability and how it deals with damage to items such as flooring, doors, or furnishings in the rented apartment.
For higher-value properties, it may make sense to require appropriate insurance as part of the overall rental arrangement.
⚖️ Can a landlord simply ban pets?
This is an important point that many landlords may not be aware of.
Under Czech civil law, a tenant has the right to keep an animal in the apartment provided that doing so does not cause unreasonable inconvenience to the landlord or other residents of the building, taking local conditions into account.
For this reason, relying solely on a simple clause in the tenancy agreement stating:
“Pets are not allowed in the apartment.”
is not necessarily the best strategy.
It is much more important to choose the right tenant and set up the tenancy properly from the beginning.
The law also takes into account situations where keeping an animal creates additional costs, for example in connection with maintaining the common areas of the building. The tenant may be required to reimburse the landlord for such additional costs.
Of course, this does not mean that an animal can cause unlimited disruption in the building.
Persistent excessive noise, unpleasant odours, soiling of common areas, or other serious problems are very different from the simple presence of a pet.
🐶 A large dog does not necessarily mean a large problem
It is also important not to rely on simple stereotypes.
A large dog does not automatically represent a greater risk to an apartment.
An older large dog may be extremely calm at home, while a young small dog suffering from separation anxiety may bark for several hours or damage doors.
More important than size may therefore be:
the animal’s age, temperament, training, previous experience of living in an apartment, and its owner’s daily routine.
I would also ask, for example, how long the animal is normally left alone during the working day.
For everyday life in an apartment building, this may be a much more important piece of information than the animal’s breed.
🏢 Think about the neighbours and common areas as well
Landlords usually think primarily about their own apartment.
But the animal is also living in the building.
A dog may pass through the hallways and use the lift several times a day. It may encounter neighbours, children, or other dogs. Some animals may react to noises outside the apartment and bark.
It is therefore worth considering the character of the particular building as well.
A detached house with a garden needs to be assessed differently from a smaller apartment in a large residential development.
If keeping an animal results in increased costs for maintaining common areas, Czech civil law also provides for those additional costs to be reimbursed by the tenant.
✅ So what would I consider as a landlord?
If I had a good prospective tenant whom I wanted to accept, the fact that they owned a pet would not automatically be a reason for me to reject them.
I would, however, want to know several things.
What animal will be living in the apartment? How old is it? How large is it? Is it used to living in an apartment? How long is it normally left alone? Has the applicant previously rented a property with the same animal? Is it possible to obtain a reference? Does the tenant have suitable liability insurance? And is the particular apartment appropriate for that type of use?
I would combine this with a well-prepared tenancy agreement, an appropriate security deposit, a detailed handover report, and thorough photographic documentation.
In my view, it is the combination of all these measures that provides genuine protection for the property owner.
🤝 Don’t look for a tenant without a pet. Look for a good tenant.
The apartment in the Nad skálou Barrandov development is now reserved.
I am pleased that we found an interested tenant for this brand-new property, and the entire selection process once again reminded me that it is rarely a good idea to assess applicants based on a single piece of information.
The same applies to pets as it does to many other aspects of a tenancy.
The goal, in my opinion, should not be to find someone who does not have a dog or a cat at all costs.
The goal is to find a reliable tenant who will treat someone else’s property responsibly.
And if they have a well-behaved dog or cat, good references, appropriate insurance, and generally appear to be a reliable person, they may ultimately be a much better choice for the landlord than someone without a pet.
Because when renting out a property, what matters is not only who moves into the apartment.
What matters most is the condition in which they return it to you one day.
Jan Halík
Real Estate Agent
📞 +420 603 377 791
RE/MAX Atrium
Podolská 811/138
140 00 Praha 4 – Podolí
