Man’s best friend can sometimes become a landlord’s biggest headache. Managing tenants can be difficult enough as it is, and it only gets more complicated when their pets are involved. For the most part, dogs and more specifically “viscous breeds” of dogs make up a majority of the problem with pets. Oklahoma statutes Title 4 defines "Potentially dangerous dog" as:
“any dog that when unprovoked inflicts bites on a human either on public or private property, or when unprovoked attacks a dog which results in the death of said dog either on public or private property. “
Recent local events have escalated the importance of this issue to landlords. Some are lobbying for reform of the law so that rental home owners would share the responsibility with their tenants "to keep a secured yard". Even though the law has not been changed yet, I would suggest a few solutions to mitigate your risk, starting with your lease agreement.
- It is not uncommon to put a restriction on weight, size, and breed of tenant pets and a flat pet fee is also relatively standard to recoup the financial burden of tenant pet ownership. This is not only to protect your property but also your personal liability.
- It is also important to review your insurance policies to make sure that incidents such as pet/animal attacks are not excluded so that you have proper coverage and not held personally liable.
It is impossible to completely eliminate the risk of bad things from happening in the world but there are steps and immediate actions that can be taken to further protect yourself from when things do go wrong. For further discussion or questions on the topic please contact me at nbritten@pi-ins.com or 405-507-2734