A property manager has revealed parents, rather than pet owners, are more likely to be rejected from a rental because children cause more damage than pets.
Taylored Property Management founder Skye Taylor from Adelaide, said she has seen multiple types of damage from children of all ages that pets could never create.
Ms Taylor explained her stance to Daily Mail , calling it a ‘logical’ conclusion.
‘Children can access significantly more parts of the property than what a pet can access,’ she said.
‘The risk is also higher due to different age groups, which could be anywhere from toddlers up to teenagers.’
Ms Taylor believes other rental managers discriminate if a prospective tenant has kids because of the damage they are known to create.
‘As a single mum when I was looking for a rental property I found it challenging and wondered whether the stigma around children was what was causing it,’ she said.
‘I had a solid rental history and there shouldn’t have been a concern.’
Ms Taylor said while the damage pets create tends to be ‘close to the ground’ such as scratched floorboards, dirty walls, chewed skirting boards and going to the toilet inside, kids have many more ways to inflict damage.
‘I’ve seen hair straighteners left on carpets, nail polish spilt on flooring, texta drawings on walls and window sills, as well as textas leaking on floorings – which is a common one,’ she said.
‘One time a teenage girl had oil in a saucepan on the stove and she had forgotten about and it caught on fire.
‘Luckily the kitchen was only smoke-damaged and needed repainting, but it could have been significantly worse.
‘A pet has never done that.’
The property manager said generally each time flooring is damaged it needs replacing – which can add up for the tenant.
‘It’s usually a replacement of that particular room or area.
‘If it’s texta or nail polish you can’t get that stain out by the time a property manager discusses it – unless it’s dealt with immediately.’
The mum-of-two also said kids can damage flooring by wearing football and soccer boots, as well as tap shoes inside.
And because kids can be ‘grubby’, surfaces like walls and light switches can become permanently dirty.
‘A lot of people don’t realise that if parents aren’t wiping that down on a regular basis, it can cause deeper damage to the paint over time, and the stain line isn’t able to be removed,’ she said.
‘Long-term you can be up for new paint if you neglect it.’
Ms Taylor said tenants should also be mindful of their children using blue tac, which can leave a greasy residue and sticky tape as it can remove the plaster.
But the property manager admits that when pets do damage, it is usually bigger and more expensive.
‘I had a property where an animal had been chewing at the skirting boards in one area and using the skirting board as a toilet in another area.
‘The skirting boards in the toilet area had to be replaced along with the connecting floorboards – I think it was about $5,000.’
Ms Taylor also said cat urine does the most damage because of its strong smell and corrosive nature.
‘Floorboards are the worst (for cat urine) because it seeps through the joins in the floorboards,’ she said.
‘I know of a situation where there were 27 cats and the sub flooring – the actual concrete under the flooring – had to be fully replaced.
‘All the window sills had to be replaced because they were level with the floor. It had just seeped into everything.’
But the property manager has observed one interesting thing about Aussie tenants – people are far more likely to clean up after their pets than their children.
‘I have found most tenants with pets will go over and above because they are very grateful to be able to have their pets and will look after the property to offset that,’ she said.
‘But that doesn’t seem to be the case with children. There’s more acceptance of children in rentals, obviously, so tenants aren’t on edge about them like they are with pets.’