When a prospective tenant enters your rental property, one of the first things they’re going to notice is the way your property smells. How a property smells can greatly impact how clean an applicant believes a property to be.
If you allow pets on your rental property, you can guarantee that there will be some kind of leftover smell, no matter how clean a tenant is. Smells will naturally cling to curtains, carpets, and other fabrics in your unit. Fortunately, there are ways to get rid of pet odors in your rental property and ensure applicants smell a fresh and clean property at their next viewing.
Pet Odor Prevention Tips
The best way to make sure pet odor doesn’t stink up your rental is to start with prevention. First and foremost, every landlord should conduct a pet screening before allowing a pet on their property. This way, you can tell ahead of time if a pet is poorly potty trained. Rejecting poorly trained animals ensures you won’t end up with a property that smells like urine. It’s also important to conduct inspections and cleanings throughout a tenant’s stay. The less you let pet odors build up, the easier they’ll be to remove when a tenant and their pet move out.
Open the Windows
Sometimes, getting rid of pet odors is as simple as leaving the windows open for a few hours. Ventilation allows the stagnant air that holds the smell to escape, letting fresh, clean air in. It also helps to turn on the ceiling fan and run your air conditioner with a clean filter. Plus, letting in the sun can help kill and neutralize odor-causing bacteria.
Use Air Purifiers
If certain rooms seem to keep most of the stink, whether that’s the bedroom or the main room a pet slept in, you may want to use an air purifier. You can move the air purifier from room to room or buy a separate one for every olfactory offender. However, remember that not all air purifiers are the same, and while they all filter the air, some are better for pet odors than others. You’ll want to get an air purifier specifically for neutralizing pet odors and removing pet dander.
Identify Problem Areas
If you still can’t get rid of the smell, it’s time to break out the big guns and identify the problem areas—the culprit may be a hidden stain. Purchase a black light, turn off all the lights, and look for any glowing splotches or stains on areas near the baseboards, the carpet, and any upholstery. Spray a mixture of equal parts water and vinegar on the stains you found. Blot the excess, wait for it to dry completely, and then sprinkle some baking soda over the stain before vacuuming it up after 15 minutes.
Use an Enzymatic Cleaner
If the baking soda vinegar trick doesn’t work, you’ll have to use an enzymatic cleaner on stubborn stains. Enzyme cleaners use a kind of non-pathogenic bacteria that quickly breaks down organic waste. Fortunately, getting your hands on an enzymatic cleaner specifically for pet odors is easy. All you must do is follow the instructions on the bottle.
If you find that these tips for getting rid of pet odors in your rental property don’t seem to work, it may be time to call a professional cleaning service. They’ll usually have the necessary tools and know how to remove any stubborn stain or smell. You may have to pay a few extra bucks for the service, but it costs less than sitting with a vacant rental property for months on end.
