Renting houses..... with a dog

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Jemima 13 — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 09:22:02 GMT

It took my partner and I about 4 months to find somewhere that would accept my cat! The estate agent told us that you'd have more luck with the landlord if the building is over 20 years old. Apparently if it's younger than that, they get pretty precious about their walls and carpets (because of course, none of us no how to clean!!)

Sadly, we've only been in our place for 2 months and we now have to move bacuse our estate agents were big liars! That link is so useful!

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Louise B — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 21:47:22 GMT

[quote user="Dippy"]

Some of us treated BEFORE we moved in to make sure our pet didn't pick up fleas from the house as have had that happen before - not all landlords/previous tenants are as caring/knowledgeable about things like that as you - it works both ways!!! I would automatically make sure that everything was in the same state of cleanliness as I found it when i moved in - that's just common courtesy.

[/quote]

That what makes people like you great tenants and sets a good example that makes landlords want to continue letting to pet owners.

[quote user="Dippy"]

Re the comment about some people leaving houses in a state - maybe they've never owned their own home so are not as bothered about the value of things? Having been a homeowner for years and then finding myself in an impossible personal situation, I had no choice but to rent as wouldn't have got a mortgage on my wages but I treat the house I live in like I treated my own. then again, based on some of the visits we go on, the way some people treat their own houses isn't much better!

[/quote]

True. Some people live like total pigs for want of a better phrase - irrespective of housing status. I just wish, as a landlord, I could find some cast iron guaranteed way of sorting the wheat from the chaff. Then I would let to pet owners without any problems - appeasing my guilt at not doing so with my need to have stress-free financially viable lets

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Lynn Perry — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 21:23:05 GMT

I've rented for the last 3 years with 2 dogs and 2 cats. Granted I met a few who were instantly 'pets? ack, no!' even though I'm quite sure that my lot would do far less damage than kids. But my 'proposal' to the letting agents, for them to propose to the landlord was an extra security deposit, ie instead of a month's rent up front, I'd offer a month and a half.

You're going to find a lot don't allow pets, but there are those that do, so keep keep hunting! You'll find somewhere :)

Good luck!

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Kim — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 18:07:40 GMT

Hi Guys,

I had this problem. I moved from Lancashire to Leamington Spa recently, I had 3 guinea pigs and a rabbit, which i did not want to leave behind. My boyfriend had already moved down before me, and was trying to find a place with a garden and shed (that was hard enough, as i wanted grass!!) then find someone happy enough to allow us to have them. He found to houses in idela location with the other demands also and only one would allow pets in the garden.

However, the landlady then said before we move in she needs to do some work on the house and the garden as the previous occupants left it in a mess by destroying doors, walls, bathroom and garden. The only place she did not do was the garden. Now she turns round and says it is up to us to maintain the garden whilst we are living there, which is fine. It just looked like a jungle of weeds, with lots of glass from a broken shed. I'm so disappointed.

Thanks for the link though, will come in very handy, didn't know about it. I also did not know that you could get references from your vet and put extra deposits down.

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Polly P — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 17:51:15 GMT

I have five cats and rent, this is my fourth rented property with pets and I can honestly say I have never had a problem getting a place.

I never go through a letting agent, always privately, and when I get the paper or whatever and start calling around, my first question is always 'would you consider a tenant with cats' before I get any further. Get a couple of no's but more 'yes's than you would expect.

All of the landlords I have let from have been ok about it as they have animals themselves.

I have all my own furniture and always let places with hard floors only- the one place I let that had carpets I got them all replaced before I left as the cats has wrecked them.

I would never lie and pretend I didn;t have pets, I'd simply never feel comfortable in my own home. What if the landlord found out, and moved me on with no notice?! Nightmare.

Also if I was a landlord in the future, to be honest I would prefer to let to someone with pets!I think having animals when done right, shows a degree of stability and settledness that is likely to make them a good long term tenant.

I'd want to meet the pets first to be sure they weren't totally out of control, and would check they were vaccinated etc- simply because I believe if someone is responsible about things like that, they are more likely to be responsible with the house!

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Louisa Cocks — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 14:35:56 GMT

I have been really interested to read these posts. Due to a change in my husbands job we have just moved into a tied house and are going to rent our house out. We have spent just under £10,000 doing it up (which we were in the middle of anyway) including repainting inside and out and brand new carpets and laminate floors, last year we put in a new kitchen and bathroom. We have just started looking around at letting agents and we have to decide wether we will allow pets or not. We are still undecided but I really think we will say no in the end. I know peoples pets are their family too and I do feel a bit hypocritical as I have brought my cats and rabbits to our new house I just dont know if it's worth taking the risk. Also have to say if we did decide to have a no pets clause and I found out that our tennants were lying I would be furious!!

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

BengalcatRVN — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:56:05 GMT

My ex (when he wasn't an ex!) and I were looking for somewhere to live. My main issue was I had told the agents we needed a cat friendly place. Every place we went to view I asked about cats, they hadn't checked. Each place was perfect but every time was a no. Managed to find a flat, asked about cats again. Was told the landlord was fine and would even fit a catflap for me! Purrfect, but I didn't want a catflap. :)

All was fine until a month or 2 having moved in we got an ant infestation. I called the landlord to tell him I needed something to get rid of them, he suggested a product but I "reminded" him I culdn't use it because of the cats. He wasn't happy, he had no idea I had them. I got worried he'd kick us out, but I explained the situation with the estate agents saying it was fine, and he came around and agreed my 2 furkids (and us) could stay.

I got lucky, but would never lie about the cats.

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Kim Buckley — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 07:49:02 GMT

When I was at uni I moved into a complete dump of house with my two friends. It was dirty and falling to bits. We asked if we could have pets and were told yes aslong as they didn't cause any damage. We had 3 rats and a hamster and kept them nice and clean.

When we went to move out, we scrubbed the house from top to bottom and it was cleaner than when we moved in. The landlord then told us he would be keeping all our deposits due to a stain on a carpet and a cupboard door hanging off! (Both which were like that when we moved in!)

Luckily we had taken pictures of the entire house before we moved in and when I said this to him he soon changed his mind and we all got our full deposits back. It really annoyed me though because we were there for two years and caused him no problems whatsoever! Our neighbours even stopped him one day and said how nice we all were compared to the people before us!

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Dippy — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 07:31:02 GMT

[quote user="Princess Ophelia Hermione MacBeth"]

[quote user="Dippy"]

Is it any wonder the rescue centres are full of cats and dogs when so many people are losing their homes and being forced to live in rented but so few landlords will let them have animals? Grr - sorry, bit of a bugbear with me!

[/quote]

I think anyone renting a property with pets should expect to have all the carpets/soft furnishings cleaned and the whole place treated for fleas when vacating a property, and do it without even having to be asked/have it in a contract.

[/quote]

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Louise B — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 23:21:41 GMT

[quote user="Vicky SVN"]

[quote user="Princess Ophelia Hermione MacBeth"] couldn't afford a car[/quote]

Yet she could afford to buy a puppy!!! Which at some point will get sick and she can't afford treatment for it, and it's not insured cos she can't afford the insurance! Some people!!!

[/quote]

Exactly. Sometime after that I noticed she was now advertising the dog at stud on the local free ads site too. I think I had a lucky escape TBH. I got a really abusive email from her at the time though about messing her about, saying that I would consider her, etc when I obviously had no intention of renting to her.

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Louise B — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 23:19:47 GMT

[quote user="Dippy"]

[/quote]

Unfortunately this happens because irresponsible pet owners spoil it for the others. Or, pet owners let their animals do damage because of low living standards - e.g. the attitude that "its natural for a cat to scratch walls/door frames/carpets, therefore if the landlord lets me have cats then they must expect a bit of cat-related damage" or dogs digging holes in the garden - but that's okay because its a cute puppy/terrier, etc.

I feel sorry for responsible pet owners but unfortunately my experience is that a lot of pet owners (VNs included as I have seen/shared enough practice accomodation that has been damaged by VNs pets) get a 'bit too comfortable' in their rented homes and let their pets do things that make the property less desireable for the next person who moves in and harder for the landlord to bring it up to a standard that does make it rentable.

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Vicky RVN — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 23:11:58 GMT

[quote user="Princess Ophelia Hermione MacBeth"] couldn't afford a car[/quote]

Yet she could afford to buy a puppy!!! Which at some point will get sick and she can't afford treatment for it, and it's not insured cos she can't afford the insurance! Some people!!!

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Louise B — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 23:06:51 GMT

[quote user="Stella Skelton SVN MBVNA"]but it did increase my deposit by £50 per animal - so £150 extra. Which i probably won't get back as the cats have destroyed the carpet on the bottom step of the stairs and the dog has dug at some of the lino in the kitchen...but i guess that's what the extra deposit is for...hopefully i'll get my regular deposit back though.[/quote]

If your landlord is like me I wouldn't bet on it! Sorry! Among other things I had to replace the stair carpets after one tenant's cats sprayed all over it. The cost of replacing just the stair carpet (including underlay) + small stretch of landing? circa £300 + one day off work to be there to allow the fitters in = c£80-100, total cost c£400. Add in the cost of replacing other rooms as well and the cost starts to rocket (e.g. other carpets, other underlay, sanding down door frames that cats have used as scratching posts, etc) and I don't even furnish the property! But it all has to be replaced before the place is fit to rent out to the next set of tenants. I would keep almost all your deposit. But your landlord sounds quite leniant - I would have asked for a double deposit (i.e. a total deposit of £1000) unless I knew the person whose was renting was going to be very reasonable (i.e. I knew them personally, etc).

I do feel guilty as a VN but I started off lenient and rapidly learnt the hard way. I can only say as a landlord that lying about pets is a dodgy ground to get into (says me with a tank of 'undeclared' cockroaches in a tank in my bedroom) unless you really can guarantee that a) they won't find out and b) you can repair any damage fully before you leave/are next inspected. I have been really strict with my tenants with regards to no cats and if I found that they had got cats and not let me know I would serve immediate notice as I would nolonger feel that I could trust them as tenants. If I found severe damage caused my 'undeclared animals' I would also consider taking out a civil action against the ex-tenants. That sounds brutal but I 'break-even' as a landlord, I am not making a huge profit at the expense of tenants and it is my home that is being violated and I would be livid to find that I was making a loss (i.e. therefore subsidising other's lifestyles) due to other people's pets.

I also cancelled one prospective tenant's application when initially having a dog wasn't a problem. She wanted to rent the house and had a 4 month old dogue de bordeaux. Coming to be a student at the local uni. But it then transpired that she was doing a science degree on a campus that involved her being out of the house 9 - 5, couldn't afford a car due to her studies so was going to be travelling by bus each way - which mean't she would be out of the house from 7.45 - 6.15pm every weekday. There was absolutely no way that I was going to rent out my house to somebody with a young big dog that was going to be locked in it for hours each day. I got alot of tears and abuse from the applicant when I stated my reasons why I wasn't going to go through with her application and that I was ruining her uni chances but I just feel sorry for the poor dog & the poor landlord that did rent to her!!!

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 22:39:55 GMT

We found it quite easy, we went through an estate agent for all three of the rentals we have had with the pooch. It was easier to be up front, as they seemed to know which landlords were amenable to pets, and which ones were a complete no-no.

We also offered a reference letter from work, and because the dog was going to be crated at that point when alone, we mentioned this as well. I think we ended up paying an increased deposit for two out of the three houses, and there were some conditions in each contract to stick to. First house the dog was not allowed upstairs (only part with carpets!) second house we had a carpet cleaning clause and the third we have to make sure there is no damage to the lawns.

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Stella Skelton RVN — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 22:34:15 GMT

yeah...i have a carpet cleaning clause too...and i'm in unfurnished property...

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Dippy — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 22:30:02 GMT

I'm in a rented house with my dog and the house I started to apply for before this one would also have allowed me to have him. Both were through estate agents rather than actual letting agents which I personally found to be a better option as they just contact the owner whereas the letting management companies seem to stick to their own rules and policies and usually seem less keen to contact owners or bend any rules.

I do think area also plays a part though. When I moved to my mum's in the Mids earlier this year and started looking at rental places there, I struggled to find any pet friendly ones, even though I offered references for both me and the dog. When I came back to my village further north and way more rural (where every thrid house seems to own a dog!) I had no problems other than with the odd one or two which were very newly decorated/carpeted etc. The other thing is that if you rent unfurnished, there's only really floors for a dog to potentially damage whereas chairs, beds etc pose more of a worry to an owner so definitely try that option. My current contract just had an extra clause written in saying that if my dog had caused thew carpets to be particuarly dirty, I would get them professionally cleaned before moving out but as he doesn't moult and the carpets weren't exactly what you'd call spotless anyway, I don't expect to be having to do that!

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Nikki Graef — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 22:23:01 GMT

I find not telling them is the best bet!! We rent and have pets and its a nightmare, i know my animals would never do any damage and if they did they have a huge deposit anyway, plus i would repair/replace anything before they found out anyway.

Most of my VN friends do the same otherwise we'd all be homeless as there are so few places that will rent out to pet owners

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Nick Shackleton — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 22:16:52 GMT

Luckily my new place is owned my a good friend of mine who also has two cats so makes it easier for me and kitty!!!!

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Stella Skelton RVN — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 22:15:46 GMT

I rent still...i have 5 animals...2 rats - which is fine, but i also have 2 cats and a dog. I looked for ages to find a place and eventually just asked the agents...they checked with the landlord - so make sure the agents do this if they're not sure...and landlord agreed for me to have the pets but it did increase my deposit by £50 per animal - so £150 extra. Which i probably won't get back as the cats have destroyed the carpet on the bottom step of the stairs and the dog has dug at some of the lino in the kitchen...but i guess that's what the extra deposit is for...hopefully i'll get my regular deposit back though...good luck...keep searching...there is a website that specialises in advertising rental housing that accepts pets....

http://www.petfriendlyrentals.co.uk/index.html

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Louise B — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 22:08:43 GMT

I am currently renting in Edinburgh and I have two dogs (was three when i moved in). I didn't have that much of a problem but I did offer a bigger deposit. I am just about to move to another area (Shropshire) and I didn't have a massive problem there either. It did limit my choice a bit but nothing major. I think it helps to tell them that you work as a vet nurse and, if you can/do take your dog to work with you. I think that is a great selling point also (always works for me). I am a landlord also and I rent to dog owners but not to cat owners (sorry Steph) due to feline-related damage that I have experienced You could always point out to them also that research has shown that dog-owners tend to rent their houses, on average for several months longer than non-dog owners so by renting to you they are reducing the risk of the landlord having experience void periods. My current tenants have two dogs and have lived in the property for two years so far and I am expecting them to be there another 3 at least! Very tempting proposition for any landlord

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Steph Worsley — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 19:57:30 GMT

i had difficulty too but just was up front and eventually found somewhere, i found my problem was they were willing to have dogs but not cats!!!

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Emma Bartlett — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 19:49:16 GMT

http://www.letswithpets.org.uk/

I have just seen this in the readers letters bit in Octobers Your dog magazine

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Sarah Nicholas — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:30:58 GMT

thanks for the link - I have to move asap and I have 5 pets. So far no one will consider it at all I really don't want to have to rehome them all they are rescues and only just settled as it is!

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Deemus — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 13:56:48 GMT

Excellent, thanks for the replies guys.

Thank you to Emma for the link, I wasn't aware of the site. Guess what I'm going to be doing this afternoon.

Thanks again

Re: Renting houses..... with a dog

Jen — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 13:53:04 GMT

I rent out my house to people with pets. As long as they are toilet trained and dont trash the place I dont see what the problem is really. I do ask for a bit more of a depositi though just in case!