looking into our first foray into renting. why do so many not accept pets? Ok,dogs may damage flooring etc but even with an inflated damage deposit they still say no, its proving a nightmare to find somewhere to live as we have a cocker spaniel, but who doesnt have a pet these days? and rabbits….seriously? what difference does it make if i have a rabbit in the garden?!

anyone here rent with pets?

Ive been renting with pets for nearly thirty years, it narrows your options a bit but we’ve always managed to find something, and have lived in some fantastic places that we couldn’t have bought.

Id advise avoiding agents and talking to people, most of them say no without thinking and may change their mind if you have good references.

Because most common pets are dogs and like it or not dogs in general smell and leave places hairy and musty. Which takes a lot of cleaning and never goes away smellwise. Previous place I rented had a dog before us and vowed never again. And all the carpets and mats stank. Plus there are issues of people having pet allergies, meaning the next tenants may leave. Same goes for a bought house of course, but rented houses are really just money making machines so they limit expense and problems. Plenty of folk in the market to rent, they can pick n choose.

As a dog owner and a landlord I rent out to dog owners but I need to meet the mutt first and there are a few clauses in the contract based around not having shit all over the garden, neighbour complaints / nuisance and possible extra charge for cleaning at the end of the tenancy. So far so good.

We have a cat and even then it proved difficult to find somewhere to rent. I managed to find one property that would consider a small house cat which luckily is also really nice and we liked it so that worked out ok! Also meant that we’ve have to pay 50% more deposit and that they’ll hold a small percentage of the deposit for 3 months after we leave. Just got to keep looking around and asking the agents/landlords, there are properties around!

My experience is that its always worth double checking if you see a house/ flat you like. Quite often it’s the default option for letting agents to just state “no pets”, but if you show interest and explain your situation the landlord may be willing to ease up on the restriction. Worth a shot.

Did it for years, severely limits your options but is possible.

As a landlord it’s just a hassle/worry you don’t need adding to the list. Nowt but a cost.

I am a landlord with a no pets / students / DHSS basic clause through the agent. So just people in work when they take on tenancy only.

We were asked once by a cat owner and we said yes. The tenant had to clean the carpets professionally at the end of the tenancy. It worked out ok but probably might still say no another time. Particularly for a dog, and me at MrsB like dogs. Just don’t want the smells and mess in the garden. We keep the property nice and don’t want to risk devaluing it.

You might find this site useful – http://www.letswithpets.org.uk/ 🙂

The tenant had to clean the carpets professionally at the end of the tenancy

To be fair that’s a standard clause (regardless of pets) with the letting agent we’re with!

yup, been renting for about 10yrs with two cats. The letting agency said no pets in the contract but it turned out that the landlords building company also do maintenance on the buildings where I work, which has worked out well in my favour 🙂

wouldnt do as my friends have done and sign a contract saying no pets …..

landlord then sees said tennents out walking locally with the dog and becomes suspicous – figures out its their dog and thats why on inspection their house smells of dog despite no actual evidence of the dog.

boom , eviction and deposit lost.

We rent out a house in Stoke and when the tenants asked if they could get a dog we agreed as long as they paid an extra lump into their deposit. Might be worth asking to speak to the Landlord if you find somewhere you really like to see if you can come to a similar agreement?

Yup, I am currenly renting a house and have a cat.

I am also a landlady and I although I have a ‘no pet’ clause in my contract, I can always be persuaded by a nice owner and a nice pet, which I think is what’s happened with my current rental house!

To be fair that’s a standard clause (regardless of pets) with the letting agent we’re with!

Unenforceable though unless you actualy left the house in a state.

Mine said similar and the agent even sent a list of aproved companies a couple of weeks before the end of the tennancy.

A carpet shampoo’er, a bottle of ovenbrite later and a suitably wooly reply to the e-mail saying the items in question had been ‘cleaned’and eeryone’s happy.

Thank you for all the replies, will check out that lets with pets linky, cheers all!

we never had a problem renting with a dog. If you’re up front and offer to pay for the place to be professional cleaned when you leave people were OK. Better off speaking direct to the landlord though, as some rental agents say NO when the actual owners were ok with it.

Be up front and honest. As a former dog owner ans landlord I’d also exclude renting to people with kids at least dog owners notice the damage normally…..

Why not cleaned to a professorial standard rather than by a professional clearer?

Its an odd idea that seems to have come about that if you pay someone they will be better than you can do yourself.

Having employed a cleaner whilst working away from home I can confirm that even I as a 20something bloke I’m cleaner than she was. In fact the ammount of cleaning done decreaced by the week untill I got a note saying she was unable to come that week as she’d hurt her back. TBH I’d not noticed!

I stipulate no dogs but allow other pets. Dogs make the place stinky, even nice ones.

It’s a pain in my current rental, as we can’t close doors because the cat scratches the carpet, so it comes in the bedroom & wakes us up randomly thro’ the night. We’ll lose some of the deposit because of the damage, i’m sure.