Renting with a pet

gordonstights

We've had a lot of problems trying to find a rented house that accepts cats. The most irritating thing is that only 10% of properties on Rightmove will say "No Pets". That's fine if they state it upfront, but when you have to ring agency after agency asking if the landlord will accept cats and being told no, it's wasting my time and money.

One agency I dealt with insisted we fill out a registration form before they'd allow us to view any of their properties. I filled in the pets question, stating we had two cats only for them to arrange a viewing at a house where the landlady met us at the door and announced that she knew we had cats and she couldn't allow them because she had asthma!! :mad: I didn't get any apology from the LA when I asked them why they wasted our time like that!

Now we are moving into another rented property where we didn't even bother to mention our cats when we made the appointment. We turned up to view the house & wanted to put an application in straight away so we came clean and told the agency that we had cats. He said he really didn't think the landlady would agree but he'd ask her. Turns out she said ok, so we have a lovely house to move into now.

Good luck with your search

carrie0000

Hi,
just wanted to say that I am looking to rent the 3rd floor of my house in Sowerby Bridge which is just outside Halifax, West Yorkshire. 3rd floor consists of 2 double bedrooms. £400 PCM including bills, except phone.
I WILL DEFINATELY ACCEPT PETS, so if anyone knows of anyone looking in my area pls pass my details.... [EMAIL="cmoland@hotmail.com"]cmoland@hotmail.com[/EMAIL] Thanks

looby-loo_2

Two of the people I work with rent and have cats.

Welshwoofs

In the years I rented I never had problems finding a place that allowed cats and I was totally up front. The problem with going through LAs is that they're often bone lazy, put a standard contract clause in of "no pets, no DSS, no breathing too loudly" (ok, I made up the last one) and when asked if the LL will accept pets will generally say 'no' without asking.

I always got my places through local papers or i asked the LAs if I could have the contact number for the LL to ask myself and invariably they were fine with a little extra deposit.

LillyJ

I got a dog whilst living in a rental house. By that point they knew we were clean and tidy etc so didn't mind as long as the dog was "small and didn't annoy the neighbours". Well he didn't annoy the neighbours, but he is nearly 10 stone, so we didn't quite stick with the original agreement!
We wanted to move then but couldn't because we couldn't find anywhere that wasn't a dive that would allow a dog. (despite references, offers to clean carpets, buy our own furniture etc). So we stayed where we were and then ended up buying a house.

Davesnave

I spoke to a rental agency a few weeks ago and asked whether there was any hope of renting through them, as all the properties stated 'No pets, no DSS.'

'Oh,' she said, 'that's just what we put, because some people are horrible and have horrible pets. If we like the look of you, there are many landlords/ladies who will take a pet.'

Northants_Simon

Around here (Northants) all the letting agents advertise houses as no pets. Some also say no children! I could understand if they were nice houses, even terraced houses in poor condition say no pets.

GracieP

We had no problem renting with dogs when we sold our house. I think it helps if you are renting unfurnished, as the LL doesn't have to worry about the state their furniture will be left in. And you need to be easy-going about the flooring in the place. If you are looking at place with new oak floors they will probably say no. If it has an old carpet they will be less fussed.

LittleMissAspie

No pets, no children, no smokers, no sharers is a standard line for adverts. You just have to ask the landlord, some will say yes and some will say no.

We moved from a flat to a house so that we could get a cat. We mentioned that we wanted to get a cat while we were viewing places and the agents basically said that the landlord would have to agree it. So we found somewhere we were willing to move to and said we'd take it but only if we could have a cat. The agent asked the landlord and he or she said yes.

I think finding somewhere that you will definitely take gives them an incentive to say yes. Don't offer extra money, but say you will agree to terms like getting the carpets cleaned, or fumigating the place. We have to get the carpets professionally cleaned and have a cat flap, which is all perfectly reasonable. (Not getting a cat flap now though because she's only allowed out when we are home anyway).