Renting with pets?

princeofpounds

would offering a larger deposit from the off be a good idea?

Yes, probably.

Always the best bet is to be upfront, not protest too much about how good your pets are as individuals ('MY cat is an angel' type stuff), offer an increased deposit if there are concerns and perhaps an agreement to clean carpets professionally or something at the end. Many LL have blanket bans but many do not.

mich_city

princeofpounds wrote: »

Yes, probably.

Always the best bet is to be upfront, not protest too much about how good your pets are as individuals ('MY cat is an angel' type stuff), offer an increased deposit if there are concerns and perhaps an agreement to clean carpets professionally or something at the end. Many LL have blanket bans but many do not.

thanks.. sound advice

my cats are far too lazy to do any damage.. but you never can tell - will definately offer that about the carpets when the time comes.. wouldn't have thought about it..

Jowo_2

mich_city wrote: »

looking to rent once (if) i've sold my house.. I have 3 cats, is this going to be a major problem.. they are adult, no fleas.. clean and well behaved

would offering a larger deposit from the off be a good idea?

Yes, but remember some landlords refuse to have pets because some tenants have allergies and are less inclined to move into a property where pets were previously living.

belisha-beacon

I have two guinea-pigs and have rented five houses now with them (although it was different guinea-pigs at the beginning!) I've always been able to find somewhere and haven't had to pay extra deposit or anything, but all landlords have ensured that the contract says that I will pay for any resultant costs and they were specifically mentioned in the contract for the last three houses - for the others I just got a letter of consent from the landlord. In each case, I've said that I will put lino between the hutch and the floor so that there is no contact with the carpets (we bought a huge six foot square offcut for a few quid on Ebay!) and I've agreed to exercise them only outside. I've never lost any of my deposit or been charged anything for damage.

It helps now that I have done it a few times because of course the previous landlords can give a reference about it. The last landlady gave us our deposit plus extra as we were such good tenants and that's incredibly useful, of course! Generally we look round the house first and when we are interested, mention the guinea-pigs and that they live in a hutch so will not be able to damage any furnishings and ask if it would be a problem.

Having said that, six is an awful lot for a landlord to have to think about. You can pretty much explain how two will be manageable and always kept clean but when you mention six, landlords will have visions of uncontrollable herds running around chewing things and weeing everywhere - and I think they would also worry that you would get more because it's an unusually large number to start with. It's definitely worth trying people to see what they say, perhaps with photos of how you keep them now to give an idea, but I'm afraid I wouldn't hold out much hope. You'd either find that you'd only get a really grotty house where any damage would go unnoticed amongst the mess or an incredibly expensive one with extra deposit for security.

It might be worth considering keeping them outdoors, but don't forget that you shouldn't keep them outdoors all year round. RSPCA advice is that you should monitor them to see the effects of temperature and when it gets cold they should be kept in a heated outhouse or shed at the very least, so if you do get a house wheer you are not keeping them indoors then make sure that it has some sort of outbuilding.

belisha-beacon

Oh - I should point out that no offence was meant my my imagined 'landlord's vision' of 6 guinea-pigs! I have lots of friends with guinea-pigs as well, one with 11 of them and her house is incredibly tidy, clean and well-ordered. It's just that landlords have to be in the mindset to protect their investment and, where there's a choice of tenants, they are sensible if they imagine the worst case scenario and choose the tenant who is least risky.

Jowo_2

My cat was too lazy to do damage, unfortunately it had a stroke and became incontinent and was too dazed to use his tray. As part of the symptoms of the stroke was walking around in circles, this meant its faeces and urine was spread about the entire house in tiny footprints...

belisha-beacon

Jowo wrote: »

My cat was too lazy to do damage, unfortunately it had a stroke and became incontinent and was too dazed to use his tray. As part of the symptoms of the stroke was walking around in circles, this meant its faeces and urine was spread about the entire house in tiny footprints...

Disaster! I bet that was a joy for you to clean up... Mind you, I've met more than one person who is not far off doing that when they've had a few too many ales so a landlord can't protect against that just by refusing pets :rotfl:

mich_city

Jowo wrote: »

Yes, but remember some landlords refuse to have pets because some tenants have allergies and are less inclined to move into a property where pets were previously living.

yep, guess the pesky things do limit my options somewhat, might see if my mum wants to adopt them.. (wishful thinking!).. will have to see how the land lies should I ever sell my house! :rolleyes:

PrincessPlaty

In my tenancy it clearly states no pets, however my landlord doesnt really have a problem with them it is just in the standard tenancy that he uses.

I look after a friends dog for 2 days and 2 nights a week (whilst she works) and he has absolutly no problem with it at all.

DD1 decided she wanted a cat and i told her that she had to ask the landlord (knowing that he would say no :rotfl: ) and he was saying that he has had tenants with dogs in the past and has had no problems, but he had a tenant with a cat once and it destroyed the whole house :eek: and it riddled the house with fleas :eek:

I guess it comes down to individual landlords as to which pets they will let you have, landlords that i have had previously have been very adamant no dogs or cats but any other pet is fine.

dirtmother

We just asked - there was a blanket 'no pets' on most places (I suspect encouraged by agents) but in practice landlords weren't bothered and just put an extra couple of clauses about carpet cleaning and damage in the tenancy agreement.