Renting house - is a full month's extra deposit for pets fair?

LEJC

The other thing to consider is that although the property is unfurnished so your cat is unlikely to damage furniture etc...there is another potential issue that could arise with the carpets other than fleas...clawing.

I have cats and they have scratching posts but it doesnt mean they wont claw!...it happens over time and areas of the carpet get damaged...

IMO the requests of the landlord regarding professional cleaning and extra deposit are reasonable,in fact your lucky that you can choose the carppet cleaning contractor...at least you will be able to search the best quote rather than having to pay for a certain stipulated one.

bex0309

We are now in our third flat with our two cats (one in Bournemouth and two in London) and only one estate agent asked for an extra £200 for professional cleaning on on any of their properties, never any extra deposit. We simply didn't register with them. On the previous two properties we have had all of our deposit back and I foresee the same when we leave the current one. Our cats don't have fleas and if they ever did scratch any carpets, I assume it would come under normal wear and tear.

So, in my opinion it is unreasonable, but it would depend on how much you like the flat.

moromir

bex0309 wrote:

Our cats don't have fleas and if they ever did scratch any carpets, I assume it would come under normal wear and tear.

And OP, this is the exact tenant attitude that landlords are trying to avoid like the plague.

Noone's pet is 100% flea free 100% of the time, thats an absolutely ignorant statement to make as a pet owner.

Animals pick up fleas, even when they are regularly treated with preventative chemicals like Frontline. They might not become infested to the level you start noticing them on your pet but they'll be there now and again.

Heck I even spray my sofa with flea killer every month despite the moggy having regular treatments, just in case.

A cat shredding and pulling a carpet is damage. It is NOT fair wear and tear.

Fair wear and tear would be normal traffic wear over a number of years, faded spots where the sun naturally bleaches fibres etc.

I'm actually quite floored by the irresponsible attitude of this poster and feeling quite sorry for responsible pet owners who have to rent under extra conditions because of this type of attitude :eek:

anotheruser

My cats have been 100% flea free for at least 24 months... one has never had fleas, the other caught them when they were on heat.
Plus, if they are indoor cats, then they can't really catch fleas :S

sgun

My cat is 13 and has never had fleas and I don't use Frontline. Just lucky I suppose, he goes out and "socialises" (fights) with other cats. I do regularly worm but for some reason the fleas don't like him. Believe me I would know if he had fleas even at low levels for only a couple of days because I'm allergic to their bites.

Scratching the carpets and furniture is definitely NOT wear and tear. My cat doesn't have fleas but he wrecks cheap carpets (hasn't managed to destroy the one from John Lewis though, much better quality that Carpetright but thats another thread).

I don't accept tenants with pets but if I did the terms imposed to the OP seem reasonable and I would do something similar but would maybe waive the fumigation if they stayed for longer than three years and pay it myself.

GenD

Thanks for all the info, you guys on here are great

We actually saw another house today which we like, and this agent only requested an extra £100 deposit for pets, and no cleaning stipulation other than the usual 'leave it as you found it'. I was quite surprised, because I totally understand that a landlord has to protect themselves in case of expensive damage by ignorant or irresponsible tenants (which I hope we would never be!)

I'm pretty certain the cats don't have fleas, because they live 100% indoors so never come in contact with other animals, and on their annual vet check-ups and boosters they've never found any, so I don't actually use any flea treatments, but I do understand it would cause a problem for a landlord if he/she was left with an infestation, and there's not really any way of proving in advance that the cats are flea-free!

When we've decided which property to go for, I'll happily pay whatever the requested deposit is, now that I know it's pretty standard.

Thanks again, I'm sure I'll be back with more questions at some point, this is such a useful forum

bex0309

moromir wrote: »

And OP, this is the exact tenant attitude that landlords are trying to avoid like the plague.

Noone's pet is 100% flea free 100% of the time, thats an absolutely ignorant statement to make as a pet owner.

Animals pick up fleas, even when they are regularly treated with preventative chemicals like Frontline. They might not become infested to the level you start noticing them on your pet but they'll be there now and again.

Heck I even spray my sofa with flea killer every month despite the moggy having regular treatments, just in case.

A cat shredding and pulling a carpet is damage. It is NOT fair wear and tear.

Fair wear and tear would be normal traffic wear over a number of years, faded spots where the sun naturally bleaches fibres etc.

I'm actually quite floored by the irresponsible attitude of this poster and feeling quite sorry for responsible pet owners who have to rent under extra conditions because of this type of attitude :eek:

Well, I'm glad you aren't our landlord! As I mentioned, we have never had any of our deposit taken from us, when leaving a rental property so obviously our landlords were happy with the condition we left the properties in.

Personally I have never seen any damage on carpets from our cats and notice I said "I would assume" that it would be normal wear and tear, because we have never had this problem. Take a closer look before judging and branding others irresponsible.

I would also say whether your cat is an indoor or outdoor cat might affect any level of damage. As we have a garden, I would imagine any scratching not done on the post indoors is done on trees in the garden.