Petition about landlords not allowing pets in rented accommodation.

Pollycat

Sezzagirl wrote: »

I don't think it is reasonable to insist that Landlords are not allowed to say they do not accept pets

If your terms state clearly No Pets, a potential tenant can always request to keep a pet, showing that they are in all other ways the perfect tenant and saying pet is perfect too and agreeing terms for recompnese if there is damage

If the terms do not state No Pets and the tenant applies with a pet, who, in the opinion of the landlord, might cause damage, the Landlord has no basis to refuse to let to that tenant. The Landlord would then be obliged to take every tenant + Pet with no authority to refuse any of them

btw I work for a HA that has a pet friendly policy and have a friend with properties she lets out so see things from both ways

I don't think it's reasonable either.

If I owned a property that I wanted to rent out, I would want to have a say in who the tenants would be - not having to adhere to a blanket 'demand' that I take pets.

The petition is, imho, poorly worded and for some strange reason goes off at a tangent at the end by this rant:

Also; the average Tenant is nothing more to a Letting Agent than a money making excercise. Paying Application Fees/Document Fees/Renewal Fees/Check In Fees/Check Out Fees/Fees for collecting Keys.

Indigenous Communities are suffering, so are Childrens Education whilst just having settled in a School...the Reluctant Landlord decides he wants his property back. The tenant then becomes another statistic & more money for Letting Agents

What does Letting Agents' fees have to do with being allowed to keep pets in rented accommodation?

What does children's education have to do with anything?

The petition is now closed, btw.

Buttonmoons

Dollardog wrote: »

Its tenants like you that are the cause of landlords stopping others who are more careful from renting.
I hope you will put all the damage right before you leave.

I'll think you will find it isn't - more careful? Exactly how does one prevent a cat from using it's claws? The carpets are mine, not the councils, the door is a fire door - that was needing replaced since I moved in and they have never done it - the wallpaper - guess what? Is mine!! The sofa which they have scratched running over - mine. If and when I do leave my property, which I have ZERO intention of doing for many years, I will of course fix the scratches on the door, but besides that, no they haven't damanged anything (besides the door) that belongs to the council.

But landlords - the furnishings ARE theirs, not the tennants and this is why I said - I can see WHY they don't allow it. The furnishings in my home, are mine - I did not rent my house "furnished".

catkins

Buttonmoons wrote: »

I'll think you will find it isn't - more careful? Exactly how does one prevent a cat from using it's claws? The carpets are mine, not the councils, the door is a fire door - that was needing replaced since I moved in and they have never done it - the wallpaper - guess what? Is mine!! The sofa which they have scratched running over - mine. If and when I do leave my property, which I have ZERO intention of doing for many years, I will of course fix the scratches on the door, but besides that, no they haven't damanged anything (besides the door) that belongs to the council.

But landlords - the furnishings ARE theirs, not the tennants and this is why I said - I can see WHY they don't allow it. The furnishings in my home, are mine - I did not rent my house "furnished".

Surely most properties are rented "unfurnished"? The house I rent had carpets and curtains when I moved in but nothing else. The carpet was old, almost bare, covered in stains and smelt but the landlord was not prepared to change it so me and OH took it all up and replaced it with either new carpet or laminate flooring. The curtains were pretty awful and as we redecorated each room we bought new curtains for that room

tom9980

catkins wrote: »

Surely most properties are rented "unfurnished"? The house I rent had carpets and curtains when I moved in but nothing else. The carpet was old, almost bare, covered in stains and smelt but the landlord was not prepared to change it so me and OH took it all up and replaced it with either new carpet or laminate flooring. The curtains were pretty awful and as we redecorated each room we bought new curtains for that room

Not all properties are in that poor a state, when this house gets rented in the coming months it will have new carpet because our two cats have ruined perfectly good 5 year old carpets. One problem nobody has mentioned is that professional cleaning wont get rid of smells like urine that has soaked through carpet into underlay.

Will i consider pets? the answer is yes since i believe 45% of family's have pets it seems silly to eliminate so many people applicants straight away. i would need a hefty deposit, require meeting the pet beforehand to judge character and insist on a professional carpet clean at end of tenancy. Also If i suspect a dog for instance is left home all day it will be an instant no since i regard that as cruel. Outdoor cats are a no given there are far to many in this location as it is.

roobee13

I can see both sides here.

I'm currently finding out the hard way that allowing pets really is down to the person and pet involved. I allowed my tenants to buy dogs. One is fine, the other has chewed skirting board, kitchen units and a wall (like, how??). I'm in the process of putting it all right and they're paying for it. I (naively) expected them to take better care of my property, lesson learnt! :eek:

Equally, I rent myself with my two dogs. I paid extra deposit and like other posters, will have the carpets professionally cleaned when I leave. My house is a bit 'dated' which is why I think my landlord was open to having pets. They're both older dogs though and spend most of their day asleep!

Pollycat

I agree, Roobee13.
I think it should be agreed between the landlord and the prospective tenants, not through the law.

catkins

tom9980 wrote: »

Not all properties are in that poor a state, when this house gets rented in the coming months it will have new carpet because our two cats have ruined perfectly good 5 year old carpets. One problem nobody has mentioned is that professional cleaning wont get rid of smells like urine that has soaked through carpet into underlay.

I am sure some rental properties are immaculate with good clean carpet although I have yet to see one.


It made me laugh really that our present landlord was initially reluctant to have us as tenants as we have a dog when the house was far from clean and in good decorative condition. As, I said, the carpets were pretty disgusting, the bathroom and kitchen were filthy and the walls had been drawn on by the previous tenants' children.


The house we rented previous to this one was no better. The carpet was that really thin corded type - looked like it had been down about 20 years and was covered in stains. The toilet was so filthy and disgusting I refused to use it even once so OH changed it the day we moved in. The kitchen consisted of a sink and one cupboard! Again, that landlord had doubts about allowing a dog!!


The house before that was slightly better in that we did not have to replace the kitchen and bathroom but the carpets had certainly seen better days.

Pollycat

catkins wrote: »

I am sure some rental properties are immaculate with good clean carpet although I have yet to see one.


It made me laugh really that our present landlord was initially reluctant to have us as tenants as we have a dog when the house was far from clean and in good decorative condition. As, I said, the carpets were pretty disgusting, the bathroom and kitchen were filthy and the walls had been drawn on by the previous tenants' children.


The house we rented previous to this one was no better. The carpet was that really thin corded type - looked like it had been down about 20 years and was covered in stains. The toilet was so filthy and disgusting I refused to use it even once so OH changed it the day we moved in. The kitchen consisted of a sink and one cupboard! Again, that landlord had doubts about allowing a dog!!


The house before that was slightly better in that we did not have to replace the kitchen and bathroom but the carpets had certainly seen better days.

What this says to me is that it would make more sense to petition for better standards in rented accommodation than to "Demand that Private Landlords accept Family Pets".

catkins

Pollycat wrote: »

What this says to me is that it would make more sense to petition for better standards in rented accommodation than to "Demand that Private Landlords accept Family Pets".

I totally agree. My experience of renting is that some landlords want to charge the earth for places not fit for pigs. In the last two houses we have rented we have spent quite a bit of money making the place (in our view) liveable. Present house had a disgusting bathroom that we were not prepared to live with as well as the carpets being dirty and awful. House before that had a disgusting bathroom which we changed and quite how we were meant to cope with just 1 cupboard in the kitchen I don't know!


Both times we wanted to live in a particular area and, because of our dog, felt we could not afford to be too fussy.


I know other people that rent or have rented in the past though and quite a few of them have had similar experiences.

Energize

These properties landlords own are not personal residences they are business properties, so different rules should obviously apply to them, especially considering that the housing situation is so dire that most people have to rent these days.

Landlords should accept pets as long as a reasonable deposit is made to take that into account. Most types of pets are kept in a cage or tank and can't cause damage to the property anyway, only cats and dogs are liable to cause significant damage, so excluding all pets is overkill in the first place.

As for carpets in rented properties, that's a really bad idea in the first place for obvious reasons, pets or not. If you're going to rent a property, you should really be using laminate flooring or equivalent, saves a lot of time and money not having to clean or replace the carpeting after a tenant ruins it, and no tenant should be subjected to a dirty stained carpet.