Renting with a dog and getting applications rejected

[L3tti316]

Me and my partner have been to visit three properties over the last week, fell in love with all of them each time and even though the advertisements says pets are allowed (we wouldn’t apply or view the house otherwise) we are rejected every time and when we ask why they say it’s because of the dog.

I know landlords don’t care about details but he is a medium sized dog, loves nothing more than spending his days out sleeping in the garden, completely house trained and on top of this I am a very house proud person who hoovers twice a day and loves a clean house.

We have been renting now for 5 years so obviously there are landlords out there that don’t mind pets, but I almost feel like asking during the viewing if they actually MEAN that they allow pets because if they’re going to base their final decision off wether or not a person has pets why even write in the advert that they don’t mind?

I’m just ranting I suppose. Anybody else had this issue? I just feel really deflated after yet another no, I can’t keep getting my hopes up each time to have this gut wrenching feeling no more than 4/5 hours later! 😔

Is it worth mentioning up front before viewing?

Pets can mean anything from a goldfish to a llama. My experience with rentals is that the landlord is more likely to mean “we don’t care about your hamster or - at a push - your cat,” than “your dog can live in this flat.”

@CountingCrones As in to mention it before? If so then we have done. Each time the estate agents have asked if you have pets and if so what kind and how many. So they’ve allowed and booked us a viewing with the knowledge we have a dog. I’m finding it super frustrating! 😩

God that's really bad OP that it says pets allowed and then changes its mind!

@purpleme12 I completley understand why a LL wouldn’t want tenants with 3 dogs, 2 cats and a cage of 2 guinea pigs let’s say. But if you truly accept pets then surely 1 dog is the perfect amount of pets to accept? 😩

Like I say he’s so well behaved and getting on a bit now, he just wants to sleep all day. We have an decent hoover, carpet cleaner and he’s groomed regularly at the groomers. But of course there’s nowhere to write this in the application.

I think the issue is that when a LL is faced with two or more similar applicants they will almost always pick the applicant without pets. I don't really have any advice for you but do feel sorry for your position having been in a similar one myself. It must be doubly hard now because in my area there are more tenants looking for homes than there are properties.

You could speak to the agent/LL and explain your position and offer a bigger deposit?

@KarateSchnitzel From what I’ve read it’s illegal to ask for more than 5 weeks rent for the deposit. But I suppose we could maybe offer to pay to have the house/carpets professionally cleaned if we were to ever leave.

When we let our property we were happy to allow a dog it's the agent that filters them out.
They discouraged us from taking a dog and we ended up with a tenant who had pet rats without telling us.
They chewed all the edges of our laminate and soaked every carpet in urine.

It's likely that you are competing with other applicants who are pet free. And if all other aspects of the application look equal, a LL is more likely to go with the pet free applicant because of less chance of damage to the property. You could offer a higher rent to account for the dog. I totally get the frustration, if a property says pets allowed then it feels unfair to have to go through additional hoops. But I think the market is so competitive you have to do whatever you can to make yourself look the most promising applicant to the LL.

they don't mean it that's why

we had to try and rent somewhere for a year while our house was renovated and it was an absolute nightmare

in the end we had to go into an Airbnb for a year which cost a bloody fortune because nowhere would rent to us

we have a small to medium size dog

in my opinion, none of the places we saw really wanted pets, I suspect they just said it to get more people viewing and then took their pick

3-4 months of looking and not one came back to us and we (on paper apart from the dog) were excellent tenants!

I really feel your pain, it's very difficult and so stressful

@Nouvellenovel Gosh that’s awful 😩 I just don’t understand it, just because tenants don’t have a dog doesn’t mean they’re not going to trash the place and vice versa. My SIL’s parents rented a house out and the tentants had no pets but completely ruined the place, I’m talking graffiti all over the walls, grass as high as 5 feet in the garden. It’s just devastating when you know you’re responsible pet owners 😩

I wouldn't let out my rental home to anyone with a dog. It doesn't matter that they are 'well behaved'... it's the dog smell. Sorry. 🤷🏻‍♀️

@SummerBreeeze That does sound like a nightmare 😩 It’s really not fair, I would never lie on the application but makes me see why some people are tempted to.

We have rented now for 5 years and all it would take is a reference from our current LL to say the dog has never caused any damage and that we’re good tenants, it’s a real shame! 😩

@Shiningstarr I can see why people think that but when you genuinely take care of your home and keep on top of cleaning every single day I can guarantee you that there is no dog smell.

When we first moved in to our current rental the previous tenants did not look after the place at all. They had a small Jack Russell and the carpets was FILLED with stains and honestly I can hand on heart say despite the state of the house it did not smell like dog. The previous tenants were smokers and smoke however is a total different story, that smell lingered FOREVER!

I think the reforms to make renting with pets easier have actually made it harder.

You can't blanket say "no pets"
You can't charge an extra deposit

However you can chose the tenant without children or dogs over the family with both as long as both apply.

But there's less housing available, so rents are going up and each hpuse is more competitive

The whole system is shit.

The bigger issue here is that landlords have been totally villianised by the government and the media. They've been massively penalised by s24 which means effectively rent is taxed, not profit. The rental reform bill is the final nail in the coffin. So many landlords are selling up and will continue to do so. So , for renters the situation will continue to deteriorate and I can't see how this will improve. Under labour I think landlords will flee even faster. The likes of Generation Rent and Shelter (neither of which actually house anyone and whose fat cats take in hefty salaries) continue to attack and attack and fail to recognise their actions have resulted in the current dire situation for tenants. So yes, a landlord will have the pick of dozens of desperate tenants and will inevitably choose the tenant without a dog. I don't know what your solution is sorry 😐.

If I had an applicant with no dogs versus an applicant with a dog, it’s a no brainer.

Dogs tend to smell. Dogs tend to cause damage. They make noise. They dig.

I can guarantee that there is a smell, you just can't smell it.

You hoover twice a day??

@L3tti316

As a pp just said, there is guaranteed to be a 'dog smell', you are just nose blind to it.

Dogs smell, no matter how much hoovering and polishing you do.

It’s acceptable not to want a dog in your flat, but what’s not acceptable is saying pet friendly if you’re not. If they are ok with says cats and hamsters but not dogs they should specify that as it is misleading.

Make sure the estate agents ask the landlord specifically about dogs. It’s a waste of your time if they are dead set against letting to someone with a dog.

@L3tti316

It's not great for you OP but you can't blame landlords for not wanting dogs in their property. I wouldn't. I would also not want to rent a place that's had dogs as no amount of cleaning would get rid of the smell. He should have been clear in the listing though.

Same, despite the issues that new builds have I’m glad that I’m in one as I know for a fact no dog has been here. As much as I sympathise with the plight of dog owners trying to rent I think perhaps it’s a cautionary tale for others. I once met a guy who had just got two dogs after moving into his brothers house supposedly temporarily. I said to him you do realise you might struggle to get rental accommodation when you get back on your feet and want to move out?
And he was all confused like he’d not thought of it before 😬

Even if I did want to own a dog which I probably wouldn’t, I’d probably wait until I’d bought a house or had a long term tenancy.

There is a major shortage of rental properties. So from the pov of a landlord, you can see why they'd simply choose tenants without dogs.