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! 😔

I’m a LL with a house in a good catchment area for an outstanding OFSTED rated school. I accept that children will often be part of the equation (that’s one of the reasons why I bought the house) and that’s fine.

However, it has a tiny paved back garden and although I’ve had prospective tenants who have dogs, I think it’d be cruel to house a dog with so little outside space… and the kids don’t half damage the property anyway.

So kids + dogs? If I could swerve that scenario, I would.

Congratulations, but that’s not the issue. Do you say in your ad that you allow pets and schedule viewings with people who disclose that they have a medium-sized dog? If so, why?

Are you under the impression that cutting and pasting a random partial statement with zero information about the source or the basis for the statement somehow sounds more convincing than a random MNer’s opinion?

I must have missed this! 😂

I still totally disagree that ALL houses with a dog smell like dog to other people. If you genuinely take care of your home and clean often (yes I may be slightly obsessed with cleaning but I’m one of those weirdos that gets enjoyment from it) then you really can’t smell dog. He actually spends A LOT of his time outside, as long as it’s not raining.

Now if a person didn’t clean often, didn’t groom their dog often and they had a dog who wasn’t very housetrained then I can completley agree that yes, the house will stink for some time after they move out. But you cannot paint every dog owner with that brush, we are absolutely not all like that.

I think sell yourself a bit. Provide written references upfront to show no damage to previous rentals with the children and dog, and offer to put in the contract that you'll arrange full carpet cleaning before you leave. Offer some extra money on the rent and state in writing you want it as a long term home. Then the landlord can see all this info upfront without the agent not passing it along verbally.

I think it can be the agents. A friend was renting her place out, and the agent advised her against the couple with children because of wear and tear. Instead she had a young professional couple, who actually caused a fair bit of damage.

We rented in London with a dog and took references and offered extra deposit and carpet cleaning. This was a couple of years ago when we were allowed extra deposit (we always got the deposit back in full). I'd absolutely offer an extra £50 a month

I definitely want to do this but does it not look odd asking for the reference and the landlord finding out we plan on moving soon? I don’t know how it works! 😂

The house we rented before this one we got our deposit back minus £70 for a professional clean which was in tenancy agreement and we had no issue with at all. This time around we’d arrange it ourselves as I do worry some landlords don’t use the money as intended, the house we’re currently in is an example of that.

The previous tenants got none of their deposit back due to the damage they’d caused and the landlord used none of that money on repairs. They replaced carpet after we’d lived here 1-2 years once we’d asked as they wanted to up rent. They’ve upped it again this year and we still have a non functional built in wardrobe due to previous tenants damage, lights downstairs that don’t switch on etc. we’ve given up mentioning it now.

Ah sorry we've only moved when the landlords have been selling up! I didn't realise you were still in a tenancy and the landlord doesn't know you want to go. Hopefully you've a previous landlord who'd give you one. Plus a description of your dog, well behaved, medium sized, adult non shedding etc. one of our landlords asked for a picture of our dog.

Wishing you the best, and fingers crossed that you find a place soon.

Thank you I appreciate that, I will certainly keep this thread updated if and when we eventually find somewhere.

We do have another landlord who’s house we rented for one year before moving across the country, might try and get in touch with the estate agents today and see if there’s anyway we can go about getting a reference from him and if it could specifically mention the fact we have a dog and he did no damage.