All landlords saying no pets?

[Pumpkinx3x]

Hi has anyway able to persuade a landlord into accepting a pet?

My partner and I have been looking for over a month and we have nearly two weeks to move. (Landlord told us we have to leave due to selling) and we have a 9 year old dog. She is literally the size of your hand, isn’t happy and just sleeps all day and yet all ads say no dog?

Has anyone got around this? Offered the deposit as non refundable? Anything? I can’t separate from her. She’s old and been with me all her life. When I took a week holiday she wouldn’t eat and waited by the door the entire time and that was a close family member but I really can’t be homeless. We have a 6 month old.

Any advice?

It is an interesting one, if you are a "proper" landlord you ideally want long term tenants who have long term commitments like children and pets and long standing jobs and ties to sport clubs and schools and family. Estate agents want a churn of tenants, then they can recharge all the fees.

"Why only a female cat?"

Better hunters. I don't want mice infestation. That's the whole reason I want a tenant with cat.
Also male cats smell more strongly I find (and some spray).

@pinkdragons

"Why only a female cat?"

Better hunters. I don't want mice infestation. That's the whole reason I want a tenant with cat.
Also male cats smell more strongly I find (and some spray).

Only if they’ve not been neutered. As for hunting ability, I think it’s really down to the individual cat. I have four cats, 2 girls and 2 boys, the boys definitely catch more than the girls. One of my girls couldn’t catch a cold.

I had a no pet stated on advert, but the agency begged us to consider a family with two dogs. It turns out they were friends of the agents.

We agreed to meet them with the dogs, were reassured dogs seem ok and they offered higher deposit.

They left two years later, dogs had done quite some damage inside and out. The additional rent turned out to be pointless as they stopped paying the rent 2 months before the end of the contract.

I said no more after that but if current tenants, I'd probably agree as I have more trust in them keeping the place in food order and would like them to stay.

Oh god I feel for you OP, we just got pets this year and they are our family now. Saying that the cleaning after any of our tenants had pets, even really clean tenants, has been a horror movie, hidden hairs and smells that last for months hence never ever again. I'd say offer what you said, a deposit in advance, a lot might take it. Best of luck

We’ve had to move slightly further than we wanted to find a landlord that would accept pets

So try that

I agree with PO’s , explain the situation to potential landlord DS and see what they say. A tiny, older dog who sleeps a lot may not be a problem.

I have a small, middle-aged dog and he’s pretty well-behaved, except when he sees a squirrel and undergoes a personality change.🤣. Even then he doesn’t damage anything, just does a war dance.

If you offer them double the rent they are asking for it might persuade some landlords to take a risk with you. But unless you offer a decent profit for them above what they could earn with a petless tenant, why would they take the chance? More danger of damage for no benefit.

*PP’s

Sadly, it's like everything else, it gets abused. Some tenants will make damned sure their pet is clean and behaves, some don't care.

If I got back in the landlord game now would I accept pets? It depends on the potential tenants, the kind of pet, the reason they left their last rental and so on. The lack of potential to increase deposit would definitely put me off now however.

I’ve paid a separate pet deposit in the past for a dog. Some LL will still say no way and that’s their prerogative but others will be happy to negotiate. All you can do is ask nicely.

We rent our home privately and have done for the past seven years. We have pets, we have four cats and a seven month old puppy. When we applied for the house we only had one cat and each time we’ve wanted to be add to our brood we’ve asked permission and never been refused.

You say the dog is unhappy. You say it gets anxious if you're not there. That would be a firm no from me, however teeny tiny she is.

I woulkd definitely ask. We are landlords and have no issues with pets at all. But the standard real estate guff says no pets. Took us ages to realise and now we specifically ask for people to know pets are welcome- but it took the first tenant asking us.

Usually we say 'please replace if any damage', but even then we are pretty flexible. One of our tenants had an older dog that had accidents so we provided her with a vax machine. We did have to replace the carpet eventually but she was there a good 10 years so we would have had to anyway.

I'm a LL and I positively discriminate in favour of pet owners. That's mainly because I'm a big animal lover but also they seem to be nicer tenants as a whole and they tend to stay longer than non pet owners.

I've got a flat going in Canary Wharf right now if you're interested OP.

Lots of places just say 'no pets' as a blanket thing. If you can actually speak to the LL you may find they are open to the idea.