baby on way struggling to find rental which allows pets

[ElleyBear13]

Morning mnetters!

I'm having difficulty finding a rental which allows pets, and kids. We're 16weeks pregnant with our first, we are currently living with our inlaws, have one elderly dog and two guinea pigs (however these aren't a priority as they can stay with in-laws)

We've been turned down by eight properties for either children or the dog, we've offered to double the deposit and have the carpets professionally cleaned but none of the landlords seem interested. Its a long story, but the dog doesn't live with us currently (he's with my mum but shes unable to care for him any longer.)and have no other family/friends who are able to take him on.

Is there anything else we can do? Or suggestions?

We have been looking at our finances, and we do have enough for a 5% deposit for one of the newbuilds however doing that we'll have nothing left for furniture etc, alongside this we will be relocating to another city in a couple of years through husbands job and we're unsure how the newbuild rent to buy works if you do decided to move.

Didn't realize how hard it is to rent with a dog!

What part of the country are you in? We have a dog and a baby, expecting our second and are serial renters. We do have a few problems (some landlords just have a blanket 'no pets' rule) and the biggest issue we find it that the ones that do allow pets are the ones with the shabbiest properties as the stakes aren't as high! We usually just go into the local agencies, tell them what we're looking for and our situation, tell them we're willing to pay extra deposit and if anything comes up then to let us know. It takes longer but have always managed to find something. We currently live centrally in a large city in the SW and that was the most difficult as most properties are leasehold flats and even if the landlords are willing, pets are banned under the terms of their leasehold. We're looking to move back to the midlands now, semi rurally and have found much more landlords who are willing to allow a dog.

We're in the NE, middlesbrough :) We've just phoned out ninth property this afty hopefully this will be the one. We're finding this too, we found two which allows pets but they are in very 'dodgy' areas with high crime rates, police in and out of the roads and the houses are two up two downs which isn't enough space. We're willing to throw whatever money we have to have a okay-ish area.

I think we'll go into the local agencies and get our names on the books (we've only registered with three atm) thank you!

dogs can cause a huge amount of damage, far more than your deposit would cover. Alternatively the dog could cause no damage at all.

I'm a landlord - to reassure me about your pets, tell me:

• that the guinea pigs are always caged unless in the garden
• that the dog is not left alone for hours on end, so it doesn't bark or destroy. If you say 'but it doesn't bark' I'm afraid I won't believe you.
• that you will pay a higher deposit to cover any damage. No damage, no deductions of course.
• that you'll keep the excreta under control, clear it regularly and make sure it isn't all over the front garden.

the elderly dog is good in that it should die soon so the problem goes away (are you planning to replace it? Presumably not with a baby coming) but bad in that it might get incontinent, so I'd need to know what you are planning in the way of confining it to reduce damage from that.

having learned the hard way how much damage cats can do, I am actually happier to consider a dog.

I'd have no issue at all with the child unless I was renting a flat which had a 'no children' policy, as others mention. A flat would also be unsuitable for a dog, the property needs a private garden. I suppose landlords might be concerned at how you will manage the rent once you are down to one income, but you can also demonstrate that you have a plan for that.

most ads say a blanket 'no pets' but my agent will pass on people with pets if the above have been thought through. Especially if the standard 'good tenant' boxes are ticked: can afford the rent, doesn't smoke, has run a house before. (the last means I can be fairly sure that you know how to look after it and also that you know that if there is a fix needed, you will tell me. With Sarah Teather's bill possibly going to get through, decent landlords will be much more selective about new tenants. Bad landlords won't care)

good luck.

Our dog has only ever damaged anything in a rental once in 5 years, he scratched the lino on the kitchen floor. We replaced the lino with brand new, like for like (from the same place). Probably less damage than a toddler could do to be fair . Keep going, you'll find somewhere!

Hello! I know how hard it can be to find places to rent with a dog, I had to do it for 8 years which included a lot of moving due to job etc. I generally found that private rents (not through an agency) for smaller properties are more flexible, but as somebody else said it is generally easier to go through an agency for bigger properties as they are more likely to expect families to move in. So if you are looking for a smaller property, try gum tree, lettingweb etc. We have had very positive experiences going privately but you need to be careful that all the right paperwork is completed.

sorry for not sugar-coating the facts.

old dogs do die.

BTW of course landlords should do repairs. The Teather bill makes it impossible to evict a tenant if there is a reported outstanding repair.

and is thus a charter for rogue tenants, while not actually making rogue landlords do any repairs. Decent landlords fix things.

Struggling to rent in 'boro? Really???

The town is awash with rentals!

What area and what price?

Struggling to rent with pets and baby, acklam (not whinny banks), thornaby (not near st pauls road area), linthorpe, tollesby (not saltersgill). Anywhere upto £680. :)

thank you all for your kind suggestions! we've broadened our search this aftynoon and hopefully it'll lead to somewhere!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-to-rent/property-48615607.html/svr/2701;jsessionid=FE44B408812DA6635A7A0FDD39EAAB5F

A rightmove search on linthorpe comes back with 51 places.

There's probably a similar number listed elsewhere.

Ingleby Barwick is probably a good bet too

good luck

Thank you the appleton road one we loved unfortuantly strictly no pets will certainly look at barwick thank you for all your kind suggestions and pets! xx