Renting Property with Dog

[ElleMcElle]

We will need to rent a flat in London for a few months - but we have a dog. She's well behaved and not left alone for long periods of time. I'd appreciate any advice from Landlords about the sort of reassurances that would make you more likely to rent to us. Eg - we could offer a larger deposit / carpet cleaning at the tenancy... Anything else you'd suggest? Thanks in advance!

Access to an outdoor space?
Previous landlord reference for the dog?

We will definitely need to rent a flat with a secure garden. Unfortunately, we won't be able to provide a reference as we haven't rented for about 10 years (before we had the dog) - we own our house but are moving out for renovation work.

Definitely offer a larger deposit. Commit to regular flea and worm treatment and offer to flea treatment house at the end, even if you are sure the dog hasn't had them. Is the dog insured against third party damage? If not, get it insured and tell agents upfront.
I have always happily rented to pet owners and never had an issue. I tend to ask about age (I would be more reluctant to allow puppies), breed (is it one known to either be aggressive, destructive or noisy), how long it is likely to be left, any noise nuisance from separation anxiety (get a dog walker for any days the dog might be left for longer).

Yes - we have third party insurance, but I hadn't thought to mention it - I will do, thanks!

If she's a small breed, always specify that. Never just 'dog'. You say 'dog', letting agent hears 'hound of the Baskervilles'. If she's quite old, specify that, too. Best to give the positive info in a succinct way, as soon as possible, because (in a competitive area) many LL may just automatically dismiss you without coming back to ask questions.

We have two cats, and rent in London; we put up an 8-week deposit. A professional clean at the end of tenancy is already pretty standard in our area, but our current LL also requires we do a professional flea treatment.

I rented out my house to a couple with a dog once. It was a little terrier thing. They had had a fire at their house (electrical fault) and needed to rent for six months.

The agent asked for 1.5 x rent as a deposit and put in the contract that carpets were to be professionally cleaned at the end of the tenancy.

They were a really nice couple. I had a long chat to the woman when I went round once to let her back in after she had locked herself out.

Prior to that, the agent had stipulated no pets. But the house was empty and I figured that a two year old could do just as much damage as a little dog, so we came to the above agreement.

I would put your case to the agents / landlords.

This all sounds encouraging - thank you! We definitely have no intention of trashing anyone's property. In fact, we would be mortified if we did any damage and would not be difficult about paying for it if we did. Hopefully it won't be as difficult as I fear - but there seems to be quite a lot of competition for flats around here...