Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

How difficult is it to rent with pets

30 replies

Bythemillpond · 10/06/2021 11:25

We are moving house soon. (Buyers want to be in by end of June so they don’t miss the stamp duty holiday)
We can’t start looking and be firm about dates till we exchange and then it could be as little as 2 weeks to exchange.

Do you think it is possible to rent a house when you have pets and we have a precarious income (although we will have the money from the house)

OP posts:
Original poster
Bythemillpond · 10/06/2021 11:25

In 2 weeks

OP posts:
NormaSnorks · 10/06/2021 11:28

If your income is precarious you might need to offer six months rent up front or something.
Pets will be a problem for a lot of landlords - what are they, cats/dogs and how many? One cat might be OK, two dogs and you'll struggle I'd say.

BlueLobelia · 10/06/2021 11:28

I am a landlord and I am very pet-friendly. I would say the best thing to do is just ask. I have both been a tenant with pets (3 dogs and 3 cats) and have rented my house out to people with pets (including large dogs like Alsatians). The only thing we say in our tenancy agreement is that any damage must be made good. IME Real Estate agents often by default tell tenants that renting is a no-pet zone (and we have had to ask our real estate agents to amend their standard pet clauses accordingly) but the best thing to do is ask. (Unless the pet is a pony and you are planning on keeping it in the kitchen.... )

BlueLobelia · 10/06/2021 11:31

Oh- and FWIW- we live opposite a house that has been converted into 4 flats, all owned by the same landlord. One of the flats have parrots and one has a cat.

Mydarlingmyhamburger · 10/06/2021 11:32

I had to move quickly last year after the house was repossessed from the landlord. We were turned down for 26 houses and ended up moving away from the area and 45 minutes from the kids schools as that was the only property that allowed pets. We moved out 6 weeks late as well as it took us so long to find a house, ended up having court costs to pay because they’d fast tracked an eviction order to try and get us out quicker when we had nowhere to go

NormaSnorks · 10/06/2021 11:38

It's true a lot of agents say 'no pets' as it makes their life easier.

You might have more success finding a private rent directly from a landlord through a site like OpenRent?

ClaudiaWankleman · 10/06/2021 11:44

I have heard it can be hard.

If you're doing such a short term rental (hopefully anyway) it's maybe better to look at air BnBs in the local area. They are more likely to accept pets I think, especially if you offer a bigger deposit or cleaning fee.

Alternatively I know at least one family who took on a short term rental and just didn't say they had pets. As long as the place is left in the same state as it was when you moved in I doubt many people would actually know.

MayGreen · 10/06/2021 11:51

We've always rented with pets, 6 houses across 15 years (house rabbits that live in an enclosed pen) but it's definitely limited our choices, we always end up in the shabbier, poorly maintained properties as understandably they are the ones that care less about pets. A lot of ads say no pets but I would ignore that and still ring and ask if the letting agent can check with the landlord as often it's just a standard clause. Saying that I've had some letting agents say it's absolutely no pets even when all we had was a fish tank. We've also always had to pay for a professional clean and provide a receipt when we move out, which is reasonable.

SingingWaffleDoggy · 10/06/2021 11:54

Judging from our local Facebook page, very hard. Posts on there very frequently asking for pet friendly rentals as unable to find anywhere.

murbblurb · 10/06/2021 12:01

Shelter campaigned very hard to limit deposits and get rid of tenant fees. Laudable but as you cant offer an additional deposit and can't be charged for cleaning, that makes it too risky so landlords don't want tenants with pets.

Precarious income also an issue.

Offer a higher rent, which of course you won't get back if there is no damage. Ask shelter to assist financially...oh dear , silly me...

Roselilly36 · 10/06/2021 12:45

Tricky to find a rental property at the moment, and possibly even harder if you have pets. A landlord I know always says no to pets, she really looks after her properties, puts down decent carpet etc and doesn’t want pets causing damage, peeing etc. People looking to chain break and go into a rental, so supply is short, demand is high so rents have increased. Good luck OP, I hope it works out for you Flowers

Original poster
Bythemillpond · 10/06/2021 16:23

We have 5 cats.
Probably wanting to rent for at least 6months. Depending if we find something then it is going to take around 3 months to go through anyway.
I did consider Airbnb but only if I can swap my sofa for theirs as despite loads of scratching posts and cat nip scented scratching boxes they still like a claw on the sofa.
They are very clean and don’t do any other damage but the sofa is something they do claw at.

OP posts:
Original poster
Bythemillpond · 10/06/2021 16:28

Our only option we have come up with is to buy anything that is cheap and has enough space and is already vacant and we can push through in a couple of weeks as cash buyers for us all to live in or buy a tiny and very cheap studio flat just for the cats.

I will check out Open Rent as we have only tentatively been looking on Rightmove.

OP posts:
Didicat · 10/06/2021 16:37

We really struggled to find a short term rent last year and ended up with a 9 month, we have two cats and a guinea pig.

do you have a house purchase in progress? Our solicitors have said if not exchanged by middle of next week it is unlikely to complete before the 30th. Could you afford a price reduction to stay in the house past the stamp duty deadline. Unless your house is really hard to find a buyer for I wouldn’t go to rental. Sounds like an awful lot of hassle to find a rental with 5 cats....

cruisecrazy · 10/06/2021 16:43

Could you not put the cats in a Cattery on a temporary basis?

areallthenamesusedup · 10/06/2021 16:44

Look to rent unfurnished and offer big deposit and pay rent upfront?

BlueCherryBlossom · 10/06/2021 16:46

Contact local letting agents with your needs. This has worked well for us in the past, with pets, and much easier than sifting through RM.

We've had to rent twice following big relocations in recent years.

Silkiecats · 10/06/2021 16:49

I think it can be difficult especially with multiple pets though more places take cats than dogs but 5 is a lot. But know someone who rents with 2 dogs, 3 cats and a rabbit but they had lots of trouble. People here often ask on village Facebook and so some places never hit the market.

Original poster
Bythemillpond · 10/06/2021 16:57

We are going to be cash buyers and can’t really afford to take a hit on the SD deadline as we have discounted the house a lot just to get it to go. We have sold it 5 times (sold to the first person who viewed it each time it was put on the market) We have had 5 surveys done and all fine.We have had 5 lots of solicitors asking questions. Then one buyer wanted a massive discount, quite frankly you couldn’t get a 2 bedroom flat in the area for the price they wanted to pay. A couple of them lost their jobs, one decided to stay put, one had their buyers pull out.
We have been held up by these current buyers trying to get a piece of paper from a government agency who have a massive backlog because of Covid and everyone moving.
I am so sick of the place I just want to move now.
What we are looking for comes up every few months but it is a case of being on the ball and having cash in the bank to move quickly because every time I have seen anything that fits the bill it is gone within hours of coming on the market.

Thinking of buying a caravan at this point

OP posts:
Original poster
Bythemillpond · 10/06/2021 17:05

I will start looking properly as soon as their signature hits the paper.

Good advice about Facebook. Would never have thought to look there

Atm my nerves are completely shot and my anxiety is through the roof.
Added to that we have suddenly got bumble bees in the roof of our annexe and the thought of tearing down a wall, replastering and making good on top of everything else to remove them is about to tip me over the edge.
Also just found time to mow the lawn and the lawnmower now won’t work.

It was supposed to be an easy move 15 months ago

OP posts:
KnobJockey · 10/06/2021 17:13

Honestly, start looking and advertising now. It will take more than 2 weeks for references/ credit checks/etc, normally. Start putting wanted things up on Facebook, gumtree. The end of June is 3 weeks away, that does not give you enough time- it's so hard with pets due to shelters stupid deposit rule changes!

If you can get a guarantor, offer one. It makes you a lot more attractive.

murbblurb · 10/06/2021 17:25

Ignore advice to offer a big deposit. Any landlord taking it is breaking the law, max is five weeks rent. Doesn't matter if they advertise on Rightmove, openrent or an ad in the newsagent window.

Andthenanothercupoftea · 10/06/2021 17:30

The precarious income and short term tenancy is likely to be more of a challenge than the cats from the posts I've seen here/recent experience of friends.

dogistoobigforthesofa · 10/06/2021 17:36

If you don't mind renting rurally, you might find more properties that allow pets. It's the case for where we live, anyway.

ClaudiaWankleman · 10/06/2021 17:40

Thinking of buying a caravan at this point

It's probably a bit much with five cats, but a second hand caravan would probably be quite inexpensive, especially as it's unlikely to depreciate significantly in the interim.

Is there any chance you can have someone else look after the cats for a bit?