Are we really unfavourable tenants?

[L3tti316]

Hi everyone, so we’ve been looking to move out of our current rental in to something bigger for almost a month now and each application is unsuccessful. We’re never really told a reason, only that the landlord chose someone else.

Our household income meets what the estate agents say is required (and some), we’ve got 2 children (we’re in a 2 bed currently and want a 3/4 ideally) and we have one small dog who is almost 15 years old so unfortunately won’t be with us forever as much as it breaks my heart to say. If it helps at all he’s housetrained, has arthritis so can’t make it up the stairs (we have a stair gate because of the kids anyway) and honestly spends most of his days laying outside as it’s his favourite thing to do.

It’s really been getting me down, each time we’re told no I just can’t bare the gut wrenching, heart sinking feeling that comes with the disappointment over yet another big fat ‘rejected’. We’ve been renting for 5 years now and would come with an excellent reference from our current landlord as we’ve caused no damage and have only made improvements to the property such as fresh neutral paint everywhere, changed the bath panel as it was broken and completely sorted out the garden.

Are we really that unfavourable because of the dog and children? 😩 How could we honestly increase our chances? We’re not desperate to move yet but not sure my anxiety can cope with no after no after no for much longer.

The problem with pets OP is that they are unpredictable and I think LL know this.

Our cats behaviour changed when we rehomed them, there was a territory battle which involved pissing. There were draughts (drafts?) in the lounge that made the room feel like outdoors. One wanted into my bedroom. Cue two different cats tearing up the carpet and us spending £440 to remedy it.

Previous home? Good as gold, none of that.

Pets are ALWAYS a risk no matter how well you know them.

We have since looked after other people’s cats in our current house (we now have none) and exactly the same territorial pissing all over the place has happened between cats who lived in peace together for years (thankfully, no carpets here).

I can easily see how one experience like this would lead to LLs giving a blanket ban on them.

You can of course say you will get carpets professionally cleaned before leaving if you continue to struggle to find somewhere.

The tenants before us were heavy smokers and we could smell it for WEEKS after they left, it was almost embedded in to the walls.

That's the problem, though. For you, that was pungent and everywhere. It's often the same for pets. I've got a friend who is a brilliant cleaner, I'd eat off her floor, her house is usually sparkling. She hoovers twice a day, there's never washing up out, she's just one of those very houseproud people who is also naturally tidy and make it all look very easy.

Her house smells of dog, though. It's not a smell that can be cleaned away, because the dog is right there. She carpet cleans often, she uses shake n vac, she's got diffusers in most rooms, but it smells like dog because one lives there, and I'm not completely confident that a deep clean will get rid of that when you go - when we moved in to our house, the old owner had two dogs. The carpets were only six months old and very white. He had professional cleaners, including carpet cleaning, and we had professional carpet cleaning and did some ourselves, and the carpets still smelt of dog. We had to change them all.

I'd offer an increased damage deposit.

Would happily do this but it’s against the law now to give more than 5 weeks rent as a deposit! 😩

You get around that by offering to pay bulk rent upfront.

Don't forget churches and the national trust have properties to rent. We are rural and always had dogs. Our last rental stank of weed. I slept for six weeks! 😄

I read a lot of landlords are put off by this as it can seem like money laundering or drug money? As you can tell I’ve done a lot of googling over the last month! 😅

Sadly, in more and more areas, the landlords are forwarded several different prospective tenants as demand is so high, so they're going to have their own criteria as to who to grant a tenancy. Sadly, having a pet, and indeed young children may put some landlords off if they know they have alternative tenants without also wanting their property. It's just so competitive now.

Perhaps try to get your head above the others competing in some other way, i.e. offering to pay 3 or 6 months in advance, or offering a higher rent than asking price??

Nah. Especially not when you explain that due to your dog you would be happy to pay more rent in advance and/or any increased home insurance costs they may have.

(expect £15-40 per month per pet)

And the market has been so horrific in recent years that money laundering or not, some LLs are asking for six months upfront, just because they can, because they get to take their pick now.

So, it’s becoming pretty normal, I am afraid.

As a guide, in a southern town I recently saw ads that put “rent with a pet” £25 above the rental cost without.

I thought it was good that there was an upfront position

Definitely the dog sadly.

Unfortunately they can do a huge amount of damage and a minority of people will lie if given leeway. A friend gave permission for a tenant to have “a very small dog” that turned out to be a boxer puppy; technically a small dog at that moment and for the next few weeks but a clear example of the tenant misleading him as puppyhood and adolescence are peak ages for chewing and destructive behaviours and boxers are large, high energy, bonkers, loveable idiots. Another friend accepted a family with “a dog” and it turned out there were multiple dogs and the house was trashed, all second fixings and doors chewed or deeply scratched, carpets, underlay and floorboards soaked through with dog piss and the small garden destroyed. I love dogs but if I were a landlord I wouldn’t take the risk I’m afraid. It is very hard to end tenancies if the tenants don’t want to move and very costly and you are incredibly unlikely to recover the costs of undoing the damage.

You are paying the price for other people’s poor animal husbandry. Excuse the pun but for a lot of landlords it’s a case of once bitten twice shy.

The kids will stand against you too. If you're looking in an area with a high paying employer, there will be enough childless professionals with big incomes renting multiple bedroom houses because they can afford it and they want home offices. This is what estate agent told me when I was being rejected.

Landlords can only take 5 weeks rent equivalent as a deposit. It's one of the reasons many don't like pets.

Ops best bet is to offer a higher rent. So if its on at 1350 offer 1400.

No-one is assuming that the dog will cause damage. They are assessing it as an increased risk of damage.

It's important to recognise the difference - landlords want to minimise any risk. Obviously this doesn't mean there'll never be any damage.

This is sadly why, as renters, we don't have a pet. A current landlord might be fine with it, the next one might not be, and I'd never want to be in a situation where I'd have to consider giving them up entirely. If you really need to move is there any chance you could have your dog fostered?

I wonder if telling landlords your dog is older might also be offputting, as some elderly dogs can become incontinent?

In London these days you are expected to 'make an offer ' which is usually above the asking price for the rental. My daughter saw about 10 flats before she realised that it was really a bidding war!

OP, I feel your pain. We rented twice with our little, elderly dog and most places had 'no dogs' on the advert.

We managed to get a place by actually going into the letting agents with our dog, showing them that she was very well behaved and that we were responsible owners. It worked for us and hope it might help you. I hope something comes up soon.

I wonder if it's possible to arrange for the estate agent to meet your dog and send pictures and info the the landlord? We did this, the EA could see they were a quiet dog, disinterested in doing anything but sleeping.

My grandad had a small dog. When he died and we had to clear the house it absolutely stunk of dog. Full redecoration and carpet cleaning and it still smelt of dog.

That's why.

There are landlords who accept pets, but we seem to be in the minority, which reduces your options.
I am happy to accept one or two dogs, but due to a previous bad experience no longer welcome cats.
Have you tried looking on Openrent? There are properties advertised there by private landlords. You might stand a better chance of negotiating direct with the landlord than via a letting agent.

I let to families with a smallish dog or a couple of cats, but I put in the contract the tenants will pay for a deep clean at the end of the tenancy as a condition to agreeing to their dog. There are LL who like animals.

I’ve only written this because you said it
can you wait till you don’t have a dog then move

I've been a Landlady for 20 years and wouldn't have these tenants.
Too much trouble.
Full stop.

I think there’s a difference in a house that if the dog was allowed on the carpets and you buried your head in them to smell them you’d have a whiff of dog and a house that stinks immediately of dog upon entering. My mom has four dogs and her house is the later, she’s selling it atm and I feel for whoever buys it because it’s going to take a lot of work to rid it of that smell.

I had the same problem when I moved cross country. I sold my house and needed to rent for a year to give me time to buy a new house.
Not one single landlord would accept my 20 year old cat and no way am I giving her up.
I finally had to rent a fishing lodge by a lake where they let me have my cat. It was 1k a month as it was a holiday type park. Way more than I wanted to pay. The cat loved it there though.

I'm a landlord and my current tenants have a dog. We chose them over families with children. IME dogs are less likely to cause damage than children. My property is a downstairs maisonette and the children of the tenants in the upstairs property wrecked the place. It cost the landlord thousands.