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.

Her dog IS her family.

What you need is a dog-loving landlord who has previously tried to rent with their dog...

I found renting with cat/(s) massively decreased my choice of properties but agree that non-pristine places in less urban areas are definitely where you should concentrate on looking. As someone said - there are just more dogs in the countryside, and landlords are often more relaxed. Though when I was looking I did find that agents varied too: some hate all pets and are really snooty about any suggestion, others love them and will probably respond well to the idea up-thread of meeting the dog.

Best of luck.

My tenants let their dogs (who I never gave permission for) regularly defecate on the carpet in the spare room. The house didn't smell at all. I only found this out when they moved out and I tried to get a new carpet. The carpet fitter wouldn't take the old one away as he said the brown stains were doc muck and they'd contaminate everything in his van. I had to take up the carpet and dispose of it myself. Who the hell lives like that.
Doors were badly scratched also.

Next tenants I get ill need to ensure definitely no pets. Can't go through that again.

That’s awful, again it sucks that some dog owners are so irresponsible like this and make life harder for the ones who are responsible dog owners! 😩 Sorry you had to go through this, I can understand how this experience has put you off renting to people with dogs.

It’s probably the dog. There is so much competition now with rentals that landlords have 40 odd people to choose for….so people with dogs and children probably come down on the list. Sad to say

It is unfair

hut it’s their house at the end of the day so your opinion doesn’t count for anything. Sorry

I don’t think the elderly couple that we bought from were irresponsible pet owners (although they definitely weren’t the cleanest of people, judging from the grease and grime in the kitchen, and the state of the bathrooms, in addition to the dog hair). It’s just that the dog became incontinent; it wasn’t something within their control. I’m sure they weren’t deliberately allowing it to urinate in the house. And it’s just something that you can’t guarantee won’t also happen with your dog.

Hmm I don’t know, I’d probably class that as irresponsible. Selling your house to someone knowing your carpets were so badly saturated in dog urine that the floor underneath needed scrubbing, that’s not good.

My mum is selling her house currently and one of her dogs used to regularly do their business on the stairs when it was a puppy 2/3 years a go. My mum has had both stair carpets replaced before putting it on the market. She also used to bite banisters, bit a hole in the decking outside etc she was an awful puppy and she’s also paid to have both things replaced too. It’s just what you do when you have a responsibility as a pet owner and also when you’re a decent person.

Just because your pet becomes incontinent doesn’t mean you should sit around and allow it to happen. Like I’ve said loads, my dog is almost 15 and isn’t incontinent. But if it were to ever happen and he did so happen to ruin flooring I would absolutely replace it all myself not only if I were to ever leave but also because I wouldn’t want my own house being dirty like that. That is the difference between being a responsible and irresponsible dog owner.

You’re not a typical pet owner tenant then—99.9 percent wouldn’t do that.

I think that your best bet is to wait until you don’t have a pet, or try the covering letter saying why you’d make a good tenant even with pets. There must be some sympathetic pet owner landlords out there.

Good luck (meant genuinely). Getting your DP to wear glasses on viewings made me laugh: I don’t think that will work 🙂.

It was just literally said as a joke, so I’m glad it’s made you laugh. I didn’t actually think it would be the deciding factor between us getting a house and not! 😂

OP, I have a dog, but if i were a landlord I'd go for the pet free tenant, if there were no other deciding factors.

However, after reading your earlier heartfelt post, I really think I might have given you further consideration. I def think extra info, along with a picture of your dog might help sway a dog loving landlord. Obvs some may cringe and bin, but definitely worth a try.

Thank you, I really appreciate that! I think if we get nowhere in the next couple of weeks I will definitely get writing a pet CV and add a couple of photos of him. Like everybody is saying it’s definitely worth a try!

Tbf, we are landlords and our tenants lied about having a cat. We were really annoyed as DH is allergic but they were great tenants otherwise and I suspected it might have been partly the fault of the agent. Not sure that's helpful info for you but sharing just in case

Hi everyone, a little update from me as we have finally found our house! 🎉🥳 Admittedly, we were originally unsuccessful for it but as we were second in line and the first people lied about criminal convictions and CCJ’s they passed it over to us. So after searching for a good 6/7 weeks we have found somewhere to move to that’s perfect for us. I just wanted to update this so that anybody in the same situation in the future who may come across this thread can be given a little glimmer of hope! 😊

This is exactly the piece of good news I needed to read to make an awful day better, OP.

Fantastic news @L3tti316 I wish you, your family, including your lovely dog 😉 all the best with your move and may you have many happy years in your new home.

I agree, I think dogs are far less hassle than kids. I rented for over 20 years with dogs and cats in a variety of locations, and was always up front about it. I must have been lucky as I hardly ever ran into refusals. They were always far more interested in the finances to be honest.

Oh I have just seen your update ❤️❤️❤️

That is fantastic news … wishing you happy times in your new home

Really pleased for you OP !!

Congratulations! Can we see a photo of your old boy now?!

Congratulations op....

So pleased for you. I'm a renter and it's horrendous. Well done!!!!

Hi, I am a landlord & honestly from everything you have said I would have no issues in renting to you.

Congrats on the new property!

Thank you so much!!

I just want to add to this post because a lot of people were doubtful that families with dogs are clean etc and that there’s smells and things that you can’t get rid of.

We actually got every single penny back from our deposit for our old rental. We didn’t have to fight for it either, we were told it was left perfect and there was no reason to keep any of it! 😊