Unrealistic to think a house will come up that don't have pets?

[CactusFlr]

I'm not a pet owner and I'm adamant I don't want to buy a house that has pets but am I being unrealistic? Most of my family have or have had dogs. An EA mentioned it's about 70%. Is that really true, it's seems high to me?

So of the 6 houses immediate to me there is only 1 that doesn’t have any pets , 4 have dogs 1 has cats

You can just do a deep clean you know….

Buy a new build if it's that important.

That does seem very restrictive tbh

is it any pet? What’s your reasoning?

The people who currently own the house will take the pets with them when they leave surely?

Not all houses with pets smell of pets. Surely, you can change the carpets and decorate anyway if needs must?

That seems unnecessarily restrictive. Surely you could just have the property deep cleaned?

Apparently 36% of households have dogs and 29% have cats. Some of those will be in both groups so overall maybe 50% of homes overall.

I don't see the problem. Personally I clean my house so it wouldn't matter...

Not sure what your point is OP.
You can put any restrictions you want on why you won’t buy a house but it will obviously limit the number of properties that meet your criteria.

I would imagine it could limit your options a fair bit. Where I live it is mainly retired people and I think of 7 of us I am the only pet free house. However a friend of mine visits with his dog. Would this rule my house out for you?

How about looking for a doer-upper? If you are changing all carpets and redecorating anyway it should remove any smell. Just avoid the kind of house with ten cats!

Just clean it?

Neither did I, ended up changing the carpet and floors because I know there has been a cat in there at some point after I moved in.
Good luck.

10 closest houses to me: no pet, cat, no pet, cat&dog,cat, no pet, no pet,dog, cat, cat. So that would be 60% (not inclusive of inside peys like hamsters, rats, fish etc).

70% seems about right tbh.

Why no pets before you? The only valid reason I can think of is ultra extreme allergies.

That seems an extreme measure unless you have allergies or something? I get changing it because you don't like the flooring or carpet but to specifically change it because there's been a cat in the property seems unnecessary.

I think when you are buying a house, it’s quite a big deal, and there are some things that are really important when you are making a huge financial decision. Location, parking, freehold, schools, transport.

Previous owners having pets is not on the list.

Very odd deal-breaker.

Get a full professional deep clean on settlement.

Friend of mine's son has extremely severe pet allergies (to the point he had to be seated seperately at primary school because sitting near other children who had pet dander on their clothes could set off a reaction). When they bought a house they had it professionally cleaned by a company that dealt with allergens beforehand, and replaced any carpets. So even with an allergy they didn't seek to find a house that hadn't had any pets at all.

Honestly, I'm with you! We bought a house and the previous owners had 3 dogs. There is dog hair EVERYWHERE including the top corners of the walls (??), inside the freezer, inside the kitchen cupboards (stuck at the very back), and under the carpet edges along every single skirting board - and I do mean every edge in the whole house. Every time we clean, dog hairs come up and it's been going on for months. There are also "mystery" brown stains in the corners of the carpets where the dogs slept. We have deep cleaned repeatedly but to no avail. We will need to replace all the carpets, which is a huge expense!

Not something that had even crossed my mind before this house. It's strange because the house seemed clean and the dogs well cared for whenever we did a house viewing. They were probably an outlier but still.... grim!

How do you even know?

Apparent from 1 house where the owner and his dog wandered round with us I never saw a pet in any house I viewed and I probably viewed close to 100 over several years. 1 did have a dogs grave in the garden and a few pictures of a dog dotted around so I assume one lived their once upon a time but had passed on like its owners (probate property).

I won't look at houses with indoor rabbits (which is fairly rare to be fair) because they rot floorboards, stink and cause havok to wires but its REALLY obvious when a rabbits lived in doors. A clean cat or dog though you might not even know if they are not their when you view.

Would you refuse a house that had fish?
Or maybe a snake/lizard in a vivarium?

Firstly, I'm mortified by the terrible grammar in my post title 😂. I've got OCD so cleanliness is a huge issue. I've lived in the same house all my life so I'm struggling with the idea of moving but it's not my choice, I live with my parents (circumstances have changed and they can now buy a house. Before someone has a go about me living at home I'm financially not in a position to move out). To whoever mentioned about changing carpets/flooring will that not be expensive?

(to the point he had to be seated seperately at primary school because sitting near other children who had pet dander on their clothes could set off a reaction)

Dander allergy is caused by IgE which is exposure based. IgE exists to fight parasites but without constantly steady exposure became hyper sensitive and reacts to all 'foreign DNA' (its the same reaction to dust allergy and hay fever). Complete removal and isolation makes the allergy worse not better. Its the absolute worst thing you can do as you will make the reaction on the next exposure (which will happen) worse.

That’s interesting you say that about rabbits. Our house rabbits died a year ago and you’d never know we had them. They didn’t once wee on the floor so no issues with floorboards (plus they were on a tiled floor in any event), they couldn’t access any wires to cause havoc. In fact I can’t think of a single thing in their room that would indicate there was ever rabbits in their other than their ashes and photographs… even when they were in there the only clue was that there would have been two rabbits sat in the middle of the room.

We just bought carpets and underlay for 5 rooms and fitted them ourself and it cost £500.

Surely if it is your parents buying the house then you cannot demand that it is a pet free house is purchased.