Hi, I'm am owned by a retired racer do what I can to support dog rescue and rehoming.
In the current uncertain economic climate many people are having to move home for a variety of reasons. Whilst we all love our dogs desperately when it comes to the roof over our heads some families end up with heartbreaking decisions to make. This results in much loved pets being reluctantly handed over to shelters and rescues. Many, probably most, landlords do not allow pets. Even landlords who are pet owners themselves often won't allow furry tenants in their properties. So, what can pet owners do to reassure potential landlords and what can landlords do to sensibly safeguard their investments?
Miriam Lindley, Plymouth
Good question. I have two dogs (GSD + ShihTzu cross) and we were looking to move last year. Am in West Sussex and ended up looking in six different counties to no avail. Gave up and stayed put as any property that actually would allow pets was not somewhere I would actually want to live in. There weren't many that would have let us rent them but they were in such a bad state of repair that a couple were almost a health hazard. We mentioned to some agencies being happy to have a slightly higher deposit, having a clause in the contract that the carpets must be cleaned professionally and nothing worked for us. Most agencies refused to even ask the owners the question, as if it was there decision not the owners who lived in the house. Some landlords would have accepted a 'small' dog but not a GSD - bonkers in my opinion as a dog is a dog whatever its size. If anyone does have an answer then please let me know too.
ReplyDeleteYour prayers have been answered.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.petfriendlyrentals.co.uk/
The owners of this site experienced the same problems as you, so set this up. You can find pet friendly home rentals, also pet friendly holidays rentals.
Good luck,
Caroline and Tala the Stafford
Dear Miriam,
ReplyDeleteYou’ve raised a common problem facing pet owners. In extreme cases some owners are having to give up their beloved pets, live in inadequate conditions or face becoming homeless because they are faced with a blanket ‘no pets’ from landlords and letting agencies.
Dogs Trust runs a scheme called Lets with Pets, which provides both practical advice for those wishing to rent with their pet and guidance for landlords and letting agents to encourage them to introduce pet-friendly policies where possible. Encouragingly we currently have over 100 letting agencies across the country on board and are hoping that others will follow suit to enable people to search for pet-friendly properties.
Top tips for tenants and landlords are available to download from our website www.letswithpets.org.uk
Best wishes,
Clare
Hello All
ReplyDeleteMy name Darren I am the Owner of petfriendlyrentals.co.uk
It is true The UK is known as 'a nation of animals lovers', but when it comes to finding a pet friendly landlord many find this statement couldn't be further from the truth. It was our own experience that led us to create Pet Friendly Rentals, we only had 1 dog and a rabbit at the time, but even that proved to make finding a place to rent almost impossible. We did in the end find a place to rent, but it was one of the most stressful times of our lives.
The website is run on part time basis by Myself and my partner Sarah, our aim is to help other pet owners locate places to rent, after all why should you have to give your pet up.
We would say to anyone do not give up, there is a place for almost everyone out there, it is locating them that is the problem.
The Pet Friendly Rentals website not only has invaluable tips but has a few properties to rent, if we have no properties in a county, we simply sniff out properties on other websites and provide links to them.
We are not a charity and are totaly self funded, we rely on holiday advertisers to keep the website going.
We are very pleased to have the support of many pet owners for what we are trying to do, and we would like to thank all those who kindly spread the word about our website. We wish we was a letting agent but sadly we are not, how great would it be to have a large portfolio of just pet friendly properties.
Thanks for reading and remember do not give up, between us and the dogs trust we aim to make things better for pet owners
All the best
Darren