How To Rent With Pets! Finding a new home to rent is stressful enough, but for pet owners, it can be even more of a challenge. Many landlords don’t allow pets, so finding somewhere for you and your fur babies to live is often difficult.
Don’t Be Afraid To Ask
Many landlords have a different idea of what ‘pet’ means so even if a listing says no pets, it can be worth asking the question anyway. Many landlords mean no cats or dogs but would have no issue with a pet like a gerbil or a budgie. If you are a cat or dog owner, ask anyway and offer to provide a reference from your current landlord or to pay a larger deposit in case of damage caused by the pet. You may be surprised by how many landlords are willing to compromise.
Look around for pet-friendly rentals. Using resources like this local report from ABODO to find pricing for pet-friendly rentals can be a huge help. Be prepared to provide information about your pet’s health and behavior. Knowing you have a well-trained small Yorkshire Terrier with up-to-date vaccinations, for example, may put your letting agent at ease when they’re picturing a huge, unruly Great Dane.
Take Precautions
If you’ve found a pet-friendly rental, make sure you set up any needed precautions to minimize possible pet damage. You may need this landlord in the future for a pet reference so make sure you take the care required. This might be covering up carpets in an area where the pet will regularly be kept, or adding baby gates to keep pets out of any banned parts of the house.
If the landlord leaves any furniture, move out of pet reach if you’re concerned about scratching so it’s only your belongings that take the hit.
Make Any Repairs
If your pet does cause any damage, deal with it yourself as soon as possible. This could be as simple as repainting a wall before you move out, or as major as offering to cover the costs of things like carpet replacement if there’s been more serious damage. Being honest and immediately explaining how you’re going to fix it is likely to go down much better with your landlord than if you’ve tried to cover it up, or move out without mentioning your furry friend tore up the living room carpet.
Where possible, make sure your pet is properly trained. Teach your cat to use a scratching post and not the wall. Make sure your dog knows if it isn’t allowed upstairs, and make sure any indoor pet is properly house-trained.
While it’s always going to be more difficult, finding a suitable rental for you and the furry members of the family isn’t impossible. Persevere, keep looking, and keep asking questions until you find the right landlord or letting agent. When you find them, treat their property with respect so they keep allowing pet owners to live there, and give you a good reference to help you find your next home.
I know most places will allow pets, you just have to pay more at times. Sometimes the deposit is more as well just in case they are messy. I’m glad most places allow them!
When I rented in Vancouver there was a “no pets” policy but I asked and showed a picture of my small dog and the owner agreed. Never hurts to ask.
Some landlords may be pet owners themselves. So they might be more willing to rent to other pet owners.
These are all really good tips. I know how hard it can be sometimes when renting when you have pets.
I know that renting with pets is a little bit harder over here, but not impossible. So it never hurts to ask!
Great tips for pet-friendly renting! Persistence and responsibility make all the difference. Thank you!
It can definitely be a little harder to find a place to rent when you have pets, but it never hurts to ask – you may be pleasantly surprised.
Thanks for sharing these valuable tips on renting with pets! Your insights are super helpful for pet owners like me. I’ll definitely keep these in mind when looking for our next rental. Great job!