Relationship breakdown and two dogs

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Charla

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Has anyone ever been in a similar situation? After 3 years, my relationship has come to an end. We have two dogs between us, but I will be taking both and he seems very happy with that. We lived in a rented house, which he is going to continue renting alone. It’s far too expensive to afford on my own anyway. But this now leaves me with desperately needing to find a place to live with two dogs. I’m not in a position to buy, so rent only. But my god, so many I think are suitable state NO PETS! This seems a lot harder than I thought it would be....where on earth are the properties for one single female and her two beloved dogs.
 
It can be done. Go and view anything suitable so they have met you and then say you have dogs. Offer a larger deposit. Will the dogs be left? How will you leave them? As a landlord we say no pets but we actually consider each person individually.
Go for face to face talking, it is better to get an idea of each person.
I had to rent, at very short notice, a house for my mother and her collie and we got into the first house we saw.
 
Approach letting agents in person and see if they can then speak to landlords.
Try Gumtree, small ads and advertise yourself.
Ask in feed/tack stores.
Visit farmers/estate owners.
I got my house off Gumtree. I showed pics of my kennel set up and got references for dog from my trainers.
 
Get your current landlord to write you a glowing reference, stating that you do not allow the dogs to be a nuisance (with noise etc), keep the house clean and tidy, the dogs do not damage anything etc. And yes offer a larger deposit as others have said, this is what i had to do when i was renting.
 
Don’t despair! There will be a home somewhere that excepts pets.
I currently private rent with 2 large dogs , and a cat.
I think we paid extra deposits for the pets and when we leave we have to have all carpets flea treated 🙀 .
You can put key words into sites which throw up “ pets accepted “
So don’t give up you will find something.
 
Thank you both. I refuse to give up my dogs, that’s the last thing that would ever happen. So I will try all options. Thank you for your sound advice.
I work from home so am with my dogs the majority of the time. They have never damaged a thing in the house and are quiet dogs and extremely well house trained! I can understand why landlords would opt against it, but surely we should be given a chance.
 
ponyparty said:
Get your current landlord to write you a glowing reference, stating that you do not allow the dogs to be a nuisance (with noise etc), keep the house clean and tidy, the dogs do not damage anything etc. And yes offer a larger deposit as others have said, this is what i had to do when i was renting.
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Great, thank you
 
It is difficult and I think does depend where you are looking, the more urban and buoyant the local rental market the less likely people are to say yes.

I think landlords that have pets/dogs are more likely to agree too, and possibly those not renting through agencies.

I had enough trouble getting somewhere to let me bring two caged, mostly outside guinea pigs! and my contract still had to have the 'standard pet clause' of requiring the carpets to be fumigated on check out despite the entire downstairs being laminate (they did see sense when it came to check out on that point thankfully!)
 
I told my landlords mine were outside dogs but I think after three years they've clocked that there's a big cage in the kitchen and the floor is covered in mats. They've not said anything ;)
 
Our management company advised us against excluding pets, because you can lose some very good tennants by doing so. If you can get good references from your current/previuos landlords you should be ok. You will have to pay a bit extra with your deposit though to cover cost of carpet cleaning should you move out.This is because a new tennant may have an allergy to pets.
 
As others have said- speak to the landlords personally, even bring pictures of your dogs, references for you and the dogs! Most adverts say no to pets, but doesn’t mean they will 100% say no to everyone, they just in general don’t want the hassle. But some have realised pet owners tend to stay longer so make good tenants.

My friend recently moved and rented out her house and actually said she would prefer people with pets!

All the best.
 
My tips are to say they will be left in a crate when unattended. Offer to clean carpet professionally before leaving-its a bit sole destroying spending the cash on cleaning a carpet that was filthy to begin with but just have to suck it up. Emphasise the good nature of dogs and not being left alone much, they don't sit on sofa's, beds ect. Offer your own furniture (cheap sofa from Ikea).

You will probably be asked for an extra deposit anyway but interestingly enough when reading about the deposit scheme recently it could actually be expected a household with pets (or children) would experience more wear and tear than those without. The deposit should not cover this, only actual damage.
 
We managed to rent a wee cottage on a farm estate that allowed dogs. It wasn't advertised on the usual rental websites etc, but rather through a rural estate management company. Try local farmers/landowners and agricultural supply shops for contacts. Good luck!
 
pippixox said:
As others have said- speak to the landlords personally, even bring pictures of your dogs, references for you and the dogs! Most adverts say no to pets, but doesn’t mean they will 100% say no to everyone, they just in general don’t want the hassle. But some have realised pet owners tend to stay longer so make good tenants.

My friend recently moved and rented out her house and actually said she would prefer people with pets!

All the best.
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I absolutely agree.
 
I’ve rented as a single female with 4 dogs (greyhounds) for the past 12 years :) That was due to a relationship breakdown - in that time I’ve rented 8 properties and have declared my dogs to all of them - so it can be done!

As others have said - bigger deposit, offer to get the carpets professionally cleaned at the end of the tenancy & smile nicely!

My present landlady has even finished fencing the back garden for me - at a cost of £500+ to her - when I couldn’t afford it get it done myself so my dogs are safe
 
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