Question about dogs and rental homes

pvt. joker

We're currently planning on relocating to galway from the US sometime in 2007. I know there's a bunch of hoops that we have to jump through to get our dogs into ireland because you guys are rabies free.

My question has to do with lettings though. I was in daft.ie looking at apartments and there's never any mention of pets. Is it commonplace to always allow pets or never allow them? I don't want to offend any future landlords by asking this question. Most apartments there are furnished so i'm assuming there would be some sort of hefty security deposit if they did allow dogs.

Thanks!

bounty_hunter

Hi pvt.joker.

I always thought it a bit odd myself that daft doesn't mention anything about pets, some of the other Irish letting sites do and daft is by far the biggest and best.

You will find that you will get a bit of a mixed reaction from landlords towards your dog, but as general rule they don't tend to be allowed.
However, this greatly depends on whether you're going through a landlord or agency.

An agency naturally will want to find the most pleasing potential tenants for their clients so that they can close a deal quickly and without any hassle, which will in a lot of cases rule out people with any "baggage", unless there's not much interest in the property.
A landlord on the other hand will be much more open to negotiation, and they can sometimes be convinced if you're clever about your approach and play your cards right. Things you can do to try and convince them include:

1. Explain to them how well behaved/well trained etc. your pet is and how they never make a mess or damage anything and all that rubbish.
2. Show vet records to prove that they have been vaccinated, flea treated, etc. to show that you are a caring, responsible owner and that the pet won't be bringing infestations into the house.
3. IF the landlord appears to like pets, play the emotional card. Show a nice picture, offer to let the landlord meet your pet, talk a bit about them and such. Again this shows that you really care about the pet and are unlikely to neglect it and let it run riot or anything like that.
4. Empathise with the landlord! "Oh yeah, I fully understand any doubts you might have, blah blah blah, irresponsible pet owners, blah, bad experiences, blah, I'm certainly not one of those!". You get the idea
5. If all else fails, offer an extra deposit to cover any damages, "just to ease their mind". Assure them though that no damage will occur, but that it is just so they feel a bit better about the situation. Obviously don't go down this road unless nothing else is working, because you don't want to have to pay extra if the landlord wasn't going to ask for it anyway.

Of course these are just a few of the tricks you can use, you'll have to judge each individual landlord seperately and try and guage what would work best with them.

Unfortunately the majority of properties advertised on daft are through agents, which leaves you in a tricky position. What I would advise you to do in that case, and in fact this would be a good idea with a landlord too, is to not mention the pet until you have met with them in person and made a good impression, just to prevent them from automatically dismissing you. In the cage of an agent, ask if you could speak to the landlord yourself.

Hope this is of some help, and best of luck!


EDIT: Also, you might like to note that you won't necessarily have trouble with all pets. Cats will be allowed a lot faster than dogs will!

SuzyS1972

I rent with 2 dogs and looked at quite a few houses before settling for my current one and all were happy to accept the pets
now apartments here are different
Generally tend to be looked after by a "management " company that clean the windows , empty bins blah blah and 99% of the apartment leases I have seen have a no pets clause.
I think the odd person gets away with a cat but not dogs - 1 bark and you could be reported and turfed out !

Your best bet is to look at the areas you want to live in and contact the agency there - towns outside of Dublin I have found that the agents tend to know the landlords by person and can negotiate on your behalf a little better.
Good luck

FranknFurter

bounty_hunter wrote:

3. IF the landlord appears to like pets, play the emotional card. Show a nice picture, offer to let the landlord meet your pet,

Good advice, but DON'T do what a friend of mine did when she went for an interview few years back for an apartment in rathmines.....

On the way out, she decided to make a quip "offhand" about her cat.....

"Oh and don't forget to let me introduce my pussy to you before you decide!"

Apparently the owner guy never got back to her, hmm I wonder why? :rolleyes:

methinks she had been watching one too many episodes of "are you being served" that week lol

B

pvt. joker

bounty_hunter wrote:

Hi pvt.joker.

I always thought it a bit odd myself that daft doesn't mention anything about pets, some of the other Irish letting sites do and daft is by far the biggest and best.

EDIT: Also, you might like to note that you won't necessarily have trouble with all pets. Cats will be allowed a lot faster than dogs will!

thanks a bunch for the info. I was hoping it just wasn't a straight no, at least there's a chance. Our dogs are small. Toy rat terriers full grown at 4 lbs and 7 lbs. The most they destroy in our house is a napkin

pvt. joker

SuzyS1972 wrote:

I rent with 2 dogs and looked at quite a few houses before settling for my current one and all were happy to accept the pets
now apartments here are different
Generally tend to be looked after by a "management " company that clean the windows , empty bins blah blah and 99% of the apartment leases I have seen have a no pets clause.
I think the odd person gets away with a cat but not dogs - 1 bark and you could be reported and turfed out !

Your best bet is to look at the areas you want to live in and contact the agency there - towns outside of Dublin I have found that the agents tend to know the landlords by person and can negotiate on your behalf a little better.
Good luck

We would definitely be renting a house as opposed to living in an apartment complex. Dogs are tricky. In the US there's breed restrictions sometimes, weight limits other times. Certain breeds like pit bulls are just straight up not allowed. Luckily our guys are small

pvt. joker

FranknFurter wrote:

Good advice, but DON'T do what a friend of mine did when she went for an interview few years back for an apartment in rathmines.....

On the way out, she decided to make a quip "offhand" about her cat.....

"Oh and don't forget to let me introduce my pussy to you before you decide!"

Apparently the owner guy never got back to her, hmm I wonder why? :rolleyes:

methinks she had been watching one too many episodes of "are you being served" that week lol

B

hahaha...that's hillarious. Especially because of the difference in countries. I think 9 times out of 10, she would have gotten a call back a few minutes later over here

fits

I rent as well. I think a beneficial factor for us was that we have our own furniture, I'd be very worried about doggies destroying a landlords couch. We also put down rugs over the carpet to help keep it clean.

It might take a bit longer, but you should find a landlord that will accept pets. I just wish landlords here were as progressive as in the US.

EGAR

I think a great deal depends on where you want to rent. I live in the County and never had problems finding a house rurally despite the fact that I had had several big dogs. I have my own house now because I doubt any landlord would let to a woman with 30 odd dogs .

Ayla

Hi pvt...

I also moved over from the States with my dog (Jan 2005). As far as renting, everyone here's given great advice...seems like it's more or less pot luck. Some landlords love animals, some refuse. I came across the same in the States, and didn't really find it much different here.

As far as the actual moving though, have you heard about the way you can move your dogs over w/o needing to put them in quarantine? It was new when I moved over, so I had to go through a bit of bother with airlines that were unfamiliar, etc. But by now they should all be up and running. I found this site wonderful for explaining some of the details: http://www.oasis.gov.ie/moving_country/moving_to_ireland/bringing_pets_to_ireland.html

By the way, you're lucky your dogs are small. I have a *very* large dog and I wound up paying over $1,000 for his plane ticket alone! Of course I wouldn't have thought about leaving him in the States.

Best of luck!