Cat in a rental?

jgh_

So my wife and I are doing our due diligence now for a move over there to Dublin and we would like our cat to come with us. He's a hypoallergenic indoor cat (russian blue).

I have seen some of the threads about dogs, and they're understandably less desirable for landlords because dogs can cause a lot of damage. When looking for rentals and checking the "Pets Allowed" option, it seems as if dogs and cats are being grouped together so there are basically no results.

Generally in my experience in a variety of cities in North America, landlords are usually more accepting of cats as long as you throw in another $500 on your deposit or whatever.

Is it the same over there? Should I just disregard the "pets allowed" button and offer the landlord some extra cash in the deposit?

ameee

There is never any harm in asking . To be fair to landlords my dog very seldom put his teeth in anything but my cat on the otherhand has an addiction to using leather as a scratching post . He is not allowed in the sitting room unsupervised and destroyed four kitchen chairs . Depends on the cats nature of course but a landlord isn't to know if you have the best behaved cat ever or one like mine ;-)

jgh_

Ah yeah, that whole thing with apartments being furnished might be problematic. I mean my cat doesn't use furniture as a scratching post, but I can see why it would be a concern. Maybe I'll stick to looking for unfurnished apartments.

djimi

Ignore the pet allowed/not allowed ads; talk to the landlord and see what they say. Be prepared for a lot to say no, but if you are willing to pay a bigger deposit then Id be surprised if someone doesnt take you up on your offer.

Pandora2

Currently in a rented house with 2 cats and although not yet sorted, looking for a move and cats do not seem to be a problem with most landlords in my experience. I would not offer any money, just ask there may not be an issue on the prospective landlords part.

Lawrence1895

As I mentioned in the other thread, offering to sign up for a pet insurance with third party liability might be helpful.

jgh_

Lars1916 wrote: »

As I mentioned in the other thread, offering to sign up for a pet insurance with third party liability might be helpful.

Not a bad piece of advice. Thanks.

Moonbeam

I would allow a cat under certain circumstances only.
We rented a lovely house years ago and the landlord let us get 2 cats,there was 0 damage done and they had the run of the house.
I rent out my 1st house and it would really depend on the tenant and I would ask for a small security deposit to cover cat related damage.

PucaMama

jgh_ wrote: »

So my wife and I are doing our due diligence now for a move over there to Dublin and we would like our cat to come with us. He's a hypoallergenic indoor cat (russian blue).

I have seen some of the threads about dogs, and they're understandably less desirable for landlords because dogs can cause a lot of damage. When looking for rentals and checking the "Pets Allowed" option, it seems as if dogs and cats are being grouped together so there are basically no results.

Generally in my experience in a variety of cities in North America, landlords are usually more accepting of cats as long as you throw in another $500 on your deposit or whatever.

Is it the same over there? Should I just disregard the "pets allowed" button and offer the landlord some extra cash in the deposit?

id be more inclined to allow dogs than cats into a house. one reason is the damage a cat can do scratching furniture. and walls.

jgh_

PucaMama wrote: »

id be more inclined to allow dogs than cats into a house. one reason is the damage a cat can do scratching furniture. and walls.

Furniture I understand, but walls?

Edit: Besides, all the furniture I see in the listings is cheap ikea crap, not like it would be a huge expense to replace it

dory

jgh_ wrote: »

Edit: Besides, all the furniture I see in the listings is cheap ikea crap, not like it would be a huge expense to replace it

Cheap, not free. And it's so much hassle to buy new stuff, transport it, assemble it. I'm a landlord and for an easier life I say no to all animals.

R0C

I was actually going to post this exact thread yesterday.

I've been looking to move into a new rental house in a rural part of western Ireland for over 6 months but have had application after application turned down because I come with a cat.

I'm very surprised by this. I'm living in the same rented house for several years and the current landlord had no issue whatsoever with pets but having spent the last 6 months viewing various properties, no one yet asked me if I'm a smoker (I'm not but I would imagine this would be more of an issue in a house) but they all ask if I own a pet and upon hearing I have a very clean very precious cat who my current landlord will happily reference, I'm either fobbed off immediately and told horror stories of previous tenants with dogs that have caused them to strictly ban all pets, or I get to application stage and am told someone more preferential applied and got the place due to not having a pet.

There was one particular house I viewed in early February that had been vacant from December 2012. It suited me ideally due to its location. The landlord had 'no pets' in the listing but I managed to persuade her in person as she had no one viewing the house and needed to get it rented. She had a bad previous experience with a dog apparently destroying a couch and although she had multiple pets running around her own house when I met her, she didn't want them in her much older rental house.

It was by no means a new, modern or fancy house but I was willing to put up with a place a bit older if it meant I could take my cat with me. My cat doesn't damage anything and I was even willing to compromise by leaving him in the large garage when no one was there to supervise him in the house.

I signed all the paperwork and 2 days before I was due to move in, the landlord had a change of heart, recalling that she had felt very strongly about not allowing pets and couldn't change her mind. I had told my own landlord I was leaving, I had all of my stuff packed into boxes so this was incredibly frustrating.

I later found out that someone else without pets had expressed interest in the house that week and she was preferring to go with them instead.

They ended up not taking the house and she came back to me a week later but I refused at that point having been messed around.

I pass the house regularly and it is still vacant several months on... It is listed on daft with two different estate agents and being frequently renewed.

I still haven't moved due to my cat not being allowed anywhere. I would expect this in apartments in big cities but I'm in the countryside/rural townland.

djimi

Unfortunately for a lot of landlords its a case of once bitten, twice shy when it comes to pets. Cats might not have the potential to cause quite as much damage as dogs, but Ive seen cats leave some places in quite a mess (I was in one house where the cat had scratched every bit of wood in the house to pieces). Its all well and good saying that your cat is well behaved; you might know this but the landlord does not. A reference from your current landlord should ease the fear a bit, but if the new landlord has had some significant damaged caused to a property in the past by a tenants pet then its not hard to understand why they might adopt a blanket policy of banning animals in an effort to prevent it from happening again.

Its just an unfortunate fact of renting really; anything bigger than a goldfish/hamster is likely to make finding a property a difficult task.

syklops

R0C wrote: »

I was actually going to post this exact thread yesterday.

I've been looking to move into a new rental house in a rural part of western Ireland for over 6 months but have had application after application turned down because I come with a cat.

I'm very surprised by this. I'm living in the same rented house for several years and the current landlord had no issue whatsoever with pets but having spent the last 6 months viewing various properties, no one yet asked me if I'm a smoker (I'm not but I would imagine this would be more of an issue in a house) but they all ask if I own a pet and upon hearing I have a very clean very precious cat who my current landlord will happily reference, I'm either fobbed off immediately and told horror stories of previous tenants with dogs that have caused them to strictly ban all pets, or I get to application stage and am told someone more preferential applied and got the place due to not having a pet.

There was one particular house I viewed in early February that had been vacant from December 2012. It suited me ideally due to its location. The landlord had 'no pets' in the listing but I managed to persuade her in person as she had no one viewing the house and needed to get it rented. She had a bad previous experience with a dog apparently destroying a couch and although she had multiple pets running around her own house when I met her, she didn't want them in her much older rental house.

It was by no means a new, modern or fancy house but I was willing to put up with a place a bit older if it meant I could take my cat with me. My cat doesn't damage anything and I was even willing to compromise by leaving him in the large garage when no one was there to supervise him in the house.

I signed all the paperwork and 2 days before I was due to move in, the landlord had a change of heart, recalling that she had felt very strongly about not allowing pets and couldn't change her mind. I had told my own landlord I was leaving, I had all of my stuff packed into boxes so this was incredibly frustrating.

I later found out that someone else without pets had expressed interest in the house that week and she was preferring to go with them instead.

They ended up not taking the house and she came back to me a week later but I refused at that point having been messed around.

I pass the house regularly and it is still vacant several months on... It is listed on daft with two different estate agents and being frequently renewed.

I still haven't moved due to my cat not being allowed anywhere. I would expect this in apartments in big cities but I'm in the countryside/rural townland.

To be honest, Id ring her up and express interest in the house again but at a slight reduction. Driving past it everyday you are only spiting yourself. She's had a good 6 months now to regret not letting you rent the house. Thats 6 months of rent that she doesn't have.

Murt10

jgh_ wrote: »

Generally in my experience in a variety of cities in North America, landlords are usually more accepting of cats as long as you throw in another $500 on your deposit or whatever.

Is it the same over there? Should I just disregard the "pets allowed" button and offer the landlord some extra cash in the deposit?

Yes, but they also declaw their cats over there. A barbaric thing to do to an animal that they supposedly love.

Just bring the cat in and say nothing. If he damages the property you will have to make good.

djimi

Murt10 wrote: »

Just bring the cat in and say nothing. If he damages the property you will have to make good.

If the lease specifies no pets then when the landlord finds out about the cat you will either find yourself out on your ear for breaching the terms of the lease or you will find yourself having to say goodbye to your cat. Deception is never a good idea when it comes to signing a legal contract.

R0C

I do understand the once bitten twice shy attitude, but I did have a reference from my current landlord of several years to say he had inspected the house and there wasn't any damage whatsoever from the cat, that he had regularly encountered the cat and he is clean, quiet, etc. I even offered the potential landlady the chance to meet/monitor the cat to which she laughed and was almost embarrassed.

I would actually be willing to pay an extra deposit, it wasn't something I had thought of previously.

I don't drive past the house every day reminiscing, it just happens to be on my route.

I did consider getting in touch with her again but I felt things had got off to a bad start and I would find it difficult to have her as a landlady after she allowed me to give notice to my landlord and she knew I had everything packed, a van on standby to move my stuff; I would be afraid she would suddenly decide to stop renting the house out shortly after I'd moved in or something.

Another more suitable option will have to eventually appear.

Most of my friends with pets think I'm crazy for mentioning I have a cat, they think 'no pets' applies to dogs only, and that I shouldn't bother mentioning I have a cat as it only opens a can of worms. I don't agree, but this is what most people I know have done when it comes to cats.

Tar.Aldarion

djimi wrote: »

If the lease specifies no pets then when the landlord finds out about the cat you will either find yourself out on your ear for breaching the terms of the lease or you will find yourself having to say goodbye to your cat. Deception is never a good idea when it comes to signing a legal contract.

At worst they would have to find a new place, fairly hard to remove somebody quickly.
When you get the contract sent out, you change no pets to pets allowed, sign it, get them to sign it. /dusts hands.


You know when you sign a contract that says no pets and enter a part IV tenancy, no longer having a contract, what happens regarding getting a pet?

djimi

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

At worst they would have to find a new place, fairly hard to remove somebody quickly.
When you get the contract sent out, you change no pets to pets allowed, sign it, get them to sign it. /dusts hands.

Id rather not get myself evicted at all to be honest, but each to their own!

If the landlord is willing to change the lease then you are home and dry.

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

You know when you sign a contract that says no pets and enter a part IV tenancy, no longer having a contract, what happens regarding getting a pet?

Terms of the original lease are still valid on a part 4, so if the original lease stated no pets then that clause remains when the lease converts to a part 4.

Tar.Aldarion

djimi wrote: »

Id rather not get myself evicted at all to be honest, but each to their own!

True! However somebody with a cat can have huge difficulty finding anywhere. I saw somebody look for months and just find a dive. Ideally find a place that accepts them. I know my apartment block doesnt accept pets on the lease but people have them no problem. The estate agency wrote the contract but it's the landlord who comes around.

odds_on

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

At worst they would have to find a new place, fairly hard to remove somebody quickly.
When you get the contract sent out, you change no pets to pets allowed, sign it, get them to sign it. /dusts hands.


You know when you sign a contract that says no pets and enter a part IV tenancy, no longer having a contract, what happens regarding getting a pet?

The landlord then changes it back to No pets, signs it and sends you back your copy.