Moving with cats?

kinsy

Hey all,

Myself and my partner are planning to move to London in the next few months. We have 2 cats. Wondering how much of an issue this will be when looking for a place to rent? We'll be renting our own flat rather than looking for house share.

Anyone have any experience of this?

Fysh

kinsy wrote: »

Hey all,

Myself and my partner are planning to move to London in the next few months. We have 2 cats. Wondering how much of an issue this will be when looking for a place to rent? We'll be renting our own flat rather than looking for house share.

Anyone have any experience of this?

You may find it harder than normal to find a place, but it shouldn't be impossible. Some landlords just don't want to deal with pets. Others are fine with it - I've lived in one place where the landlords were fine with pets with no questions asked, and another where we agreed to put an extra week of rent into the deposit as the place had had new carpets laid recently and the landlord was concerned about damage to them.

For the moving side of things, make sure to read the info on this page to avoid any unnecessary hassle or disruption when making the move. Stena have a FAQ about travelling with pets that may be useful as well.

kinsy

That's great information, thanks a million. We have them microchipped and vaccinated but will make sure everything is up to date in plenty of time before moving.

Should we just enquire about bringing pets to each flat we see advertised that we like the look of, or go to an agent and ask about our options? That second part may be a ridiculous suggestion!

Fysh

the London rental market is insane and pretty much involves needing to be able to put a holding deposit down as soon as you're done viewing a place to be sure that you'll get it. Given this, you want to avoid wasting time viewing places that won't accept pets. If it's not specified in the ad, you should be able to ask when arranging a viewing and get an answer. I have just checked and Primelocation.com's rental listings page has an option to filter for properties which allow pets.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of estate agents who just aren't very good, so I wouldn't rely on any one agent being useful at finding you somewhere suitable. I've found it distressingly common for agents to outright ignore requirements, so be aware that this can happen - if they say they've got somewhere suitable but won't send you a full list of the property's details/a link to the listing on their website, it's usually an indication that it's not suitable.

kinsy

Right ok. I suspected as much. Dublin is getting almost as bad in terms of needing to show up with deposit/ references etc so I'm used to the competition.
Thanks for checking out primelocation. I am off to do the same!