Renting with dogs

Craven99

Hi all,

I've a friend of mine who has to be out of her accommodation shortly. Very long story behind it - but she has not much choice but to move (house being sold)

Now she has three dogs and has had some very bad experiences in sharing before. So ideally she is looking for a pace by herself that will take dogs (she has an option to re-home one of the dogs - so would like to move in with the other 2)

She is not picky on location once it is within commuting distance to Dublin (she currently commutes from outside of Dublin to Dublin every day)

She is having no joy in finding a place and the impending move date is really getting her down.

Has anyone any experience in renting with dogs and the options available?

I know that she has limited options but would appreciate of anyone has any advise or experience with this.

athtrasna

Try doing a search on this forum. This comes up regularly.

Guybrush Threepwood

We're in the same position - our apartment we were renting was sold so myself and my fiancé, 2 dogs and a cat are currently house hunting (while living with the inlaws!!).

A few things we've done is we got our last landlord to write a reference specifically saying they had no problems with the pets- no damage to the property, and no complaints.

We also are offering any landlord a separate pet deposit.

Best of luck to your friend- we've been searching since November and no luck yet. I wish Ireland was more pet friendly

Craven99

athtrasna wrote: »

Try doing a search on this forum. This comes up regularly.

Thanks for that - I should have mentioned that I did a search and found some older posts but nothing that matched exactly her situation. Just seems to be very very tough.

It would be heart breaking for her to have to move and rehome them

_Kaiser_

Ireland is pet friendly.. unless you're a tenant I'm afraid, in which case you will probably have a very tough time finding a place that'll accept it

If you're looking in high demand areas or dealing with estate agents I'd say you'll probably have to forget the idea, as they'll just pick someone else who doesn't have pets but will still stump up the cash.
Your best bet is probably to try and deal with landlords directly outside of the "high pressure" areas if possible.

Craven99

Guybrush Threepwood wrote: »

We're in the same position - our apartment we were renting was sold so myself and my fiancé, 2 dogs and a cat are currently house hunting (while living with the inlaws!!).

A few things we've done is we got our last landlord to write a reference specifically saying they had no problems with the pets- no damage to the property, and no complaints.

We also are offering any landlord a separate pet deposit.

Best of luck to your friend- we've been searching since November and no luck yet. I wish Ireland was more pet friendly

Seems a nightmare. I've been helping her look for a place but even without the pets, as a single person looking for a place for themselves within commuting distance - that even seems impossible right now

Appreciate the advise on the last landlord writing a reference. I'll say this to her

zl1whqvjs75cdy

I'd say she had little to no chance. Why would a landlord risk the dogs when there is a queue of 10 potential tenants without dogs behind her. Sorry op, it's a tough situation.

My last tenants had a cat that lightly damaged two nice sofas.
Fully understand why landlords opt to rent to pet free tenants.

HONKEY TONK

Danna Noisy Fibula wrote: »

I'd say she had little to no chance. Why would a landlord risk the dogs when there is a queue of 10 potential tenants without dogs behind her. Sorry op, it's a tough situation.

There are 1000's of people in Ireland renting with pet dogs

Graces7

HONKEY TONK wrote: »

There are 1000's of people in Ireland renting with pet dogs

Never had any problems. In one house I got to adopt the landlord's late father's collie as no one wanted her. As well as my own dog and three cats who cleared mice from the house

Rural is of course far easier than urban .

Samuel T. Cogley

Contact LL's directly, agents will make the process more difficult. At least be up front with the agent.

Have a big deposit avialble.

Be willing to put up with a few bit's and pieces like poor decor or untidy garden, maybe be prepared to do these for the LL.

TresGats

That is a nightmare allright OP and anyone else in this situation. I can understand why you'd need to be homeowner to adopt a child, but it seems to be true also for pets, if you want to hold onto them and have any peace of mind. It's unfair.
What is your friends budget like, OP? I agree it would be probably impossible to find a share that would accept 2 dogs. The unfortunate thing is that such a large percentage of the available market is new-build apartments, which generally have a blanket no-pet rule.
Does your friend drive, OP?

Craven99

TresGats wrote: »

That is a nightmare allright OP and anyone else in this situation. I can understand why you'd need to be homeowner to adopt a child, but it seems to be true also for pets, if you want to hold onto them and have any peace of mind. It's unfair.
What is your friends budget like, OP? I agree it would be probably impossible to find a share that would accept 2 dogs. The unfortunate thing is that such a large percentage of the available market is new-build apartments, which generally have a blanket no-pet rule.
Does your friend drive, OP?

Hi there, It does seem very strange as a nation of pet lovers that they are a barrier to renting. I know for sure she had an eye on a place that was €750 per month. Not a great location, not a great house but it was something. She does indeed drive and commutes from Carlow to Dublin every day

TresGats

http://www.daft.ie/dublin/houses-for-rent/palmerstown/57-oakcourt-lawn-palmerstown-dublin-1717220/ Nice little 1 bed house- 1k though.
http://www.daft.ie/dublin/studio-apartments-for-rent/rathmines/lower-rathmines-road-rathmines-dublin-1718161/ Studio Apt Rathmines, !k
There is a nice apt for 750e in Athy also, takes pets.
I hope your friend is lucky and gets something suitable.Best of luck!

Tombo2001

People making a few snide comments here about "I wish Ireland was more pet friendly'.

You can bitch and moan.

Or.

You can put yourself in the shoes of the landlord.

As you (all) know, the rental market is very very very very very very tight at the moment........

A landlord is advertising, and is getting hundreds of replies, literally.

Of those, he / she is able to pick and choose the best of a large lot.

What, ask yourself, does a landlord want?

He / she wants primarily that
(I) the rent is paid on time every month
(II) that the tenants don't wreck the place.

That's not a lot to ask; it doesn't mean the landlord is greedy, or that they are not pet friendly.

Will your three dogs wreck the place. Of course not, you will say. How does the landlord know that? They don't know you, they don't know your dogs, they've never rented to someone with dogs before.

By looking with dogs, you are immediately restricting your own options in the rental market. You are giving the landlord reason to rule you out when they already have heaps of other options. That's your choice.

I would make the following observations
(I) I would say, yes absolutely get the references from a prior landlord. Do you have a certificate from the dog trainer that trained the dog? As no doubt you are claiming the dog is house trained. (If not, consider getting one).

Your 'word' that your dogs are house trained really counts for nothing to someone who has never met you before in their life. How can you back it up.

(II) The landlord is taking a chance by renting to you, that he or she absolutely does not need to take in the current rental market. You have heard of 'risk and return'. Offer the landlord something in return - e.g. I will pay you 50 euro a month above what you are asking, as well as a pet deposit, for letting us keep the animals here.

That's my opinion, if you don't like it then lets hear your better suggestion.

crossmolinalad

I had to move out because the landlord had died and family wanted to move in
have a labrador dog
New address landlord didn't want pets and what I did was invited the new landlord to visit the house where I lived in so he could take a look and he did
Two days later I got the house and the dog was allowed
Every new house I m looking for invited the future landlord to have a look around if he/she likes how I live in a rented property they looked at the rentbook (most of them were rents of 4/6 years) looked around and never needed a reference and got the house
This one I'm in here for 9 years and have it fully refurbished for the landlord with his permission
So I got it in the color schemes and flooring I like and not the landlords magnolia fever schemes they all like

smunchkins

One thing I have found useful when searching Daft is to not limit anything geographically.
Just select the Advanced search and *only* choose pets allowed.
Then your friend can find the most recent landlords who are amenable, or who have renewed more recently.
I'd suggest looking in both the renting and sharing sections too, because sometimes there are unusual circumstances, or off-site landlords only want licensees so pop things in the sharing section (saw one only last week in Wicklow looking for pet sitters basically), and because not many want pets, it is not a long list to go through!

CruelCoin

I have a dog and a cat and i'd never consider renting to someone with pets.

Your pet comes home from a walk, it was wet and the dog is slightly muddy and "wap wap wap" goes her tail, and you have mud marks down your hallway.

Then there's the smell and the hair, the general grime and claw marks from dogs jumping at handles, etc.

With renting to someone with a dog, you are guaranteeing that they'll need to spend money to make the place fit for re-rental, whereas witha non-pet owner this is not always the case.

In a tight market, why would the landlord voluntarily pick tenants that present greater risk? It makes no business sense.
This is especially true in "pressure zones" where they landlord now cannot increase his asking price in line with increases in his own costs.

I'll echo someone above me in the thread: Offer an increase on the asking rent, and an extra deposit to sweeten the deal.

pilly

Augeo wrote: »

My last tenants had a cat that lightly damaged two nice sofas.
Fully understand why landlords opt to rent to pet free tenants.

Because the cat lightly damaged two sofas? Kids do ten times as much damage as dogs to property.

House I live in now had kids there before me and every piece of furniture is scratched or has un-washable marker and crayon marks.

TimeToShine

crossmolinalad wrote: »

I had to move out because the landlord had died and family wanted to move in
have a labrador dog
New address landlord didn't want pets and what I did was invited the new landlord to visit the house where I lived in so he could take a look and he did
Two days later I got the house and the dog was allowed
Every new house I m looking for invited the future landlord to have a look around if he/she likes how I live in a rented property they looked at the rentbook (most of them were rents of 4/6 years) looked around and never needed a reference and got the house
This one I'm in here for 9 years and have it fully refurbished for the landlord with his permission
So I got it in the color schemes and flooring I like and not the landlords magnolia fever schemes they all like

Sorry but renting 9+ years ago is absolutely nothing like it is now. Dublin and the surrounding areas are a sharkpit.

pilly

I had the same difficulty when moving and had to pick outside of where I ideally wanted to live to be honest. I also brought the dog with me to the viewing so the LL could see how well behaved he was.

It's going to be a struggle for your friend but not impossible.

On a side note, my dog has since passed and I'm very hesitant to get another one in case I have to move and can't find somewhere that will take a dog. Shame really but it's the reality I suppose.

As I mentioned in my previous post, in my experience kids do an awful lot more damage to property than dogs do, and I've had both! But LL's don't take this view. Sometimes they are concerned for the neighbours if they've previously lived in the house themselves and their friends so they may be concerned that the dogs will be left outside barking.

If OP explains maybe that they won't be left outside maybe that'll help.

pilly

pilly wrote: »

Because the cat lightly damaged two sofas? Kids do ten times as much damage as dogs to property.

House I live in now had kids there before me and every piece of furniture is scratched or has un-washable marker and crayon marks.

Which is why a lot of LLs look for young single professionals or young professional couples who don't have pets and are not at the having kids stage yet.

Both kids and pets will damage a property that is absolutely guaranteed despite what pet owners and parents might try to claim.

pilly

Zayn Chubby Penlight wrote: »

Which is why a lot of LLs look for young single professionals or young professional couples who don't have pets and are not at the having kids stage yet.

Both kids and pets will damage a property that is absolutely guaranteed despite what pet owners and parents might try to claim.

Don't disagree with that but most young single professionals will be renting apartments not houses. And the market is not that full of young professionals.

LL's with houses have to consider their options. In my case I'd go for someone with 2 dogs over someone with 2 kids any day.

__Alex__

Zayn Chubby Penlight wrote: »

Which is why a lot of LLs look for young single professionals or young professional couples who don't have pets and are not at the having kids stage yet.

Both kids and pets will damage a property that is absolutely guaranteed despite what pet owners and parents might try to claim.

Young, professional couples are one of the most likely demographics to have a pet. I know a few couples who have got them unbeknownst to their landlords who are none the wiser. It's not something I agree with as I think both cats and dogs can cause different kinds of damage. But it's possible to keep it superficially hidden from the landlord and I think young pre-children couples are one of the most likely groups to do this.

Tombo2001

pilly wrote: »

Don't disagree with that but most young single professionals will be renting apartments not houses. And the market is not that full of young professionals.

LL's with houses have to consider their options. In my case I'd go for someone with 2 dogs over someone with 2 kids any day.

I'd make the following points as to why a Landlord would prefer kids to pets
(I) Landlords are far more likely to have kids themselves, than have pets themselves. As such, they are more likely to know what they are getting with kids, don't necessarily know what they are getting with pets.
(II) Landlords more often are looking for people who will be there for a while, and will look after the place. A family is more likely to stay than say a group of friends. Kids mean that the tenants are more likely to be anchored, longer term.

Craven99

Op here - just a note to thank everyone so far. I've sent a link to my friend and she is actively following the thread - good, bad and everything in between for her. Good to get the various different views.

__Alex__

__Alex__ wrote: »

Young, professional couples are one of the most likely demographics to have a pet. I know a few couples who have got them unbeknownst to their landlords who are none the wiser. It's not something I agree with as I think both cats and dogs can cause different kinds of damage. But it's possible to keep it superficially hidden from the landlord and I think young pre-children couples are one of the most likely groups to do this.

Its only possible if the LL is not managing his property correctly. One inspection and its game over as you will smell that a cat or dog is living there without ever seeing it and then the tenant is facing eviction.

I'm not so sure I agree with that either, I know very few couples renting who own a pet. Any one I know with a pet owns their house.

Tombo2001 wrote: »

(II) Landlords more often are looking for people who will be there for a while, and will look after the place. A family is more likely to stay than say a group of friends. Kids mean that the tenants are more likely to be anchored, longer term.

I actually think a lot of LLs would prefer people who are likely to stay a while and move on as there is less chance of them feeling the place is really their home and less potential for over holding etc in future if the LL wants them out for whatever reason.

pilly

I also paid an extra month's deposit to get my place. For any LL that should cover any potential damage. Expensive I know but the things we do for the love of our dogs.

Retrovertigo

TresGats wrote: »

http://www.daft.ie/dublin/studio-apartments-for-rent/rathmines/lower-rathmines-road-rathmines-dublin-1718161/ Studio Apt Rathmines, !k

That is pure scum for a bedsit, no wonder landlords get a bad name.

OP, there's two things landlords don't want, pets and small children. Reason being they will inevitably cause damage at some stage. Your best bet is an unfurnished place to avoid that problem or to look for somewhere rural with a garden. It sucks but that is the reality at the moment.

Tombo2001

Zayn Chubby Penlight wrote: »

Its only possible if the LL is not managing his property correctly. One inspection and its game over as you will smell that a cat or dog is living there without ever seeing it and then the tenant is facing eviction.

I'm not so sure I agree with that either, I know very few couples renting who own a pet. Any one I know with a pet owns their house.



I actually think a lot of LLs would prefer people who are likely to stay a while and move on as there is less chance of them feeling the place is really their home and less potential for over holding etc in future if the LL wants them out for whatever reason.

That's correct.

There is a balance - every time the tenants change, the LL is losing one months rent, so I would think most LLs would be happy to lose the months rent once every 2 or 3 years; but not every 6 months or year.

Tombo2001

Tombo2001 wrote: »

That's correct.

There is a balance - every time the tenants change, the LL is losing one months rent, so I would think most LLs would be happy to lose the months rent once every 2 or 3 years; but not every 6 months or year.

They aren't losing a months rent in the current climate nor will they for the foreseeable future. Even in quieter times good planning should have people moved in within the week after tenants move out.

Also a lot of LLs are moving to just less than 6 month lets to prevent part 4 rights kicking in so I wouldn't say there aren't LL happy for people to only stay a few months.

I do agree agree that 2-3 years is a nice number for a lot of LLs though.

Tombo2001

Zayn Chubby Penlight wrote: »

They aren't losing a months rent in the current climate nor will they for the foreseeable future. Even in quieter times good planning should have people moved in within the week after tenants move out.

Also a lot of LLs are moving to just less than 6 month lets to prevent part 4 rights kicking in so I wouldn't say there aren't LL happy for people to only stay a few months.

You would more or less, you cant show it until current tenants have left. So first tidy it up, paint it, then show it, then at least a few weeks until people ready to move.

Tombo2001

Tombo2001 wrote: »

You would more or less, you cant show it until current tenants have left. So first tidy it up, paint it, then show it, then at least a few weeks until people ready to move.

Nothing stopping you showing it before current tenants leave, no guarantee it will need a paint, painting lasts for years a place let for 3 years almost definitely won't get painted never mind a shorter one. If the place is left in good condition then minimal cleaning is required. As you will read the first thing people do when they move in is a big clean anyway.

Paulw

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