Any way around the "No Pets Allowed" policy?

Hi OP,

I can shed a bit of light on this if it helps.

It's not always the landlord who refuses the pets, especially those who are dog lovers and understand people's love for their pets. Sometimes the management company put a blanket ban on pets as it would be too risky for maintenance for them.

Hope this helps.

We have friends whose tenants convinced them their pets were house trained and would cause no problems or damage. They had two small pug dogs. When they left two years later, two leather sofas and several internal doors were ruined with claw scratches, the dogs chewed blinds curtains and furniture, carpets were torn, back garden was destroyed - grass and beds dug up and the house smelled of dogs (dog lovers don’t seem to notice that)

Tenants left all the dog stuff in the attic, dog beds, toys, cages and blankets, along with their own stuff left behind - suitcases, clothes, towels, bed linen, Christmas decorations, broken small appliances, broken sports stuff etc. etc.

They disappeared without giving notice or paying the last months rent. The rental deposit covered the unpaid rent but not the cost of the dog damage or rubbish clearance.

From what I’ve heard, most landlords will not take pets due to possible damage like above.

Not sure if it’s allowed or not, but if it is, some landlord might take pets if you paid a separate bond for the pets (unrelated to the rental deposit).

Nothing more annoying than giving details about a property and the terms of the rental for somebody to ring up and ask for some rule to be changed. You are wasting my time and your own time and I will not rent to you. There are plenty of people looking to rent so why would I rent to a person that wants something other than on offer?

Have experience with tenants with dogs and I will never rent to somebody with a dog at the start. If they have rented a while and shown to be responsible and they ask I will allow it if the property is suitable, which means a garden. Cats use furniture as scratching posts if not watched and trained. Birds can make a lot of noise and bother other tenants along with some tenants not keeping the area around the cage. You would think a goldfish would be no bother until you see they just destroyed the furniture it was on by not putting it on a mat and keeping it dry around the bowl.

I absolutely love dogs and one tenant has a dog but on the yearly inspections it had cause damage to doors. They had a choice prevent it happening again or get rid of the dog. They had to repair the damage within a month either way. My dogs do not scratch the doors in my home.

I love dogs myself and when it’s my own home I accept they will damage my place but Iv had issues over the years with pets and it’s a hard no for me.

scratches and parts of doors chewed away.

Couches destroyed.

Dogs digging up the ground out back or leaving their dog waste everywhere outside

complaints from neighbours from dogs barking.

You love your dog and it’s the sweetest friend for you but for landlords, it’s a headache worth avoiding esp when they will have 20 other safer options to pick from I’m afraid. Even if you offered a pet deposit of 5k, I personally wouldn’t want it as it’s not worth the potential hassle.

I've a dog who has never scratched anything in the house, has never destroyed a couch, never dug up a garden, has literally never barked, and all her poo is bagged and binned immediately as I don't like walking around a garden that has dog **** all over it

I'm a renter and I would never accept those things in my own house.

Landlords assuming renters won't look after a place the same way as they, a home-owner would?

Seems like there's a gap somewhere in that thinking. Of course there's some, always, but no dog owner I know would allow their dogs to wreck their own house/doors/couch/garden? Homeowners or not

OP some landlords will just accept it, most won't. Try, speak to them. Hope you get lucky

Offer professional house cleaning before you leave. (or just clean it properly yourself) there should never be a smell of dog in a house when you've moved out unless you've:

A not cleaned well enough or

B your dog has pissed in the house and it's soaked into flooring

I’ve been a bit puzzled on this so appreciate any help here. I thought the rule about the max deposit only applied to the process of securing the tenancy, and it is specifically related to the rent amount, ie. if the monthly rent is €1000, then the rent deposit must be the same.

Part 3: Rent and Rent Reviews

19B.—(1) F63[Payment shall not be sought from a person or a person shall not be required,] for the purpose of securing a tenancy, to make any payment other than—

(a) an advance payment of rent, which shall be no greater than the amount of rent payable under the tenancy agreement in respect of a period of one month, and

(b) a deposit of an amount no greater than that payable under the tenancy agreement as rent in respect of a period of one month.

Query - when the rent is increased, is the landlord entitled to increase the deposit by the same % to ensure it stays the same and covers one months rent.

Query - when the rent, and rent deposit are in compliance with S19B to secure the tenancy, are the parties then free to include other lease terms and conditions separately, ie items to be paid other than rent? (I can’t see where it says that a landlord can’t charge for security on non-rent items)

For instance, the act says under Tenant Obligations, S16…

(f) not do any act that would cause a deterioration in the condition the dwelling was in at the commencement of the tenancy, but there shall be disregarded, in determining whether this obligation has been complied with at a particular time, any deterioration in that condition owing to normal wear and tear, that is to say wear and tear that is normal having regard to—

(i) the time that has elapsed from the commencement of the tenancy,

(ii) the extent of occupation of the dwelling the landlord must have reasonably foreseen would occur since that commencement, and

(iii) any other relevant matters,

(g) if paragraph (f) is not complied with, take such steps as the landlord may reasonably require to be taken for the purpose of restoring the dwelling to the condition mentioned in paragraph (f) or to defray any costs incurred by the landlord in his or her taking such steps as are reasonable for that purpose,

Query - could a landlord reasonably require a security charge to cover the tenants obligations at (f) above?

As a renter it may be your home but it is not your house. Landlords are free to set the rules on their property.

As I said if you ring looking to rent and the first thing you want to do is change a policy stated in the ad you just wasted my time and your own.

Landlords assume tenants will not treat the property as if they own it because of experience. How you are does not give you expereince of dealing with tenants. People that vandalise public property have to live somewhere and don't just change their mindset when home.

I have owned a lot of dogs and some may never do anything destructive but others have natural tendencies. Never met a dachshund that doesn't dig or a yorkie that doesn't bark

OP

There is no getting around decision on a landlord about pets. You could go around contacting them and asking but you are very likely to just annoy them. That is if you even get to talk to them before it is let.

Agree, they slipped up there. Afair, they did inspect before six months and everything looked ok.

Well there’s no need to read between any lines. Nothing was said about ignoring a landlord and bringing in a dog anyway, that’s all in your imagination. What I posted was:

…”if a landlord were to allow pets and subsequently discovered damage during an inspection …”

My questions are just general interest - IMO it’s necessary to understand the legislation in the rental market as it affects many people.

There may be information somewhere about pets and pet deposits but I didn’t see it. I think tenants with pets should know what sanctions they could face if their pets cause damage. It’s clear that a deposit could be retained by the landlord when the tenants vacate, but it’s not clear if there could be charges to rectify the damage during the tenancy, or even a notice to quit.

The Irish rental market is tough. Every rental, especially anything lower prices, will have lots and lots of interested potential tenants. Anything that puts you in a negative slant on your application relative to other applicants needs to be avoided. I know people like their pets, but its a negative to a lot of landlords, and its against house rules in a lot of apartments. For OP, you need to make finding a home more of a priority than your dog, in stead of looking for loopholes.

Rents in Ireland these days would easily cover a donkey in the house. Also, people getting pets cause they can't afford kids. Ireland 2025.