Renting With Dogs

Posted by: Dog Diaries on 05 Jan 2010

We may be living in a nation of animal-lovers, but all too often the dreaded words ‘no pets’ appear in advertisements for rental properties. But if you have to move homes and want to take your dog with you, there are options.

Many people search for rental properties online these days, which can be problematic for cat owners. A suburb search on realestate.com.au or domain.com.au can sometimes yield over 200 results, which means you’ve got to click on each individual property then trawl through the blurb to find out whether pets are allowed.

Which is where Pet Friendly Rentals comes in. You can download a search tool compatible with the largest real estate websites for just $9.95, and it instantly shows you which properties are pet-friendly in your desired neighbourhood. But what do you do if no such properties exist?

The Australian Companion Animal Council (ACAC) recommends a number of measures you can take. These include:

•    Raising the subject of dogs with the owner/manager, ideally in a face-to-face meeting;
•    Preparing a résumé for your dog that includes medical records (vaccinations, proof of neutering, etc) and references from past landlords, neighbours and vets;
•    Offering to draw up and sign a pet agreement in conjunction with the owner/manager to clearly define behaviour appropriate to the property (the ACAC provides a sample agreement);
•    Remembering pets are simply not allowed in many strata title properties because of specific body corporate by-laws;
•    Encouraging the owner/manager to meet your well-groomed, well-behaved, non-barking, toilet-trained dog.

If you live in Western Australia, you can offer to pay an additional ‘pet deposit’ of up to $100 to cover any charges resulting from your dog’s activities. Those living in other states or territories do not have that option, so the above steps become even more important.

You should also be realistic. Only try to rent property that is suited to both you and your dog. No landlord is going to seriously consider a request to keep a Great Dane in a one-bedroom apartment.

So while it may require a little effort to find a rental property that will accept both you and your dog, it’s by no means impossible. Remember that over two-thirds of the Australian population currently owns a pet of some sort, so the chances are your potential new landlord is one of them!

Image by: angie mckaig photography

2 Responses to “Renting With Dogs”

Ruth says:

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I found it extremely difficult to find a rental property that would allow me to have my 2 small aged dogs, even tho I had a reference from a real estate agent stating how well behaved my dogs were and how very little if any impact that they had on my property.
It appears that some pet owners (those that do not take an active interest in their pets so that they become well behaved and act on command) have made a huge impact on the rental market and made it increasingly difficult for the responsible pet owners to obtain rental properties.
For me personally, it meant that I had to either compromise my own safety in moving to a suburb where my own safety could be at risk or pay a premium rental price for some where to live. As a result i have chosen the latter, I actually offered an amount higher than what was being asked per week and agreed to sign a separate rental agreement for my 2 dogs to then be told that on top of my premium rental per week I was also responsible for all water rates and charges. this has now put me in a place that I have to question my financial stability. I am on a government pension and entitled to a discount for water and other utilities but only if they are registered in my name, something that is not, I am told, an option.
Why is it then, that because some of us, thru no choice of our own, live on our own are penalised for having a companion in a pet?

Conina Howard says:

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Renting is difficult enough without the added stress of our pets not being welcomed! In the past I have rented successfully with a huge OESD. It is imperitive that you have references for the dog and keep them for future rentals, Keep the dog very clean at all times and make sure that there is no doggy smell in the house. Exercising the dog EVERY DAY keeps a calm and relaxed pet that will not destroy fences gardens and the like out of bordem and frustration. If your pet can shake hands it is also a cute trick as non -doggy people will relate to the dog doing a human action and will see it as a little person. The human mind is strange, but let me tell you, it works!!! Good luck to all renters.

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