Renting a house with pet - hard?

Our contract specifically said no pets but they allowed us a cat after all on the condition that we get the carpets professionally cleaned.

My friend had to pay a £150 extra deposit for any pet damage for her dogs that was refundable if not needed (and she got it back as her dogs did no damage).

Talk to them, I think if you willingly say you would get the carpets steam cleaned that might go in your favour.

HTH

Tell them up front!

We rent with 2 cats and had to pay a non-refundable pet deposit (thats normal in the US) but we have rented our house in the UK to a family with 4 cats. We asked for a bigger than normal deposit and they were fine with that. Our LA put on our details - pets on a case by case basis so we could decide on the day.

I've rented three properties with our cat and it's not been a problem with landlords but we've always said that's what we're looking for.

Thanks, will speak to them tomorrow and let them know. I'd hate to lose the place, but would never rehome the cat.

The flats we are going to see, are wood flooring througout.

I used to have 2 dogs with my ex H. When we where looking for a new house, I would always ring the letting agents and ask if the land lords would allow pets. At least you know before hand before you get excited about a new place. It wasnt easy, but we got there in the end.

We rent with 4 cats, only stipulation was that we replaced the conservatory door with a wooden one so we could put a cat flap in, we will replace the original when we leave.

Landlord and his wife have cats so they know that they don't "rip the place up"

We rented a house when we had 2 cats. originally the ad stipulated No Pets but we asked anyway and the owners agreed (must have been a slow rental market at the time). always worth asking.

my advice would be to go a bit overboard with furniture and property protection. when it came to moving out, the agents basically came in expecting pet damage and determined to find some. they insisted that the cats had damaged the sofa even though we had fully covered it before moving the cats in and didn't remove them until the cats were out. when you sign the inventory at the beginning, note every bit of damage and wear and tear that you can see. Be very picky and note the tinest details. the agents tried to blame a lot of previous wear and tear on our cats because we hadn't specifically noted it before we signed at the start (even in a room we never the let the cats in). For example, loose threads on a rug that had been rolled up and put away before the cats were moved in. It was an old and manky rug that I think they wanted to replace anyway. We'd signed to agree that it was 'worn' but should have specifically mentioned the threads etc!

It's always worth asking because a lot of landlords/agencies say "no pets" as a standard but what they really mean is "we don't want people with three large dogs that bark non-stop and will cause big hassles with the neighbours" and don't care if you have a cat, hamster, goldfish...

There was meant to be a change in law so that landlords couldn't refuse pets - on the basis that while you rent a house it's your home so you should be able to do wtih it as you wish (short of destructive behaviour obviously) IIRC - but I don't know if that ever happened.

I rent through an agency and this is my 3rd house through them, everytime the property has said no pets but the agency were always willing to speak to landlord and explain that im a responsible pet owner etc.

Most agents will just say no pets as standard though it might depend if you are renting furnished or unfurnished - if unfurnished they are more likely to accept pets. might be worth not going through an agent - my mum has a few flats she rents outs prviately and she has let tenants have both dogs and cats.

We rented 2 houses with our 2 cats - both times we 'declared' them before we had chosen properties to rent so the landlords could agree before we set our heart on somewhere!

We had to pay a higher deposit both times.