Pet Friendly House Rentals - Advice Wanted!

[Guest brussel sprout]

We are 2 months into a 12 month rental agreement on a 4 bed house. When we signed we were told that pets were negotiable and that when we wanted to ship our labrador cross over, getting permission would be "just a formality". However now that we've asked for permission we have been refused! We were also told by the letting agent that it is the norm here that when dogs ARE allowed, they must be kept outside the house.

 

Apart from the fact that we feel we were misled over this, is dogs being kept outside the house really the norm here? My wife's brother lives in Bridgewater and has had permission to keep 2 dogs in the house, so is that an exception?

 

Anyway, this is our current position, has anyone any suggestions on our next step?

 

We like this house and it is ideally situated for dog owners, but we really do want to have our whole family back together again... and that includes our four-legged members.

 

We are considering breaking the lease and trying to find somewhere else where they DO take dogs... and allow them inside the house too!! But there is a clause in our contract that states we have to pay the letting agents advertising & other costs if we vacate the house early; to me that sounds like we are giving them a blank cheque!

 

We were told before we came here that letting agents do not treat tenants very well and love to wield what little power they have in the tenants direction. The letting agent we are dealing with is no exception (name supplied on request... PM me!).

 

Does anyone know of a 4 bedroom house for rental within 20 minutes of Woodcroft Schools that will accept dogs? Or does anyone fancy swapping their accommodation (that accepts dogs) within the above area for ours?

 

Any suggestions or comments would be gratefully received.

[Guest Woody and Jane]

Hi Brussel, my husband and I are arriving on the 5th of November and we will be looking for some dog friendly accommodation as well, this sounds very unfair to us have you spoken to the property owner or do you have to go through the agent? Would love to know which agents it is so we can avoid. Good Luck!

[sueoc]

Hi,

Pesonally i would bring your doggie over and allow him or her to live as normally with you,and sod the letting agents,just clean up and move doggie for inspection time.After all you are paying through the nose to live as you wish,and it aint no big deal to have a dog in the house as long as you respect the landlords property.Yes also,you are dealing with Sh..th...ds

when dealing with many of the letting agents in Adelaide,treat them with the contempt they treat you with,you also have rights.Best wishes,Sue.

[Guest the4hopes]

Once they are getting your rent money and as long as its tidy for inspections you don't here a thing from them, especially when you ask for repairs!!!

[lorluc]

You will find it more likely that if a rental allows pets, it will be on the basis of the pet being kept outside.....However...this isnt always the case. We rented 4 years ago and were allowed a dog inside...and friends of mine have recently rented a house in woodcroft, and their dog (which is a very large dog!) is allowed in the house...

 

What i dont understand, is why permission wasnt granted when you first signed the lease??? You obvioulsly knew the dog was arriving...so why did permission have to wait till later?......

 

My friends dog didnt arrive till later...and all was agreed from the beginning

 

Oh....yes....it does seem to be the aussie way as well, that dogs live outside.....

[maria]

The climate in australia is (usally) warm so keeping a dog outside isn't really an issue. However saying that our preference is that pets are part of the family and as such they live in the house with us, We actually aren't supposed to have pets, but we have a dog and a cat, insepction day they get taken out, theres no evidence that they were ever there so long as they dont chew the doors i'd say just go for it

[wizzywozza]

We've never had problems having our dog (and other pets) at the 4 houses we have rented, but a couple of the landlords did ask that the dog was kept outside, which is usual in Australia. It is the LANDLORD who decides what you can do, NOT the letting agents. I have never had any problems with managing agents, ever (Professionals, L J Hooker, Residential Letting & Management and Ring Partners) and have rented for about 9 years in total. Beware of trying to bend the rules as someone suggested, you could find yourself on the wrong side of the Tenancies Tribunal!

 

The regulations re advertsing expenses should you break a lease are set by government regulation and all the formulae are on the OCBA website in the tenancies section, as is anything else appertaining residential tenancies i.e. repairs and maintenance.

[lorluc]

The climate in australia is (usally) warm so keeping a dog outside isn't really an issue. However saying that our preference is that pets are part of the family and as such they live in the house with us, We actually aren't supposed to have pets, but we have a dog and a cat, insepction day they get taken out, theres no evidence that they were ever there so long as they dont chew the doors i'd say just go for it

 

Sorry, but I think this is wrong.......would be interested to hear what any landlords who post on this site, think about this...

 

You are effectively breaking the contract you have signed, and encouraging others to do the same, IMO this is irresponsible....

[Guest brussel sprout]

You will find it more likely that if a rental allows pets, it will be on the basis of the pet being kept outside.....However...this isnt always the case. We rented 4 years ago and were allowed a dog inside...and friends of mine have recently rented a house in woodcroft, and their dog (which is a very large dog!) is allowed in the house...

 

What i dont understand, is why permission wasnt granted when you first signed the lease??? You obvioulsly knew the dog was arriving...so why did permission have to wait till later?......

 

My friends dog didnt arrive till later...and all was agreed from the beginning

 

Oh....yes....it does seem to be the aussie way as well, that dogs live outside.....

 

Hi & thanks for taking the trouble to reply! We only came over in July and so did not know "the ozzie way" of renting a house; so when the letting agent said that getting permission later is just a formality, we thought that was the way it was done here. She didn't even tell us that it was her company's policy to advise property owners NOT to let dogs in the house in case of damage, (which we have since found out!).

 

We are thinking of trying to find another property (which allows dogs) and breaking our lease here, so if anyone knows of a suitable 4 bed property within 20 mins of Woodcroft schools, please let us know!!

[Guest brussel sprout]

"We've never had problems having our dog (and other pets) at the 4 houses we have rented, but a couple of the landlords did ask that the dog was kept outside, which is usual in Australia. It is the LANDLORD who decides what you can do, NOT the letting agents. I have never had any problems with managing agents, ever (Professionals, L J Hooker, Residential Letting & Management and Ring Partners) and have rented for about 9 years in total. Beware of trying to bend the rules as someone suggested, you could find yourself on the wrong side of the Tenancies Tribunal!"

Hi,

 

Just to let you know that the letting agent concerned is one of those you mention... and in our experience they are not very good at their job and very unprofessional! One person in the office says one thing, then at our next visit someone else says something else!

 

Not to mention the misinformation about permission being "a formality"! We most definitely would have dismissed this house if we had known we couldn't bring our dog here... just like the many others we did not view. It's a pity really because, although dated, the house is exactly what we wanted, ideally positioned for dog walks in fact!!

[Guest brussel sprout]

Hi,

 

Just to thank everyone who has taken the trouble to reply, we are interested to read other people's experiences, so please keep the replies coming!

 

Brussel Sprout

[Guest katsmajic]

Our rental was no pets and we only signed a 6mth contract - the cat was coming over for xmas (with my mum) so when the agents asked us if we wanted to extend we said we had to be allowed the cat - we wrote a letter to the owners saying how well behaved and that the cat was a member of our family - got the call no probs to the cat...

then i got a bit greedy and asked for a dog as i missed mine so much (my old girl was let go to sleep before we left uk) so wrote again to the owners - via the agents - said how responsible an owner i was etc and they let us have a medium sized outside dog...

 

my beastie is HUGE and sprawls out across the sofa

try writing a letter of request - make sure the agent passes it on - put details in of how you had requested pet friendly accomodation before you signed and how good your dog is/valuable to your family and as long as theres no damage and you offer to make good any problems/damage you might get lucky xxx

[maria]

Sorry, but I think this is wrong.......would be interested to hear what any landlords who post on this site, think about this...

 

You are effectively breaking the contract you have signed, and encouraging others to do the same, IMO this is irresponsible....

 

ok its not ethical, what they going to do deport me ?

We have our regular 3monthly inspections and always get Excellent feedback regarding them, isn't something i'm going to loose sleep over

[Guest nishman]

3 rentals - all of them okayed pets, the last one stipulating them to be outside. As suggested, they were outside at inspection time, but not necessarily the rest of the time. No damage, allways clean - no problem.

Perhaps as we are responsible owners of family pets, this was not a problem... I agree that it was in contradiction to the contract, but that we were resprectful to the condition of the property at all times. We effectively carpetted the inside of the house with rugs to protect floors! As with the previous property, I think we can safely say that we left it in a better condition than when we took ownership... If you are similar responsible pet owners, I would suggest that a similar tack would work for you too and not be to the detriment of the landlord.

Given the number (and size/temperment) of dogs that are left in yards day and night, I can fully understand why landlords would not want them being left to behave in similar fashion inside their investments. It is by these owners that we are all judged unfortunately.

I guess you would not look for the "top of the range" rentals (and I'm going to lump in the furnished / short-term rentals in with these too, as these are usually decorated to a higher standard than the long term rentals), unless pets are advised as acceptable. Horses for courses and all that

On the flip side, after seeing the state of some of the places offered for rent, it's difficult to envisage how the addition of pet inside could really make it worse!

Sorry rant over...

 

Back on thread, maybe you could invite the agent to a buck-shee inspection to show how you are caring for their property and the suggestion of photos of the pet in the family home from the UK is also a good one.

[hardycot]

Hello

Can you tell me if the house is furnished or not and also how much you are paying a week? We have a 4 bed house in Moana that we are thinking of renting out and do not have a problem with pets (have a choccie lab & an aussie terrier! Pm me if you like?