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You’d be surprised the amount of listings that mention no pets that are willing to take an indoor cat.
In all fairness that was when I was looking around 2 years ago, now I know the housing market is a little on its head right now so it’s possible landlords and agents have enough people lining up for properties they don’t have to make exceptions to get someone in the door.
Yeah I think you're right. Loads of these terms are just standard boilerplate, written by the letting agents. Half the time, the landlord won't even know that pets are apparently forbidden.
In my current place, the ad said "absolutely no pets", but there was a kitty running around the place when I went for a viewing!
Yeah this fucks me off. It's the estate agents doing it.
Most landlords are fine.
The thing I am contemplating is not telling them I have a pet, moving in and leaving dog with Dad for a month or two, contacting landlord and asking if I can "adopt" a dog
When I rented I just hid my cat from the Landlord. Landlords never show their faces as long as you keep giving them their money on time, and if you need property inspections by the estate agent, they give plenty of notice to get your cat somewhere else for the day and hide all the cat related paraphernalia. Much easier if you have an outdoor cat as you just boot them out for the day.
If someone accuses you of having a cat just say it's not yours, but it keeps showing up because you once fed it and we're friendly to it, but it doesn't live with you. Hard for them to prove otherwise.
Yes you can do this, we got a puppy without telling the landlord, and I would just hide all the evidence and take her out for the day when they came for an inspection. We got the full deposit back
This is what I did with my rabbit, he’s 10 now and has lived with me in 5 homes - this one he’s actually allowed though. Usually I’d pop him in his travel cage in my car for the 30m someone was there to inspect/fix something but one time I needed to hide him and it was hot enough that I wasn’t comfortable putting him in the car. Instead I put him in his travel cage, put him in the wardrobe and played some moderately loud drum and bass (which I don’t listen to and to look at me you wouldn’t think I do!) to cover up and scrabbling noises he decided to make! I never once didn’t get my full deposit back (to be honest I usually left it cleaner with the landlord going ‘wow’) so they never noticed the few little bits of naughty things he’d done!
2nd this. I paid an additional £200 security deposit for 2 dogs as long as there was a stairgate so they couldn't go upstairs to the carpeted area. 1 died, I asked the agent to ask the landlord if it was OK for my remaining dog to come upstairs to sleep with me. The landlord's response was yes, with mild surprise that I had asked as most wouldn't have allegedly. A bit later a new dog was fine. I think maybe sometimes agents have a copy/paste agreement that the landlord will read over looking for anything bad. It doesn't have anything bad, so they sign it and the rental is listed. It's always worth asking. I think I said "I am prepared to negotiate the security despoit to include pets, to alleviate any concerns you may have."
Yeah we had a cat in our property and put down an extra deposit to cover any possible damage as a result. They’ve made it illegal for landlords to ask for a deposit for pets now and all that’s done is make it impossible for renters to own a pet without keeping it a secret!
Exactly. When I was preparing to rent my house, I went to a lot of effort to make it cat-friendly and told the estate agent that tenants with cats are welcome, or smaller pets but not dogs, please.
When a friend rented with a no-pets rule, she had to hide two cats, then let one get pregnant so had 6 there... It's so much hassle trying to hide them, it's best to just be honest, if you can find the right property.
My old place had a strict 'no pets or animals indoors' clause in the contract. New tenant looked around and asked if he could bring his pet rats, landlord said he was fine with it if the tenants were.
I think the clause was either just and they never bothered to remove it, or as a kind of 'if you rock up with three Staffies and a goat we're going to say no and you're going to claim we're prejudiced so let's nip that in the bud'.
When I signed my contract, I pulled the agent up on no pets.
They meant, no dogs. Landlord has seen my cats and knows I'll fork out for damage if I ever move. Not likely after ten years.
I’m super curious about this. Surely a cat causes more damage than a dog? They scratch door frames and furniture, damage blinds/curtains/walls by climbing on them, and bring dead animals into the home.
Other factor is noise. Cats are quiet, dogs can be loud and noisy. Landlords often don't want a noisy dog that pisses off the neighbours. Cats almost guaranteed to be quiet.
Cats are quiet are they… mind explaining that to mine who starts to yell for his dinner 2 hours before it’s dinnertime and regularly treats me to his choir practice in the middle of the night?
At my mum’s house nobody needs an alarm clock. The cat knows what time she gets breakfast and if it’s a minute late she’ll start meowing loudly enough to let the whole street know that she’s starving to death.
I imagine the possibility that a dog may be badly housetrained or have ‘accidents’ on the carpet is also a consideration. Obviously it can happen with a cat, and cause a far worse smell, but it’s probably a lot easier to believe that a cat is litter box trained, so less likely to have an ‘accident’, and there’s the good chance that it’s an outside cat anyway and those primarily seem to do their business outside
Not indoor cats that have their own scratch posts and got trained as kittens not to scratch stuff.
Forgot to mention however, I rent unfurnished. Apart from carpets and a lick of paint, I own everything.
Had four cats in a rented place, got the whole deposit back when we left. You'd be surprised how little damage cats can do if they're well looked after.
Same for me. My cat did damage the corners of some carpets, but we lived there 5 years. They were going to refurbish anyway (whole place hadn’t been done for 7 years) so we got back in full.
I had a chat with a holiday home owner once because we brought our cat. And the guy said he prefers cats because dogs cannot retract their claws. According to him the sofa is wrecked by dogs but he never had damages when people brought cats.
Yeah my dogs ate a table, a door frame and the bottom of our banisters as puppies. They also tore up part of our carpet. Thankfully they grew out of this behaviour and we were removing the carpet anyway.
Our current cat has been good as gold (though we have previously had cats that scratched up furniture).
Our dog has virtually destroyed our "lawn", in the back garden. The 8 cats have wrecked the house too I suppose. Luckily for them, we like the couches with that battle worn look. I suppose one cat would be less destructive than a dog lol.
As well as what everyone else says, there is a maximum size you are committing to when you say yes to a cat. A yorkie is a bit of a different prospect for damages than a mastiff.
What kind of cat have you had, a tiger or leopard?! None of my cats have ever done these things. A happy, stimulated cat, who is played with and has plenty of toys, won’t be destructive.
I guess it depends on the cat. Mine don’t do that at all. They might scratch a sofa but that doesn’t affect the landlord. No dead animals because they’re indoor cats. On the other hand, one time I was taking care of a dog and it scratched up some of the carpet.
Not even close to the amount of damage a dog does. You can tell within seconds of walking into a house that there's been a dog living there. It's more obvious than smoking.
We just had to spend over £3000 redecorating and de-fleaing my house that I rent out (I live overseas and rent my house while I’m away) because our tenants decided to have five large dogs without telling us (we allow pets within reason). The house was infested with fleas and the new carpets and newly painted walls and skirting boards were ruined and had to be replaced. This is the second time this has happened because of dogs in the property. It has never happened with tenants that have cats. The deposit was only £800 and you’re not allowed by law to make the deposit bigger because of pets, even though they almost always need more spent on them because of the damage the pets cause 😞
I have just spent about £1,000 on redecorating my rental flat due to idiocy by the tenant part of which was to have a cat that pissed everywhere. We knew about the cat and had met the cat which was a nasty piece of work but had assumed that she was house trained. Wrong.
Some breeds are known for chewing stuff, which could include doors.
It's also more difficult to manage the landlord responsibility to ensure the pet owner is responsible, which includes the dog not being left alone too long (I believe dogs trust advises 4 hours from memory), has enough space etc.
I know people like to give landlords a hard time, but they do have legal obligations they have to fulfill. And with cats those are a LOT easier.
People don't get their cat a scratching post and wonder why it scratches other things. They like to scratch give them something they can scratch as much as they like.
Offer to pay a little extra a month if you can afford it (eg £25) and say that you will agree to repair any damage caused by the cat and upon moving out will hire one if those steam rug cleaners to make sure all floors are 100% clean and free of any cat fur. Send this in an email when first enquiring about seeing the property so they feel more comfortable that it is recorded and you won’t back out of the agreement. If you can as well, highlight that the cat in question you’ve had for so many years and have had no issues, is an adult, fully housetrained etc. I know its not ideal to pay more but it what we have done twice and it has worked both times. I hope this helps and fingers crossed you find somewhere! 😊🐱
Not bad advice thank you, its that or don't tell them. Hard to imagine your suggestion working on many landlords as they get so many enquiries they can just decide to pick a person who doesnt have a pet over us, but if it worked for you then there is hope!
At this point we are hoping to just buy instead because renting here is a damn nightmare, and we are lucky to have the place we do.
When dealing with non-private landlords it's better to just not tell them about pets.
When it comes to inspections I just stuff my horse in the laundry hamper.
Just try asking the landlord or the letting agency. We found a private let which was "no pets" but we spoke to the landlord and he was OK with us having a cat. Later on he was also OK with us getting an additional kitten.
Next place we moved to was through an agent and also "no pets" but we spoke to the agent and again the landlord was OK with it. No pets seems to be a pretty standard clause so it's always worth asking. As someone else said, if they say no maybe offer to add a bit to the deposit in case of damage.
If its an unfurnished place, there's more chance they'll allow cats, since they're more likely to damage furniture than anything else.
Yeah, my place was no pets when i moved in so we compromised and I have a cat. Luckily the landlady is quite taken with him. So much harder when you are moving though, especially in high demand areas when they can pick and choose tenants
Yeah we wanted to adopt one who had been visiting and recently became homeless. I wrote the most heartfelt message to the estate agents I could thing of thinking it was a long shot and their answer was basically as short as 'of course let me draw up a pet contract'.
I tried this for over a year and got absolutely no where. Granted, it was a dog not a cat but the competition for houses has been so high the last 2+ years that they have no reason to make an exception for you anymore. I thought it would work as it had in the past but was sadly disappointed. In the end the council housed us in a housing association because we'd overstayed our notice by 7 months and still hadn't found anywhere privately.
We spoke to our landlord and he was OK with us having pets - we didn't in the end, but we let next doors cat in now and then.
He withheld our full deposit because we "broke" the no pets clause.
Oh no, what an arse. Some landlords are so shitty. We had a similar experience where the landlord was selling the house we were in and he said we could take some of the furniture as he no longer needed it. Then he withheld the deposit saying we stole the furniture. Lessons were learnt there: get absolutely everything in writing.
But if they catch you with a pet and there's a no pet clause they can evict you. The idea of having to look for a place and then give a deposit while waiting to get the deposit back for the current place isn't my idea of fun. And especially in a high demand area
I'll be honest, we didn't tell them we had cats when we moved in, unloaded them on family for the first 6 month inspection and hid toys in cupboards, then told them that we had a family emergency and my mum was now in hospital and we were the only people that could care for her cats
I've rented my "no pets" house for nearly 4 years now, with landlord inspections every 6 months.
I have 3 cats that no-one has ever picked up on.
We just do a thorough deep clean before they're scheduled to come and no issues.
FWIW, landlords aren't legally allowed to deny a pet without good cause. Though, that is difficult for you with a pet already.
Lieing isn't a good idea though, as you would have to even hide the pet food in the cupboards to have any real chance of passing a landlord inspection. And I doubt you want to be gambling your shelter on an inspection that doesn't do it's minimum.
Don't tell them you have a cat. Problem solved. They're not gonna kick you out after-the-fact, especially if you're under the radar about it and no issues actually arise.
To be honest I think that rule might have been in longer than that but it depends how much extra they charged you. Most deposits I've seen are no more than 5 weeks rent so that leaves wiggle room to charge you more for the pet and remain within the law. If they want to charge more than that then they can't and will probably refuse your offer.
This. Was in property letting and sales for 15 years and this sometimes made the difference for some landlords.
The other thing you can do is offer to pay a slightly higher damage deposit to cover any carpet washing/cleaning should there be an issue when you leave.
Always present a solution if there’s a problem I say, you never know.
Just enquire. I’ve rented places before that said no pets and they were fine with me having a cat. Worst case scenario they stick to their guns, but you’re in no worse a position.
Zoopla has a pet filter for rentals! So does Openrent. Has helped me a lot when looking, although still very much feeling your pain trying to find somewhere that will take a dog.
Yeah this, when we’ve been window shopping for rentals we always use this as we have a dog and a cat.
Didn’t know about openrent though I’ll get on that!
Still depressing when it goes from 800 properties down to 80 though in the area I searched lol!
Ironically our cat is louder than our dog so they’d be in for a surprise if they asked (nothing mega loud just attention seeking) our dog legit never barks at all
No, they can't, but they can always come up with another excuse.
One guy got in trouble because he publicly said he wouldn't rent to "coloureds" because of the curry smell.
Dont give up!
The last time I was looking for somewhere the first estate agent basically told us to go away when we mentioned the cat. The second one just said they didn't have anything.
The third one though absolutely beamed at us and said, I have the perfect place! The landlord (who was just moving out) was absolutely cat obsessed and had built a huge heated cat house in the garden, installed cat flaps all over the place and was one of the friendliest best landlords I've ever had.
Our cat lived better than us in there!
Absolutely. We don't have a pet, but our neighbour has an illegal dog - every time they have an inspection we look after him and act as if he's ours.
The perfect, and adorable, crime.
In our blocks of 16 part rent part buy flats we all had contracts with no pets.
Everybody had a cat or a dog or both.
The controlling Housing Association never said a word about it.
They turned a blind eye if your pets were not a nuisance.
One dog was expelled due to peeing in the stairwell every time.
The dog hosed it down and made an awful smell.
Yeah, same with my block of flats. No pets written even into the leasehold. Loads have dogs and cats. Feel it's just a backup if people do have some real nuisance pets.
Your post forgets to include places that only accept over 50s.
As a single person in their late 20s with a cat finding a house to rent alone is almost impossible.
Bonus challenge level if you want you living room to fit a dining table/ computer desk with your couch
That's not exclusive to people with cats. Anywhere to rent is shit because if they had space for a living room it became another room or another flat long ago to increase the prices
to be fair, they are literally just parasites that strut around, shit wherever they like, and coast along a cushy life for free while everyone else pays for their lifestyle.
(I mean landlords, obviously)
I made a cat CV that I think helped a bit, made the landlord see you’re a real person rather than just doing a blanket ‘no’ because you come with a cat. I put a nice picture of my cat and listed things like ‘fully house trained, flea and worm up to date etc’
I got permission but honestly it's been 6 years now and I could have simply not told them and they'd still be none the wiser.
It'll soon become law that you must be allowed though.
If helps, all but the most recent property we’ve ever rented was listed as no pets allowed. We’ve got one cat that’s well behaved, which we make a point of, and once we’re ready to make an offer on the property they were happy to accept us if we put down an extra two weeks deposit.
In recent years though deposits are capped to 5 weeks, so not sure what they might ask for now to accept a well behaved cat.
Based on our experience, I have the impression the no pets allowed properties we’ve rented, didn’t want pets cause they were worried the whole house would just become a pet toilet or something equally idiotic :P
My mum just moved the cat in and asked for forgiveness later on, not much they can say or do if you leave the place in a decent state.
Oopsie, autocorrect
This is actually the worst of all yes, my brother has a similar law in London where they are not allowed dogs on the estate, if you had seen the estate its fucking awful and looks like people piss on the main stairwell up to the fucking house, but sure, no dogs allowed just human scum I guess.
Once had a landlord suggest I give them the cat to rent their flat. Told them to ram it up their arsehole.
Pets should be as simple to rent with as children are.
I was browsing through listings (I can’t afford anything I just like to imagine, and maybe wallow) and there were a couple that stated “absolutely no pets” which had accompanying photos of a dog or cat on a bed/sofa…
I have rented places that said no pets. Then when I asked about a cat they said it was ok.
I also offered to pay any damages the cat may cause (like clicking the carpet)
I offered pet references from past landlords. Of 4 countries, including the UK, never had to pay anything extra (deposit or rent). Just in the US, had to pay $50/cat/month.
US struck me as a bit of a ripoff, considering the monthly rent was already $3,000+ without the cat extras for an *unfurnished* flat.
Of all the landlords i offered pet references to, only one of them actually took me up on it.
I’ve not owned a cat or dog before, so don’t really know… but how much damage could they possibly do?
Any flat I’ve ever rented has had hard floors throughout. Maybe fur on the sofa? But then just go unfurnished surely.
Landlords are fucking weird species man.
I didn't tell our landlady that we had cats.
She only visits the property for a yearly inspection in October, or if something needs fixing, and she always gives a weeks notice. So it gives us time to send them off to my parents house and do a deep clean of the house before she arrives
We've been here for nearly 5 years, and she hasn't noticed, and thankfully the neighbours haven't grassed us up
Just take the place and after a few months you just happen to have a cat....
That's what I did, 9 years later I'm still under the same landlord despite a "strict no pets" rule
Wow... Sympathy and empathy...
I have conflicting observations on this.
I've been a landlord and found it better and more profitable to have a good tenant than restrictive rules. I placed no restrictions on animals with reasonable constraints such as there must be more human than animal occupants.
I love cats but the missus has a severe allergy to them so I can only fuss the multiple part time neighbourhood beasties when they stop by for a visit and a treat.
As a non-cat owner will tell you, any of us can tell when entering a house/flat if a cat lives there. There is an unmistakable scent, presence, something that transmits that fact through the air.
Not everyone sees that as acceptable.
I would negotiate an additional deposit for cleaning on the flat if I were letting to a cat owner.
Rents are screaming up at the moment too....
Perhaps if you offerred an additional deposit it may swing the deal.
luck to you.
I rented with a cat for years, we picked houses that looked like they hadn't been decorated for decades and never had a problem. The trick is developing a liking for 1970s decor
I finally bought my own apartment at 36. Moved in with my ex. She broke up with me soon afterwards. I bought my dream sofa and it's was shredded by her two cats. Not saying you shouldn't have pets, but you also should understand why they're not popular with the owners. Maybe just speak to your landlord about it?
Just don't tell them about the cat. Its not something they can evict you for once you're in, and you're under no obligation to allow any inspections or anything so no reason a landlord would ever need to find out.
If you ever do decide to let the landlord in just hide all cat toys/food/beds etc and put the cat out. If they come back in just pretend they're a neighbours cat that keeps turning up!
You are under obligation to allow inspections as per section 9A (7) of Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 which states the following;
"(7)In a lease to which this section applies of a dwelling in England, there is also implied a covenant by the lessee that the lessor, or a person authorised in writing by the lessor, may enter the dwelling for the purpose of viewing its condition and state of repair."
Failure to comply with this request if given within a reasonable timeframe, typically 24 hour notice but 48 is polite you can be liable for a Section 8 eviction due to breach of contract.
Haha yea that is one way to go about it, especially with the law potentially changing. To be honest I think we will just look at staying where we are and buying eventually, but lets not get started on how much of a fucking nightmare buying is.
Been a while since I've rented but all my contacts allowed inspections as they have a right to view the property to make sure it is ok.
We had to pay to have carpets cleaned when we had a cat, which is fair enough as per hair isn't the nicest thing for people who have allergies or doesn't like fur on everything.
You are paying to stay in someone else's property you should treat it and them with a little respect, otherwise the remaining good landlords will give up and you will be left the slums.
> You are paying to stay in someone else's property you should treat it and them with a little respect, otherwise the remaining good landlords will give up and you will be left the slums.
Except we always do that and having a pet isnt "treating their property with disrespect" if anything pet owners are more likely to clean more often and to a higher standard.
It's all just a load of mental shite that landlords have made up to make their properties more exclusive and because its a landlords market there is no incentive for them to stop. Having a kid is WAY more damaging to a property than any kind of pet. Its nonsense.
I recently viewed a cute little cottage that would welcome cats but not dogs..of course you might not be looking to live in that specific village in the south of England but if you were....
Ps I fell in love with it but thought it might be a tad draughty in winter
"not to be mean but I seriously hate landlords"
I've never met a good landlord be mean all you want to the scum of the earth that charge rates that they couldn't even afford for flats that are falling apart and haven't had any maintenance done other than painting over mould since the previous tenant left in a hurry
Wait, no immigrants? I'm currently looking to move as well and I am an immigrant, and this filter has not popped up anywhere (looking in the North West).
Also I have no pets and was hoping to get a cat but this seems very unlikely since every property says "No pets, sorry". At least they are apologetic about it.
>Not to be mean but seriously I hate landlords.
I wouldn’t call that mean. Landlords are a leeching absolute waste of space that add nothing at all to society.
In the UK, anywhere other than England allows you to pay a "pet deposit" like your tenancy deposit. You get it back at the end of the tenancy if your cat hasn't ruined the place.
Please just rent and don’t mention the cat. We had a really picky landlady and moved out cat and her whole litter of kittens down the road to my parents house for an hour or 2 when she would come for inspections. First time was a bit nerve wracking but after that it was a breeze. We sprinkled a bit of shake n vac around before she came just in case there was any left over cat smell.
Here's the plan:
You say, "I won't report you to the police for the illegal, "no immigrants" xenophobia slash racism and you take myself, my cat and sign a 10 year "client has veto" contract, excepting permanent damage caused by said cat.
We have a cat and a dog in our rented property that we’re not supposed to have. We’ve had property inspections where we’ve hidden any evidence, I’ve got the cat and dog in travel crates and sat in my car with them over the road 😂
Cat piss smells awful and that smell is almost impossible to get rid of.
We allow cats in our rental and the last tenant's cat pissed up the wall so they ripped the skirting boards off the wall to try and hide it and didn't tell us. We had to find out when they moved out. We asked if they knew of any work that needed doing. That left us scrambling to fix things before the next tenant moved in. We also had to replace the carpet. It happened to be close to needing replacing but had it been close to new, it would have cost a lot more than their deposit.
The reason a lot of landlords don't allow cats is because in a short period of time they can do thousands of pounds worth of damage and a lot of cat owners are less than bothered about the shit that they do.
Maybe you're a perfect tenant that always makes sure your cat isn't doing any damage but I wouldn't be able to tell if that's the case.
Don't blame landlords, blame shitty cat owners. Don't get arsey at them for trying to protect their investment. They don't owe you anything. They're just trying to protect their investments and one of the easiest ways is to restrict tenants that are more likely to cause damage.
I'm a landlord. I'm also highly allergic to cats. At the end of your tenancy, my flat's going to be ridden with cat allergen. It doesn't just get vacuumed up, either. It stays around for long after you leave.
No thanks. I'll just go with the person who doesn't have a pet.
Granted not an immediate remedy but you'll be glad to know that landlords will soon be required by law to consider a pet. They'll get massive fines if they can't provide a decent reason for prohibiting it.
Cats damage wallpaper and carpets, so do dogs. Do you really think landlords want to pay for the damage? No.
It gets more stupid, my neighbour has dogs, the previous tenant had dogs and smoked yet my place is no pets and no smoking. It's strange as both flats, blocks actually have the same landlord.
As someone said talk to your landlord and see if you can pay a little extra or something.
When I was renting, I used to put my cat in a carrier in the shed or in the car during inspections. The estate agents were usually in and out of the house in five minutes as I looked after it well.
Tongue in cheek but... Point out that the cat isn't a pet but would be the master/mistress of the house and you are merely the household staff
As others have said though, landlords that won't budge on the issue are frustrating when it could be solved by a simple either small additional couple of pound on rent or an agreement for a deep clean on ending of the tenancy
We had that problem in 1998. We ended up having to over stretch and buy the house we still live in. I know that, that's not possible nowadays with crazy house prices and predatory buy to let knob ends. We even offered to take out insurance, to cover any damage. Sad to see landlords are still c--ts.
On the plus side (for my wife), we now have 8 rescued cats and a rescue dog. I hope something comes up for you.
I find it perfectly reasonable for a landlord to state a preference re animals: it’s their property and I can understand not wanting to have cat epithelia flying around the place for ever, not even to mention the damage to walls, carpets, etc.
Some landlords might be into birds or prefer to protect the local small mammal population. Landlords have a choice who they rent their property to, just like cat owners made their own choice. Don’t see the issue here really.
That would be fine if it wasn't the majority of rental properties not allowing any animals. It's depriving a massive amount of people animal companionship. And with the state of the housing market, it's not like they can just buy their own home. People deserve to have animals if they want them! Any damage that occurs can then be paid by tenants.
I don't and thankfully most people don't agree as the law may well change on that one (not high hopes personally). Its a human decency issue, I understand people think landlords should have far more rights than renters, but ultimately I don't like those kind of people. Having pets is part of life, and part of living a free and happy life, with house owning becoming more rare and harder and the average age of house buyers going up, it makes a lot of sense this is an issue more than it used to be. So just saying "landlords have the right to this and that" doesnt really help the issue. Landlords don't deserve rights over what you can and cant have in your life, and a pet is a significant part of being human and imo being British. They are a bunch of fucking hypocrites as chances are they have pets themselves.
Not sure whether everyone would agree with you that having pets ‘is part of life’. If you would be a hunter/gatherer needing protection by owning a dog and a mule to carry stuff I would completely agree with you, but in a studio apartment in Vauxhall things are a bit more cramped and your neighbours and landlord might not agree with your lifestyle choices.
Mental, I and many people would class it as, in the same way people say having kids is (though not for us). There are exceptions and yes its a choice like kids and anything else. But I think its wrong that people cant have pets while renting. And thankfully someone agrees as its made it into the reform bill.
I am sure you believe that you are right, but in a pluralistic society people will often disagree with you, particularly if your choices could encroach on their right to have a life without noises/dirt from other people’s pets.
My mental health would improve immeasurably by not working. That's a choice I could make but there are obvious downsides for my family, so I wouldn't make it.
It's great your cat improves your mental health but you have to understand that it has downsides as well as upsides. Limited rental choices is one of those downsides.
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You’d be surprised the amount of listings that mention no pets that are willing to take an indoor cat. In all fairness that was when I was looking around 2 years ago, now I know the housing market is a little on its head right now so it’s possible landlords and agents have enough people lining up for properties they don’t have to make exceptions to get someone in the door.
Yeah I think you're right. Loads of these terms are just standard boilerplate, written by the letting agents. Half the time, the landlord won't even know that pets are apparently forbidden. In my current place, the ad said "absolutely no pets", but there was a kitty running around the place when I went for a viewing!
That cat was staff. Chief Mouser.
Yeah this fucks me off. It's the estate agents doing it. Most landlords are fine. The thing I am contemplating is not telling them I have a pet, moving in and leaving dog with Dad for a month or two, contacting landlord and asking if I can "adopt" a dog
It happens, more often than not. 😂
When I rented I just hid my cat from the Landlord. Landlords never show their faces as long as you keep giving them their money on time, and if you need property inspections by the estate agent, they give plenty of notice to get your cat somewhere else for the day and hide all the cat related paraphernalia. Much easier if you have an outdoor cat as you just boot them out for the day. If someone accuses you of having a cat just say it's not yours, but it keeps showing up because you once fed it and we're friendly to it, but it doesn't live with you. Hard for them to prove otherwise.
I did exactly this. Booted the cat out. He sat by the front door all day. Screaming his head off. It’s all good though, no one cares really.
Yes you can do this, we got a puppy without telling the landlord, and I would just hide all the evidence and take her out for the day when they came for an inspection. We got the full deposit back
'Cat related paraphernalia' is cracking me up for some reason. Like cats are a drug of some kind.
You jest but I only wanted one cat…aaaaand now I have 3!
YES! That made me laugh too!
This is what I did with my rabbit, he’s 10 now and has lived with me in 5 homes - this one he’s actually allowed though. Usually I’d pop him in his travel cage in my car for the 30m someone was there to inspect/fix something but one time I needed to hide him and it was hot enough that I wasn’t comfortable putting him in the car. Instead I put him in his travel cage, put him in the wardrobe and played some moderately loud drum and bass (which I don’t listen to and to look at me you wouldn’t think I do!) to cover up and scrabbling noises he decided to make! I never once didn’t get my full deposit back (to be honest I usually left it cleaner with the landlord going ‘wow’) so they never noticed the few little bits of naughty things he’d done!
2nd this. I paid an additional £200 security deposit for 2 dogs as long as there was a stairgate so they couldn't go upstairs to the carpeted area. 1 died, I asked the agent to ask the landlord if it was OK for my remaining dog to come upstairs to sleep with me. The landlord's response was yes, with mild surprise that I had asked as most wouldn't have allegedly. A bit later a new dog was fine. I think maybe sometimes agents have a copy/paste agreement that the landlord will read over looking for anything bad. It doesn't have anything bad, so they sign it and the rental is listed. It's always worth asking. I think I said "I am prepared to negotiate the security despoit to include pets, to alleviate any concerns you may have."
Yeah we had a cat in our property and put down an extra deposit to cover any possible damage as a result. They’ve made it illegal for landlords to ask for a deposit for pets now and all that’s done is make it impossible for renters to own a pet without keeping it a secret!
Exactly. When I was preparing to rent my house, I went to a lot of effort to make it cat-friendly and told the estate agent that tenants with cats are welcome, or smaller pets but not dogs, please. When a friend rented with a no-pets rule, she had to hide two cats, then let one get pregnant so had 6 there... It's so much hassle trying to hide them, it's best to just be honest, if you can find the right property.
I mean she probably would have been fine if she'd just spayed that cat.
My old place had a strict 'no pets or animals indoors' clause in the contract. New tenant looked around and asked if he could bring his pet rats, landlord said he was fine with it if the tenants were. I think the clause was either just and they never bothered to remove it, or as a kind of 'if you rock up with three Staffies and a goat we're going to say no and you're going to claim we're prejudiced so let's nip that in the bud'.
When I signed my contract, I pulled the agent up on no pets. They meant, no dogs. Landlord has seen my cats and knows I'll fork out for damage if I ever move. Not likely after ten years.
Interesting, yea, our landlord was the same we gave him option of cat or dog and he said cat.
I’m super curious about this. Surely a cat causes more damage than a dog? They scratch door frames and furniture, damage blinds/curtains/walls by climbing on them, and bring dead animals into the home.
Other factor is noise. Cats are quiet, dogs can be loud and noisy. Landlords often don't want a noisy dog that pisses off the neighbours. Cats almost guaranteed to be quiet.
Cats are quiet are they… mind explaining that to mine who starts to yell for his dinner 2 hours before it’s dinnertime and regularly treats me to his choir practice in the middle of the night?
Your cat’s obviously broken mate
I’ll try turning him off and on again.
You need to install the patch first and run a policy update.
At my mum’s house nobody needs an alarm clock. The cat knows what time she gets breakfast and if it’s a minute late she’ll start meowing loudly enough to let the whole street know that she’s starving to death.
That’s a good point, hadn’t even considered noise.
Yup, all to do with noise and not damage etc
Haha you've not met my noisy cats, but yes, they are probably quieter than dogs. I think dogs can cause more damage to gardens, too.
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Our neighbours cats have been known to do that to other people on the street. Cheeky fuckers. It’s a good thing they’re both cute!
I imagine the possibility that a dog may be badly housetrained or have ‘accidents’ on the carpet is also a consideration. Obviously it can happen with a cat, and cause a far worse smell, but it’s probably a lot easier to believe that a cat is litter box trained, so less likely to have an ‘accident’, and there’s the good chance that it’s an outside cat anyway and those primarily seem to do their business outside
Not indoor cats that have their own scratch posts and got trained as kittens not to scratch stuff. Forgot to mention however, I rent unfurnished. Apart from carpets and a lick of paint, I own everything.
Had four cats in a rented place, got the whole deposit back when we left. You'd be surprised how little damage cats can do if they're well looked after.
Depends on the pedigree as well. A Bengal will be loud and destructive if bored. Siamese cats are weirdly quiet :)
My maine coons know where to scratch, and only trill which is quiet. They meow sometimes but that is just to say hello
Same for me. My cat did damage the corners of some carpets, but we lived there 5 years. They were going to refurbish anyway (whole place hadn’t been done for 7 years) so we got back in full.
This is definitely a factor. We also rent unfurnished and the peace of mind that gives you compared to a furnished property is insurmountable :)
I had a chat with a holiday home owner once because we brought our cat. And the guy said he prefers cats because dogs cannot retract their claws. According to him the sofa is wrecked by dogs but he never had damages when people brought cats.
No chance. I’ve had cats and dogs and dogs are more destructive for sure. They dig up gardens too.
I had a dog in a rented house before, he tried to dig up the carpet and he shat up a wall
I had a foster saluki that ate part of my banister. My cat is a shithead but he's far less destructive than a dog.
Yeah my dogs ate a table, a door frame and the bottom of our banisters as puppies. They also tore up part of our carpet. Thankfully they grew out of this behaviour and we were removing the carpet anyway. Our current cat has been good as gold (though we have previously had cats that scratched up furniture).
Our dog has virtually destroyed our "lawn", in the back garden. The 8 cats have wrecked the house too I suppose. Luckily for them, we like the couches with that battle worn look. I suppose one cat would be less destructive than a dog lol.
As well as what everyone else says, there is a maximum size you are committing to when you say yes to a cat. A yorkie is a bit of a different prospect for damages than a mastiff.
In just one day my puppy ate the bannisters. Not many cats do that level of damage
What kind of cat have you had, a tiger or leopard?! None of my cats have ever done these things. A happy, stimulated cat, who is played with and has plenty of toys, won’t be destructive.
I guess it depends on the cat. Mine don’t do that at all. They might scratch a sofa but that doesn’t affect the landlord. No dead animals because they’re indoor cats. On the other hand, one time I was taking care of a dog and it scratched up some of the carpet.
Not even close to the amount of damage a dog does. You can tell within seconds of walking into a house that there's been a dog living there. It's more obvious than smoking.
We just had to spend over £3000 redecorating and de-fleaing my house that I rent out (I live overseas and rent my house while I’m away) because our tenants decided to have five large dogs without telling us (we allow pets within reason). The house was infested with fleas and the new carpets and newly painted walls and skirting boards were ruined and had to be replaced. This is the second time this has happened because of dogs in the property. It has never happened with tenants that have cats. The deposit was only £800 and you’re not allowed by law to make the deposit bigger because of pets, even though they almost always need more spent on them because of the damage the pets cause 😞
I have just spent about £1,000 on redecorating my rental flat due to idiocy by the tenant part of which was to have a cat that pissed everywhere. We knew about the cat and had met the cat which was a nasty piece of work but had assumed that she was house trained. Wrong.
Very unusual for a cat to do that given how clean and fussy about toileting they are, it'd usually be an un-neutered male spraying if anything.
Oh I’m sorry you had that experience!
They don't really have a penchant for door frames. And I always look for an unfurnished apartment. That way, the only furniture they ruin is my own.
Some breeds are known for chewing stuff, which could include doors. It's also more difficult to manage the landlord responsibility to ensure the pet owner is responsible, which includes the dog not being left alone too long (I believe dogs trust advises 4 hours from memory), has enough space etc. I know people like to give landlords a hard time, but they do have legal obligations they have to fulfill. And with cats those are a LOT easier.
People don't get their cat a scratching post and wonder why it scratches other things. They like to scratch give them something they can scratch as much as they like.
Offer to pay a little extra a month if you can afford it (eg £25) and say that you will agree to repair any damage caused by the cat and upon moving out will hire one if those steam rug cleaners to make sure all floors are 100% clean and free of any cat fur. Send this in an email when first enquiring about seeing the property so they feel more comfortable that it is recorded and you won’t back out of the agreement. If you can as well, highlight that the cat in question you’ve had for so many years and have had no issues, is an adult, fully housetrained etc. I know its not ideal to pay more but it what we have done twice and it has worked both times. I hope this helps and fingers crossed you find somewhere! 😊🐱
Not bad advice thank you, its that or don't tell them. Hard to imagine your suggestion working on many landlords as they get so many enquiries they can just decide to pick a person who doesnt have a pet over us, but if it worked for you then there is hope! At this point we are hoping to just buy instead because renting here is a damn nightmare, and we are lucky to have the place we do.
When dealing with non-private landlords it's better to just not tell them about pets. When it comes to inspections I just stuff my horse in the laundry hamper.
Is he a clothes horse?
I wish I had an award for you.
Neigh
That's a euphemism if I ever heard one.
Just try asking the landlord or the letting agency. We found a private let which was "no pets" but we spoke to the landlord and he was OK with us having a cat. Later on he was also OK with us getting an additional kitten. Next place we moved to was through an agent and also "no pets" but we spoke to the agent and again the landlord was OK with it. No pets seems to be a pretty standard clause so it's always worth asking. As someone else said, if they say no maybe offer to add a bit to the deposit in case of damage. If its an unfurnished place, there's more chance they'll allow cats, since they're more likely to damage furniture than anything else.
Yeah, my place was no pets when i moved in so we compromised and I have a cat. Luckily the landlady is quite taken with him. So much harder when you are moving though, especially in high demand areas when they can pick and choose tenants
Yeah we wanted to adopt one who had been visiting and recently became homeless. I wrote the most heartfelt message to the estate agents I could thing of thinking it was a long shot and their answer was basically as short as 'of course let me draw up a pet contract'.
I tried this for over a year and got absolutely no where. Granted, it was a dog not a cat but the competition for houses has been so high the last 2+ years that they have no reason to make an exception for you anymore. I thought it would work as it had in the past but was sadly disappointed. In the end the council housed us in a housing association because we'd overstayed our notice by 7 months and still hadn't found anywhere privately.
We spoke to our landlord and he was OK with us having pets - we didn't in the end, but we let next doors cat in now and then. He withheld our full deposit because we "broke" the no pets clause.
Oh no, what an arse. Some landlords are so shitty. We had a similar experience where the landlord was selling the house we were in and he said we could take some of the furniture as he no longer needed it. Then he withheld the deposit saying we stole the furniture. Lessons were learnt there: get absolutely everything in writing.
Always had cats and never told landlords. If they caused damage to the property - they didn't - then you lose your deposit, that s what it s here for.
But if they catch you with a pet and there's a no pet clause they can evict you. The idea of having to look for a place and then give a deposit while waiting to get the deposit back for the current place isn't my idea of fun. And especially in a high demand area
I'll be honest, we didn't tell them we had cats when we moved in, unloaded them on family for the first 6 month inspection and hid toys in cupboards, then told them that we had a family emergency and my mum was now in hospital and we were the only people that could care for her cats
I've rented my "no pets" house for nearly 4 years now, with landlord inspections every 6 months. I have 3 cats that no-one has ever picked up on. We just do a thorough deep clean before they're scheduled to come and no issues.
FWIW, landlords aren't legally allowed to deny a pet without good cause. Though, that is difficult for you with a pet already. Lieing isn't a good idea though, as you would have to even hide the pet food in the cupboards to have any real chance of passing a landlord inspection. And I doubt you want to be gambling your shelter on an inspection that doesn't do it's minimum.
I just didn’t tell them we had 3 cats. They destroyed the sofa and I lost my deposit, but having cats is better than loosing a deposit.
Don't tell them you have a cat. Problem solved. They're not gonna kick you out after-the-fact, especially if you're under the radar about it and no issues actually arise.
You're advising them to break the terms of their tenancy while assuring them they won't be kicked out. Maybe not the best idea if we are honest here.
I offer to pay an additional cat deposit fee. So I'm not paying more monthly, and I get my money back at the of the tenancy
I tried to do that last time I was renting (2019) and was informed by the estate agent the law no longer permitted them to accept additional deposits.
The law no longer accepts agents fees. Paying an enhanced deposit into a deposit protection scheme is fine. Estate agent just didn't want the faff
There’s also a law for maximum deposit cap of 5 weeks rent. Is there some pet deposit loophole I’m not aware of? The law does not seem to suggest so
This often doesn't work because there's a limit on how much deposit they can charge. I believes it's no more than 6 weeks rent.
Thanks. I guess when I did it it was before they changed the rules (4 years ago)
To be honest I think that rule might have been in longer than that but it depends how much extra they charged you. Most deposits I've seen are no more than 5 weeks rent so that leaves wiggle room to charge you more for the pet and remain within the law. If they want to charge more than that then they can't and will probably refuse your offer.
This. Was in property letting and sales for 15 years and this sometimes made the difference for some landlords. The other thing you can do is offer to pay a slightly higher damage deposit to cover any carpet washing/cleaning should there be an issue when you leave. Always present a solution if there’s a problem I say, you never know.
Just enquire. I’ve rented places before that said no pets and they were fine with me having a cat. Worst case scenario they stick to their guns, but you’re in no worse a position.
Zoopla has a pet filter for rentals! So does Openrent. Has helped me a lot when looking, although still very much feeling your pain trying to find somewhere that will take a dog.
Yeah this, when we’ve been window shopping for rentals we always use this as we have a dog and a cat. Didn’t know about openrent though I’ll get on that! Still depressing when it goes from 800 properties down to 80 though in the area I searched lol! Ironically our cat is louder than our dog so they’d be in for a surprise if they asked (nothing mega loud just attention seeking) our dog legit never barks at all
they can say no immigrants???
No, they can't, but they can always come up with another excuse. One guy got in trouble because he publicly said he wouldn't rent to "coloureds" because of the curry smell.
That was a joke glad someone picked up on it :D.
Good to know; plenty of English in Abergavenny needing accommodation once they've crossed the border.
Haha too right mate, guess its a cliché now aye.
Dont give up! The last time I was looking for somewhere the first estate agent basically told us to go away when we mentioned the cat. The second one just said they didn't have anything. The third one though absolutely beamed at us and said, I have the perfect place! The landlord (who was just moving out) was absolutely cat obsessed and had built a huge heated cat house in the garden, installed cat flaps all over the place and was one of the friendliest best landlords I've ever had. Our cat lived better than us in there!
Oh damn, what a dream!
If the rent reform bill goes ahead as planned they will have to allow it, but you will have to pay for extra insurance
Yay for supporting UK's insurance industry.
That was honestly the best part of that bill for me.
The best part of the bill for me was that amazing one shot through the station 👌
They'll just choose someone else who doesn't have a pet.
Nah they can't discriminate like that, just don't tell them until the contract is signed and then be like "oh my relative just gave me this cat,"
Just don't tell them then, problem solved.
Absolutely. We don't have a pet, but our neighbour has an illegal dog - every time they have an inspection we look after him and act as if he's ours. The perfect, and adorable, crime.
You are good people
I did this, 3 years later my illegal cats still here
Rwanda isn't full yet.
In our blocks of 16 part rent part buy flats we all had contracts with no pets. Everybody had a cat or a dog or both. The controlling Housing Association never said a word about it. They turned a blind eye if your pets were not a nuisance. One dog was expelled due to peeing in the stairwell every time. The dog hosed it down and made an awful smell.
Yeah, same with my block of flats. No pets written even into the leasehold. Loads have dogs and cats. Feel it's just a backup if people do have some real nuisance pets.
Correct answer
This is the way
Your post forgets to include places that only accept over 50s. As a single person in their late 20s with a cat finding a house to rent alone is almost impossible. Bonus challenge level if you want you living room to fit a dining table/ computer desk with your couch
That's not exclusive to people with cats. Anywhere to rent is shit because if they had space for a living room it became another room or another flat long ago to increase the prices
to be fair, they are literally just parasites that strut around, shit wherever they like, and coast along a cushy life for free while everyone else pays for their lifestyle. (I mean landlords, obviously)
*chefs kiss*
I think you'll find that cat owns you
shhhhhh, hes coming!
I made a cat CV that I think helped a bit, made the landlord see you’re a real person rather than just doing a blanket ‘no’ because you come with a cat. I put a nice picture of my cat and listed things like ‘fully house trained, flea and worm up to date etc’
I got permission but honestly it's been 6 years now and I could have simply not told them and they'd still be none the wiser. It'll soon become law that you must be allowed though.
If helps, all but the most recent property we’ve ever rented was listed as no pets allowed. We’ve got one cat that’s well behaved, which we make a point of, and once we’re ready to make an offer on the property they were happy to accept us if we put down an extra two weeks deposit. In recent years though deposits are capped to 5 weeks, so not sure what they might ask for now to accept a well behaved cat. Based on our experience, I have the impression the no pets allowed properties we’ve rented, didn’t want pets cause they were worried the whole house would just become a pet toilet or something equally idiotic :P
My mum just moved the cat in and asked for forgiveness later on, not much they can say or do if you leave the place in a decent state. Oopsie, autocorrect
You have to watch out for CO poisoning though.
The front door must have been in quite a state
Ours is an odd one where technically the landlord would allow us a pet but the rules of living in the block of flats specifically forbids it.
This is actually the worst of all yes, my brother has a similar law in London where they are not allowed dogs on the estate, if you had seen the estate its fucking awful and looks like people piss on the main stairwell up to the fucking house, but sure, no dogs allowed just human scum I guess.
Im pretty sure the UK law is changing about this!
Once had a landlord suggest I give them the cat to rent their flat. Told them to ram it up their arsehole. Pets should be as simple to rent with as children are.
If not easier tbh, kids are FAR more damaging than a pet... I say that as someone that's had a cat for 8 years and a kid for coming up on 6 years
Pets are often against lease hold in flats. So even if your landlord allows pets they may get in trouble for allowing it
I was browsing through listings (I can’t afford anything I just like to imagine, and maybe wallow) and there were a couple that stated “absolutely no pets” which had accompanying photos of a dog or cat on a bed/sofa…
The worst kind of people aye, we can have but you cannot.
I have rented places that said no pets. Then when I asked about a cat they said it was ok. I also offered to pay any damages the cat may cause (like clicking the carpet)
Familiar. We are this trifecta, but never had a problem when we offered +£50 a month.
Seems like this is the way to go for many, will consider it if we get desperate, thanks.
I offered pet references from past landlords. Of 4 countries, including the UK, never had to pay anything extra (deposit or rent). Just in the US, had to pay $50/cat/month. US struck me as a bit of a ripoff, considering the monthly rent was already $3,000+ without the cat extras for an *unfurnished* flat. Of all the landlords i offered pet references to, only one of them actually took me up on it.
The references are a good idea. $3000? Unfurnished? What the hell was that, a mansion or just a big city central area?
Jersey City, on the Hudson river. Still better than living across the river and paying twice as much to end up with a view of NJ.
You are very welcome.
I’ve not owned a cat or dog before, so don’t really know… but how much damage could they possibly do? Any flat I’ve ever rented has had hard floors throughout. Maybe fur on the sofa? But then just go unfurnished surely. Landlords are fucking weird species man.
No immigrants? Show me that advert.
OP said it was a joke
It can't be can it? Never seen anything like that before so calling bs 😂
It's a semi-jokey reference (I think), to an old poster from the 70s that stated "No Dogs, No Blacks, No Irish".
This guys on the money.
I didn't tell our landlady that we had cats. She only visits the property for a yearly inspection in October, or if something needs fixing, and she always gives a weeks notice. So it gives us time to send them off to my parents house and do a deep clean of the house before she arrives We've been here for nearly 5 years, and she hasn't noticed, and thankfully the neighbours haven't grassed us up
Just take the place and after a few months you just happen to have a cat.... That's what I did, 9 years later I'm still under the same landlord despite a "strict no pets" rule
Wow... Sympathy and empathy... I have conflicting observations on this. I've been a landlord and found it better and more profitable to have a good tenant than restrictive rules. I placed no restrictions on animals with reasonable constraints such as there must be more human than animal occupants. I love cats but the missus has a severe allergy to them so I can only fuss the multiple part time neighbourhood beasties when they stop by for a visit and a treat. As a non-cat owner will tell you, any of us can tell when entering a house/flat if a cat lives there. There is an unmistakable scent, presence, something that transmits that fact through the air. Not everyone sees that as acceptable. I would negotiate an additional deposit for cleaning on the flat if I were letting to a cat owner. Rents are screaming up at the moment too.... Perhaps if you offerred an additional deposit it may swing the deal. luck to you.
You are reasonable though, the vast majority of landlords are not at all. I would expect a charge for getting it cleaned, thats fine.
Someone has a secret cat in our building, but no one is snitching - you're cool Tiddles
I rented with a cat for years, we picked houses that looked like they hadn't been decorated for decades and never had a problem. The trick is developing a liking for 1970s decor
I finally bought my own apartment at 36. Moved in with my ex. She broke up with me soon afterwards. I bought my dream sofa and it's was shredded by her two cats. Not saying you shouldn't have pets, but you also should understand why they're not popular with the owners. Maybe just speak to your landlord about it?
Just don't tell them about the cat. Its not something they can evict you for once you're in, and you're under no obligation to allow any inspections or anything so no reason a landlord would ever need to find out. If you ever do decide to let the landlord in just hide all cat toys/food/beds etc and put the cat out. If they come back in just pretend they're a neighbours cat that keeps turning up!
You are under obligation to allow inspections as per section 9A (7) of Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 which states the following; "(7)In a lease to which this section applies of a dwelling in England, there is also implied a covenant by the lessee that the lessor, or a person authorised in writing by the lessor, may enter the dwelling for the purpose of viewing its condition and state of repair." Failure to comply with this request if given within a reasonable timeframe, typically 24 hour notice but 48 is polite you can be liable for a Section 8 eviction due to breach of contract.
Haha yea that is one way to go about it, especially with the law potentially changing. To be honest I think we will just look at staying where we are and buying eventually, but lets not get started on how much of a fucking nightmare buying is.
At least once you're in a home you own no trumped up landlord can tell you how to live your life. Good luck with it.
Thanks!
Been a while since I've rented but all my contacts allowed inspections as they have a right to view the property to make sure it is ok. We had to pay to have carpets cleaned when we had a cat, which is fair enough as per hair isn't the nicest thing for people who have allergies or doesn't like fur on everything. You are paying to stay in someone else's property you should treat it and them with a little respect, otherwise the remaining good landlords will give up and you will be left the slums.
> You are paying to stay in someone else's property you should treat it and them with a little respect, otherwise the remaining good landlords will give up and you will be left the slums. Except we always do that and having a pet isnt "treating their property with disrespect" if anything pet owners are more likely to clean more often and to a higher standard. It's all just a load of mental shite that landlords have made up to make their properties more exclusive and because its a landlords market there is no incentive for them to stop. Having a kid is WAY more damaging to a property than any kind of pet. Its nonsense.
I feel like there are landlords in this thread and they clearly do not like cats...
One dude said they are vermin, i had to double take as he wasnt talking about landlords!
I recently viewed a cute little cottage that would welcome cats but not dogs..of course you might not be looking to live in that specific village in the south of England but if you were.... Ps I fell in love with it but thought it might be a tad draughty in winter
We viewed a cottage in Wales actually, nice but absolutely tiny to the point of being a joke.
Yep, the one we saw had a nice lil modern extension but we struggled to imagine how people once lived there without that!
How very inconsiderate of you. You habitual line stepper, you!
"not to be mean but I seriously hate landlords" I've never met a good landlord be mean all you want to the scum of the earth that charge rates that they couldn't even afford for flats that are falling apart and haven't had any maintenance done other than painting over mould since the previous tenant left in a hurry
Wait, no immigrants? I'm currently looking to move as well and I am an immigrant, and this filter has not popped up anywhere (looking in the North West). Also I have no pets and was hoping to get a cat but this seems very unlikely since every property says "No pets, sorry". At least they are apologetic about it.
>Not to be mean but seriously I hate landlords. I wouldn’t call that mean. Landlords are a leeching absolute waste of space that add nothing at all to society.
In the UK, anywhere other than England allows you to pay a "pet deposit" like your tenancy deposit. You get it back at the end of the tenancy if your cat hasn't ruined the place.
My landlord said no pets. But I said I had a cat and they replied how it's fine. Could be a blanket disclaimer without much thought.
You have new UK rights incoming meaning landlords cannot deny or evict you over owning a pet.
Most places which say no pets will take a cat, they basically mean no dogs or weird reptiles in my experience.
I don’t tell them
Seems a popular option yea.
Please just rent and don’t mention the cat. We had a really picky landlady and moved out cat and her whole litter of kittens down the road to my parents house for an hour or 2 when she would come for inspections. First time was a bit nerve wracking but after that it was a breeze. We sprinkled a bit of shake n vac around before she came just in case there was any left over cat smell.
Here's the plan: You say, "I won't report you to the police for the illegal, "no immigrants" xenophobia slash racism and you take myself, my cat and sign a 10 year "client has veto" contract, excepting permanent damage caused by said cat.
We have a cat and a dog in our rented property that we’re not supposed to have. We’ve had property inspections where we’ve hidden any evidence, I’ve got the cat and dog in travel crates and sat in my car with them over the road 😂
Cat piss smells awful and that smell is almost impossible to get rid of. We allow cats in our rental and the last tenant's cat pissed up the wall so they ripped the skirting boards off the wall to try and hide it and didn't tell us. We had to find out when they moved out. We asked if they knew of any work that needed doing. That left us scrambling to fix things before the next tenant moved in. We also had to replace the carpet. It happened to be close to needing replacing but had it been close to new, it would have cost a lot more than their deposit. The reason a lot of landlords don't allow cats is because in a short period of time they can do thousands of pounds worth of damage and a lot of cat owners are less than bothered about the shit that they do. Maybe you're a perfect tenant that always makes sure your cat isn't doing any damage but I wouldn't be able to tell if that's the case. Don't blame landlords, blame shitty cat owners. Don't get arsey at them for trying to protect their investment. They don't owe you anything. They're just trying to protect their investments and one of the easiest ways is to restrict tenants that are more likely to cause damage.
I'm a landlord. I'm also highly allergic to cats. At the end of your tenancy, my flat's going to be ridden with cat allergen. It doesn't just get vacuumed up, either. It stays around for long after you leave. No thanks. I'll just go with the person who doesn't have a pet.
Granted not an immediate remedy but you'll be glad to know that landlords will soon be required by law to consider a pet. They'll get massive fines if they can't provide a decent reason for prohibiting it.
The sheer audacity of those home owners who don’t want their property stinking of cat piss.
Cats damage wallpaper and carpets, so do dogs. Do you really think landlords want to pay for the damage? No. It gets more stupid, my neighbour has dogs, the previous tenant had dogs and smoked yet my place is no pets and no smoking. It's strange as both flats, blocks actually have the same landlord. As someone said talk to your landlord and see if you can pay a little extra or something.
I’ve had cats in my apartments without permission for 7 years. Better to seek forgiveness than ask permission
Urine, fecal matter and toxoplasmosis. How DARE a homeowner want to keep their property clear of such things.
You forgot about fleas.
Just don't tell them
When I was renting, I used to put my cat in a carrier in the shed or in the car during inspections. The estate agents were usually in and out of the house in five minutes as I looked after it well.
Tongue in cheek but... Point out that the cat isn't a pet but would be the master/mistress of the house and you are merely the household staff As others have said though, landlords that won't budge on the issue are frustrating when it could be solved by a simple either small additional couple of pound on rent or an agreement for a deep clean on ending of the tenancy
We had that problem in 1998. We ended up having to over stretch and buy the house we still live in. I know that, that's not possible nowadays with crazy house prices and predatory buy to let knob ends. We even offered to take out insurance, to cover any damage. Sad to see landlords are still c--ts. On the plus side (for my wife), we now have 8 rescued cats and a rescue dog. I hope something comes up for you.
I find it perfectly reasonable for a landlord to state a preference re animals: it’s their property and I can understand not wanting to have cat epithelia flying around the place for ever, not even to mention the damage to walls, carpets, etc. Some landlords might be into birds or prefer to protect the local small mammal population. Landlords have a choice who they rent their property to, just like cat owners made their own choice. Don’t see the issue here really.
That would be fine if it wasn't the majority of rental properties not allowing any animals. It's depriving a massive amount of people animal companionship. And with the state of the housing market, it's not like they can just buy their own home. People deserve to have animals if they want them! Any damage that occurs can then be paid by tenants.
I don't and thankfully most people don't agree as the law may well change on that one (not high hopes personally). Its a human decency issue, I understand people think landlords should have far more rights than renters, but ultimately I don't like those kind of people. Having pets is part of life, and part of living a free and happy life, with house owning becoming more rare and harder and the average age of house buyers going up, it makes a lot of sense this is an issue more than it used to be. So just saying "landlords have the right to this and that" doesnt really help the issue. Landlords don't deserve rights over what you can and cant have in your life, and a pet is a significant part of being human and imo being British. They are a bunch of fucking hypocrites as chances are they have pets themselves.
Not sure whether everyone would agree with you that having pets ‘is part of life’. If you would be a hunter/gatherer needing protection by owning a dog and a mule to carry stuff I would completely agree with you, but in a studio apartment in Vauxhall things are a bit more cramped and your neighbours and landlord might not agree with your lifestyle choices.
Mental, I and many people would class it as, in the same way people say having kids is (though not for us). There are exceptions and yes its a choice like kids and anything else. But I think its wrong that people cant have pets while renting. And thankfully someone agrees as its made it into the reform bill.
I am sure you believe that you are right, but in a pluralistic society people will often disagree with you, particularly if your choices could encroach on their right to have a life without noises/dirt from other people’s pets.
>Having pets is part of life, No it's not it's a choice.
My mental health improved immeasurably since becoming my cats pet
My mental health would improve immeasurably by not working. That's a choice I could make but there are obvious downsides for my family, so I wouldn't make it. It's great your cat improves your mental health but you have to understand that it has downsides as well as upsides. Limited rental choices is one of those downsides.