pets and rental properties

My girlfriend and I will be moving soon, as I’m starting graduate school in central North Carolina. We’re having some – um – difficulty figuring out what kind of living arrangements we’ll be able to get.

Right now we own a home, which we’re in the process of fixing up and getting on the market to sell. But I’m still a student and she’s not been working long, at this point, so we won’t be in a position to buy a home again.

So we thought we’d rent an apartment or a house, but … we have four cats and a fifty-pound mutt. There does not seem to be any apartment that will accommodate that, and even the rental townhomes we’ve been able to find any information on are pretty iffy on that point. (It was very disheartening to call places earlier and find, over and over again, a two pet limit.)

Does anyone have any advice – any people to talk to, any search sites to look up? It’s not possible to give up any pets; if worse came to worse I’d just go myself for a while

Edit: I should note that we’re not on any particular budgetary constraint, and would be willing to be ripped off, as it were, if we could find an offer acceptable otherwise.

This might be helpful.

Check your local laws. They may not be within their rights to put a two-pet limit on you. In my jurisdiction (Toronto? Ontario?) they can’t put “no pets” in the lease (or evict you for having pets). That doesn’t mean they won’t try, so you need to know your rights.

If in fact they are not permitted to ban or limit pets, you just don’t have to tell them when you move in. In jurisdictions like mine the tenant does not have a legal obligation to tell. They can take you to the tribunal to try to get you out, but if their only reason is your pets, they will lose.

The risk is (a) having an uncomfortable relationship with your landlord, and (b) your pets causing damage you may have to pay for.

IANAL. ymmv. etc.

I’ve got three fairly good-sized dogs, and I found that in some ways, it made rental hunting easier. All I had to do was call a prospective landlord up and say, “I’ve got three dogs- is that a problem?”

I managed to cut through my list pretty quickly that way.

Hey, thanks: had no idea that existed. There are a couple good leads, too.

Would that were the case! Where I’m going (in the US, for what it’s worth) isn’t quite so convenient for pet lovers in search of places to live.

Heh. For some values of “easy”, I suppose. Less time making small talk. :slight_smile: It’s pretty much what I’ve been doing: “Hi, I’ll be moving into the area soon and have three cats and a forty-pound dog: what’s your policy on that?”

(Oh, yeah, it’s really four cats and a fifty or fifty-five pound dog. But I figure I’ll have to lie some and may as well get it over with early. We have two torties, and they kinda look alike if you squint.)

One rather unconventional way of finding a rental property that welcomes pets is to ask a local pet rescue group for recommendations. My husband and I own a small rental house in a nearby town, and we are also volunteers in an animal adoption organization. We have a house full of cats and dogs ourselves, and we are the pet-friendliest landlords imaginable. A few years ago when our rental house was vacant, we interviewed some potential renters who had emailed our pet rescue group for advice on finding a house that would accept large dogs.

Since you said that you aren’t under bugetary strain, I’ve always had good luck with offering to give two months’ rent as security deposit. This lets the landlord know that you consider the pets your problem, and understand the property owner’s reasons for wanting to limit the pets. It also gives them enough $$ in hand to recarpet after you leave if the animals get out of control and you take off.

The way that I have made this work is by calling places and arranging apartment tours, asking only ‘do you allow pets’ and taking their answer of ‘yes, one cat’ or ‘dogs 25 lbs and under’ etc as an opening for security-deposit bargaining if you really like the place. Key phrases when you are there with the landlord are “wow, I really like this place, and I’d like to sign a lease today” coupled with “well, I do have (describe pets here), but they are used to apartment living and I am more than willing to give you a larger than normal deposit to cover the additonal risk.” Remember, even in a tight rental market, a landlord does want to get a lease signed today with you rather than next week with someone else…

As an aside, I’ve also used the ‘double security deposit’ tactic for other reasons- the first time was when my boyfriend and I moved in together in a studio apartment when I went to college for the first time- the landlord was gunshy about the setup, claiming that he had had couples break up during the school year and break the lease. We had extra $$ in the bank from my graduation gifts and the apartment was cheaper than we had expected, so I was able to just cut him a juicy check and have done with the skepticism. I ended up getting it back, too at the end of the year by subletting it for the last 60 days to another student, who paid the 2 months’ rent to me, and I had the landlord do the inspection before I left and basiclly twisted his arm in to keeping that deposit as the rent for the 2-month sublease. I know this wasn’t strictly legal, but in my mind it was win-win-win; I got to leave without getting cheated of the deposit, the subleaser got an apartment for the summer, and the landlord didn’t have to advertise the place (the subleaser stayed for the next year.) I was pretty proud, but my results were in no way typical, in general I kiss a good portion of my deposit goodbye no matter how nice I keep the place. In my experience landlords consider the deposit check a signing bonus.

Even in the US there are laws about renting and pets. In Massachusetts, for instance, they can not ask for a pet deposit. Check up on city and state laws, they may surprise you. Also, if you are renting a house, they may have much less of a problem. Not that I have pets, but from other people I know.