What's the deal with renting and pets?

[piccolo]

I'm starting to think that Perth is not very pet-friendly? We have a small dog (pug) that we want to bring with us and anytime I do a rental search with "pets allowed", I get 0 results!! Will we find something we like that will take pets? Starting to worry.

We're looking at 3x2x2 NOR around Osborne Park and surrounding suburbs.

[ali]

It's a long time since we rented but there are less properties that take pets, you will have to pay a pet bond in addition to the other bond. I don't think it's that Perth is not pet friendly, just that property owners especially short term ones want to reduced the chances of property damage due to animals

[jackboots]

we have rented three houses in seperate suburbs since living in Perth , most don't specify if pets allowed if they say NO still ask anyway .. give the age of the dog and breed state behavior and get a letter from a previous lanlord or vet even ...
Tbh if you pass and are willing to pay a pet bond or as we did on our first rental pay extra on the rent per week .. some are willing .
I have to admit when we were renting our house in the uk i said no to pets unless i was asked and vetted age etc ..i'm afraid the minority give the majority a bad name :( as Ali stated damage to house carperts, digging up lawns etc all have to be put right at cost ..
I also told the agents my daughter was likley to do more damage than my dog !! Much to my Husbands horror ... she thought i was joking i wasn't .

[Druid]

I'm starting to think that Perth is not very pet-friendly? We have a small dog (pug) that we want to bring with us and anytime I do a rental search with "pets allowed", I get 0 results!! Will we find something we like that will take pets? Starting to worry.

We're looking at 3x2x2 NOR around Osborne Park and surrounding suburbs.

Basically, it sucks, we have just been through it, its hard work, give up trying to search 'Pet Friendly' with the likes of Reiwa search engine, find the suburb you want and scroll through each listing, if it doesnt say 'NO PETS' then ask, most agents wont even bother to reply to your e mail, dont get me started on agents, you have to do the viewing to get the application ask at the viewing, but be prepared for 20 or so people at the viewing all trying to find somewhere to live with pets, also the cleanliness and standard of property declines as soon as they say 'pet friendly' we found a couple of really nice pet friendly places, but didnt get them, some of the houses had really neglected overgrown gardens, some of the nicer houses had no gardens, we have a giant 2YO golden retreiver puppy by the way, we even tried to go up market a bit to get away from the crowds, it did work, there were less people at the viewings to compete with, problem is we are new here, no references etc, twice we were told by agents that we were second on the list, IF the successfull applicant declined or the references werent good.

I have been told the rental market is much better now, apparently a few years ago there was a shortage of property, and the property let was auctioned to the highest bidder at the viewing.

Good luck

[jackboots]

Just to say it can be done ... ive had 3 really nice rentals in leeming Older / clean , Kalamunda Older /clean and Baldivis New /clean on leaving two we were thanked by the agents and have had full bond back , and the 3rd we were asked by the carpet sprayers ( pest control ) which you have to have done after renting with pets why we were leaving the house and were we renting it out as it awas so nice .. no we had just rented it for 6 months and also got the full bond back ... they are out there :) Also saying... what we would rent was not what we wanted to buy as a home ! .. so be prepared to think outside the box i:e if the garden is a tad small or the toilet is in the utility etc , Just take photos of every thing and all things sign that are wrong and get them signed by the agent .. put everything in writing and email .. none of it gets lost then backup every word and writing ! and i suppose leave it as you would want your own home to be left :)

[Druid]

I would imagine its get easier the longer you have been here and have references etc, we have secured a rental now, its a fairly new house with a small garden, but lots of parkland around the estate, it was bloody hard and frustrating getting it, we could have done with more garden for the pooch, but we ended up taking it as it was the first one we were offered after viewing 10 or so.

[jackboots]

I think it is hard to get rentals we have been lucky .. but always ask even if they say no pets :)

[Druid]

I think it is hard to get rentals we have been lucky .. but always ask even if they say no pets :)

You try getting the buggers to talk to you, we even went into the offices and asked the receptionist to talk to the advertised agent, the receptionist asked what it was about, made a note of the question and our phone number, told us the agent was busy and she would call us with the answer, 1 out of 6 called us, I tried e-mailing from Reiwa and the likes, 1 out of 10 bothered to reply, the same happened with the viewings, we would phone to arrange a viewing as per the bloody advert online or in the newspaper, couldnt get past the receptionist, then the agent doesnt call you to let you know when the viewings are, some of the viewings are not ven advertised.

Like I said above, 'Dont get me started on agents'

[piccolo]

oh my God guys.....it sounds like a nightmare trying to deal with agents and secure a rental, even without pets!! We won't have references as we own our home here in Ireland and will be newly landed in Perth when we start looking. That looks like it means we will have a nightmare?!

We have relatives living in joondanna already, is there anything they could be doing for us while we await a visa?

[ali]

Other than look at areas for you, if they can secure you a rental then you'll have to start paying for it which will be money down the drain. They could start going into the real estate agents for you (some are nice) and make themselves known, they may be able to give you a heads up on when property becomes available.