Hubby and I live in a flat with our jack russell pup. It's been ok and she has not destroyed anything. She's been pretty calm and lazy actually! lol but she loves being outside. When we went to his parent's house and they have this massive garden and she(dog) loved it!was always outside and slept most of the day hahaha. So we want to rent a house in swindon within the next year or so. I've been looking at ads and it's pretty disheartening seeing NO PETS in almost every single ad.. Agencies are pretty useless anyways since they don't allow you to contact the landlord directly.. So we will most likely have to go through private landlords in newspapers, gumtree and that.

To those who rent houses or have rented with dogs, how difficult was it? I am all for giving landlord a bigger deposit.

Thanks!

we spent the best part of a year looking for house that we were allowed pets in, and in the end having a dog only added £100 to the deposit

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Harvey - staffy
Chance - american bulldog (rescue)

19 snakes, 5 geckos, phibs, T's, inverts, fluffies and hedgehog.

well we started renting in feb , through an agent.
when we looked round a woman lived here with her great dane lol
we got max in the april . we actually got max before we asked , however we asked when they said they wanted to do an inpecsion lol the agents asked the landlord and he said yes

i believe the landlords have a dog aswell so may help to find doggy people

We rented through a not very good agency and were good tenants before - the house was falling down (after we left the next tenant in the flat fell through the loft staircase (was 2 story) and broke their pelvis - good tenants counted as those who paid the rent, didn't do a runner or trash the place!

our landlord knew we were OK and as we didn't see him from one month to the next we didn't actually ask him; not a good way to go about it! but he was fine, just glad he had some good tenants in.

I rented a flat some years ago with my three dogs. The landlord and agent met the dogs, saw they were obedient and friendly so ok'd it. I had to pay an extra deposit and on the quarterly checks, I had to accompany the agent around the flat as the dogs wouldn't let them in!

The flat was a ground floor with access to a secure garden and the garden needed attention when we left, but other than that, everyone was happy.

I now own and rent a property through an agent, and I have said I would allow pets - it is STANDARD practice to have a paragraph saying "no pets" and non smokers, no children etc. but, it is your human right to have a pet, smoke a fag and have a child and as a landlord, there is very little I can do to stop this, I can terminate the tenancy but that is all I can do.

I hope this is of some help. Choose your properties' wisely, try not to look at fully furnished, or listed buildings, or antique furniture - shop around, you'll be surprised what you can get if you know your rights.

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Remember, winners never quit and quitters never win!

Even if the ad states no pets, it's always worth asking the agent if the landlord would reconsider if you pay extra deposit. Many of these restrictions are put on without much thought to how many potential tenants they exclude. And the bottom line is they want to get a tenant in asap.

When I moved into my last rented place, I had a cat and the landlord seemed shocked I even asked if it was OK as he had no problems with it at all. After many years I ran out of cats and got a dog - didn't ask but as I had security of tenure, I'd been there more than 20 years and we had become friends. He knew me to be responsible, he was fine with it as long as she didn't worry his livestock (it was on a farm). I left around a year ago when I bought my own place, and I still go to visit him sometimes.

I found that farm cottage via friends who lived next door. My old place is up for rent soon as it's had a major refurbishment that's nearly complete.

It can also be worth asking your current landlord for a letter of recommendation when you leave, which states that you've been living in their property for x months/years and the dog has not done any damage/is a friendly calm dog or whatever and you've had no issues with either you or your dog. I know most agencies will go to the previous landlord for references anyway, but having a written recommendation can sometimes get you past the initial "NO PETS, PERIOD!" attitude of some places.

This is all assuming your dog hasn't destroyed your current flat when you leave

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I had already lived here a year when I got my first dog ad I just called and asked..

I want to move to somewhere with a little bigger garden and a not so unsociable neighbour but I am on housing (disabled child) and have 3 dogs so not surehow I would go about this.. Although I do think having 3 house trained chis isn't the same as a big dog they weigh as much as their paw lol

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Www.heychihuahuas.com

I didn't find it that difficult with ours.

I viewed the house and let them know we had a dog and I'm a childminder. I had a reference for Duke from a friend whom he stayed with from the vet to say about his temperament and from my old dog trainer who said how well behaved he is. I also offered to pay an extra £100 deposit and agreed to monthly inspections if he deems it necessary.

We moved in 4 weeks later and he hasn't been by for an inspection.