Orela

My husband and I are moving to the UK from Germany this summer.
Does anybody know any good websites, agencies or people who like dogs and will be rent to dog loving tenants? BTW, is a job first required in order to find a rental or is it fine that we will keep looking once there (of course also from here already over the internet). Any good advice and suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

pennylessinindia

http://www.petfriendlyrentals.co.uk

from a google search seems very new but may be worth contacting

Would be interested to know whether you come up with anything else as may be in the same boat soonish

aml1982

I've looked into this myself, my wife and I are returning to the UK from Canada with our cat. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of pet friendly property specialists, but I did read an article a while back which had some tips about renting when you have an animal.

The first thing was to make contact with as many letting agents as possible in the area you want to live and explain the situation - they are likely to have a list of landlords on their books who will (or might) accept pets.

Secondly, reassure them that your pet is housebroken, etc., but offer to put up a bigger security deposit to set the landlord's mind at ease.

Thirdly, (obviously this is dependent on your situation) be willing look for places that are unfurnished if possible. Landlords who don't have any of their own furniture or belongings in the house/flat will be more receptive to pets.

This wasn't the article I read, but it has similar info/tips in it:
http://www.findaproperty.com/display...0&storyid=8489

SanDiegogirl

Put it like this ...... if I was a landlord and I had the choice of renting my property either to a couple with good jobs and no dogs , or to another couple with two dogs and no jobs, now which ones would I choose

Orela

Thanks, we will look into it!

Orela

Thanks for the advice, we will keep you posted, when we find out more and about anything new! Good luck to you as well...

ottotheboar

Outside London most property is rented unfurnished. Be clear you have two dogs and what size they are so the letting agency can run it by the landlord before you view the property to avoid wasting time.

formula

You will struggle to get a rental without jobs. The lack of jobs in the UK, more job losses to come and the recent welfare cuts with more cuts next April, has made landlords very cautious and I can see why.

The houses that aren't so nice might have a landlord that will allow animals, if the landlord struggles to get anyone to rent the property.

Without a permanent job that easily covers the rent, they will almost certainly want the full 6 months in advance, plus deposit, plus an extra deposit for the dogs and maybe a person who owns their own house to act as guarantor. However, if the landlord gets repossessed during that 6 months contract, you will lose your money and your home if the landlord didn't get permission from the mortgage lender to rent out the property as the lender will not recognise the rental contract. For those renters in that situation, the new laws that just came in, may allow you to have 2 months to find another place, but you will have to write to the courts and attend the hearing of the repossession order, to fight your corner for those 2 months to vacate.

You need to be aware that the renting laws in the UK are the 3rd world laws of Europe and nowhere near as good as countries like Germany. Most rental contracts in the UK are for 6 months (or 12 months with a 6 month break clause). Although landlords are required to fix their repairs and protect your deposit, they don't need to have a reason to tell you to leave the property once the 6 months is up. All they have to do is issue a Section 21 and you will find yourself looking for another rental with animals again.

Edited to say: if the landlord hasn't protected your deposit, then any Section 21 (notice to quit without a reason) will not be legal as your deposit has to be proteced before a S21 can be issued. The lanldord will then have to protect the deposit and then issue another Section21 which will give you 2 months notice from the rent date (contract starting date). You will still have to leave, but it gives a tenant more time to find another rental.

Pistolpete2

Just as a general comment so others are aware but from the other side of the fence,

I'm a UK landlord and try to avoid any pets like the plague. Only today my tenant asked, for the second time, whether she could have a cat and my immediate response is NO.

It simply is not in the interest of any landlord to have pets create any sort of atmosphere in their home and there is so much potential for loss and damage, as there is with some young kids.

This is particularly the case if you are trying to get out of the letting game and therefore want your property to maintain its good/saleable condition without any further refurbs over those recently undertaken prior to this tenancy.

In a letting agency situation, you often only discover losses and breakages well after closing tenant inventory - OK I agree I should go after the inventory agent - when there is no recourse so better to say NO.

In response to formula,

I think you're making the whole rental thing seem oh so complicated. I rent to students sometimes and they have to put up proper surety deposits/guarantees as they have no income to speak of. They just make the letting agent and me more secure by doing this. Believe me the sureties are there for a good reason as tenant circumstances, both financial and social, can so often so quickly change during the lease period and leave the landlord with collection issues.

A lot of your legal concerns relating to landlord default can be covered by simply using a letting agent. As a landlord, I can't get my hands on the deposit(s) / guarantees for surety or breakage until I am legally entitled to do so.

formula

Why is there no recourse? Surely you take a deposit? If you are a landlord in England or Wales, then by law you have to protect the tenants deposit within 14 days of taking the deposit in one of the 3 deposit schemes and provide the tenant with the Prescibed Information, again within 14 days of taking the deposit.

It is the landlords responsibility to protect the deposit, even if you use a letting agent. Just like it is the landlords responsibility to ensure that other legal requirements are carried out i.e. the gas safety certificate should be carried out by a qulaified person within 12 months. If the letting agent fails to do this, then the landlord is the one who is legally responsible and they are the one who gets the fine of up to £5,000 or 6 months in jail (unlimited fine and custodial sentence if it goes to county court).

You should then be deducting any damage (fair wear and tear excluded) done by the tenant, from their deposit but you are not allowed new for old prices. If the tenant does not agree with your deductions, you can then use the relevant deposit scheme's dispute service if you both agree or go to the county court. The loser usually pays the costs. That is why it is so important for tenants to have legal cover insurance, as their insurer should pay their costs if they lose. It's also important tenants check the exclusions on any insurance, to make sure action taken against or defending against, a landlord, is not excluded. ARAG and DAF are well known legal insurers in the UK and they didn't have this exclusion last time I read their policies in the spring.

There is a time limit on how long the landlord has to return the deposit (about 14 days) so the exit inventory should be carried out on the day the tenant leaves the property. Failure to return to deposit in a timely manner means the tenant can take the landlord to court and also ask for 8% interest. Failure to protect the deposit in one of the three deposit schemes, means the tenant can apply for 3 times the deposit from the landlord.

How do you think my concerns can be covered by simply using a letting agent? I can assure you that you are mistaken. Plus the deposit won't cover the cost of months of lost rent already given to the landlord, the cost of moving or any compensation for the stress the landlord has caused.

As for letting agents: in the UK any person can set themselves up as a letting agent and they don't need to have any qualifications. I doubt that many letting agents and their staff have even read the housing laws, or most landlords.

There is no legal requirement on letting agents to check that the landlord has permission from their mortgage lender to to let the property; or to check whether the landlord is behind in his mortgage payments when he wants to find a tenant; or to check that the landlord has not already got a repossession order on the property that he is trying to rent out. The letting agent isn't even required to ask for proof that the landlord actually owns the house!

For the landlords who use a letting agent, most don't even realise that the laws state that they are the ones who have the legal responsibility for anything the letting agent forgets to do (see above).

The only recourse the tenant has against the letting agent who rents out a property without the lenders permission, is to sue the letting agent for 'taking by deception'. The tenant can of course, download the deeds of a property from Land Registry for £4, before they rent the property http://www.landreg.gov.uk/house-prices
and then look at the Charges section of that deed to make sure the landlord isn't listed by the mortgage lender as living at the address of the property they are trying to rent out.
If he is, then the landlord hasn't got a buy to let mortgage and will just have the owner/residential mortgage. That landlord must have a letter from their mortgage lender stating that they have their consent to let, but it will only be for a limited period of time, so tenants' need to check the dates. The charges section on the house deeds will also list any additional borrowing the landlord has made against that property.

There is a programme on tv next Monday about bad landlords and we have already seen others featured on Watchdog.