LittleMonkey

What's your budget for renting? We are paying 470 a week for three bedrooms, good sized garden which is fenced, single garage, laundry room and good sized open plan kitchen, dining, lounge area. It is a lot more than you would pay at home, we didn't really look that much the further a field than Auckland as we found when we were looking we would only have saved say 50 dollars a week and we decided they extra we would pay for being where we wanted was worth it! But I know everyone is different and have there own circumstances!

Tina1912

Hiya

Thank Little Monkey that's good to know. We had been told to budget around 500 per week, so that fits in. Maybe Auckland after all, as it would certainly save the other half travelling and we'd maybe have more options as far as public transport, things to do with little girl etc. She fancies the sea life centre and must admit so do I. Have contacted our carrier again - waiting for a response. Rascal got a full health check and boosters on Saturday but our vet said although they did passports she was more up to date with what he would need coming back to UK rather then from UK out, which makes sense. Can;t expect them to know all the ins and outs for every country including their own lol!!. Still very happy, all went well.

Tina1912

Little Monkey,

Who would you recommend as an Agent for Auckland?. My husband had been thinking of going with Bayleys, as he has heard good things from work. But can;t help thinking someone with personal experience and a pet would probably be in the best position to advise. Hope you don't mind me picking your brains!.

LittleMonkey

Hiya,

Don't mind at all. We used barfoot in Brown Bay, they also cover Other places like Torbay. Think there is only one in rental person there so easy to find her. But if you need her full details let me know and ill look it up! From our experience we did try other agents and also barfoot in other places but their interest in helping us was minimal to none existent when we said the word dog, so I think we were quite lucky and based on our experience I wouldn't hesitate to recommend her.

One piece of advice I got from this site, although hard to read before leaving, but stuck in my mind, was that you will limit you choices with a dog, and it could result in renting somewhere thats far from your first choice as it was the only place that would take dogs. Although this advice was disheartening for me, it did give me a sense or realism, and led to me lowering my expectations of the standard of house we would 'have' to rent....so when we looked round the ones we did I same pleasantly surprised!

Houses go really quickly so I would just look at what's around and get an idea of what you get for your money, then properly look when you arrive. Also when you are here and before booking a viewing have a look at the properties from the road and general area as there could be some that you end up not wanting to look at, which will save you and the agent time!!

Things you need to consider, I think are, are you happy for your dog to be an outside dog, a outside dog when you are out and at night, or an inside dog. Obviously, first two would poss open up options for u. The other thing to consider is how essential a fully fenced property is, when we were looking on the net, hardly any were fully fenced, so when we looked we dropped this criteria to open up options. Luckily ours is fully fenced, although I reckon if he wanted to he could jump over some bits!!

Overall with the houses, I'd make a list of essential stuff, and would like but could do without (for us that was three room but would be fine with two, storage, dishwasher etc) and finally mark things that are on your essential list that would be deal breakers (for us that was heating we wanted something rather than nothing!)

Hope this helps! If you have any other questions fire away!

Mrs Pointer

We managed to get a rental ok with two dogs, though it had mould and was freezing but that's not unusual here. Now in our own pad with double glazing, central heating, insulation.

We brought ours with golden arrow (before rules changed) but didn't get the rabies jab. Didn't need it because after three years it would need to get done again anyway. And as there is no rabies here I didn't see the point. If we were to go back they would need it.

Tina1912

Thank you for this reply. Our vet was a bit unsure but our Pet Carrier has advised Rabies, we aren't planning to come back to the UK, but we figure that with all the costs incurred one more jab won't break the bank and at this stage we rather over compensate that not, especially seen as rules do seem to change from one year to the next and we are still about 6-8 months from the move. Very exciting. Is a bit strange though thinking this could be our last Christmas and New Year in the freezing cold and wet and next year it could be a barbie and the beach!!.

LittleMonkey

We have used golden arrow too, our dog is currently on his way over have been excited but dreading this time, will be happy when we hear he has arrived safely!

GA have been feb and emailed us to let us know how he had settled for his short stay with them and let us know how he got on with his last vet checks...

LittleMonkey

Hiya,

Our dog has had his rabies jabs, he wouldn't have been allowed to leave uk for nz with out them. We got his blood tests done a few weeks after and then once we had the certificate took a copy and sent the original to the shippers.

Mrs Pointer

They must have changed the rules since march 2011 as ours didn't need it to get into NZ, they would need it to get to the uk.

GA are brilliant. We arrived two weeks before them so we could find some place to live (no pressure). I was so worried as one of them had had an operation a few months before we left but he arrived in better nick than I left him. I think the GA lady wanted to keep him haha

They were none the worse for it. It takes them a bit to settle but that would happen wherever you moved them to.

LittleMonkey

Yes I think it only changed in January 2012 as when we did all our research about it is was nov/dec 2011 and there was no mention of it so when we reviewed it all again having made a definite decision we spotted it! For us it meant our dog could fly until 19th Dec, which was longer than we wanted as we arrived here 10th Oct. ideally we thought we would have had him arrive two or three weeks after us however, with the expecting of us missing him like mad, it's worked out really we as us and our house is totally ready for him and he was very well looked after my our family in the UK!

Mrs Pointer

Excellent. Your house will feel like home when he arrives.

We had a lot of running around between terminals trying to find someone to release them...was a nightmare. When we eventually went to pick them up one of them was having a pee...he was so pleased to see us he almost pulled the girl over. The other one heard us and went mental!

Rachelnw

Hi

Just been scanning the 'BritishExpat' forums, as it's a rainy day, and came across this thread. Me and my partner are in NZ for two years at the least (WHV) and have brought our two dogs with us - couldn't bare leaving them for two years, re-homing them, or us not getting the chance to see NZ.

Our dogs arrived at Pet Haven on the 16th November. I could tell they were well looked after as when we picked them up on the 26th they were jumping between us and the Pet Haven staff. Anyhow, that's not what I came to tell you. It was in fact about registering dogs.
We knew the dogs had to be registered with the council once in NZ, but what we wasn't aware of was that they had to be registered within 72hours of leaving quarantine. We found this out after getting a visit from the Dog-Warden. He informed us that if they're not registered within 72hours then you could incur a $300 fine per dog or them be impounded! So just an heads up for all expat dog owners. We were let off with the fines, as they understood we wouldn't have known. But I'd advise even people who start in holiday homes/motels etc to get the dogs registered there and just change the address at a later date.

Also if anyone is having trouble finding rents to start with, then I'd recommend looking on www.bookabach.co.nz - there's quite a lot of pet friendly accomodation on here, and although on the steeper side they have furniture, pots, pans etc and no extra bills (water, gas etc) after the rent. If you are looking for longer term rent, then I suggest discussing something with the landlord of one of these baches. We were othered a 5month rent at $270 a week (all bills included, including broadband) on a 4 bedroom house practically on the beach - unfortunately we couldn't accept as there's no jobs in the area, and we'd like a little income (even if via fruit picking) if we were to stay put for 5 whole months.

Hope this information helps some people with the dogs and house situation.

Rachel

LittleMonkey

Thanks for the info. We were wondering if there was a time allowance as Pethaven said we could only register him after he is released but we are getting him in the pm of 31st so were thninking the service centres would be closed until 3rd!

Your black lab is the spitting image of our dog, though yours looks a lot younger, ours is 9!

Rachelnw

We were never aware of the time limit, and I searched for hours on end about registering the dogs once here, so thought it would be handy for people. I can't see it being a problem with the two bank holidays, just explain the situation if asked, they were nice enough with us and ours were a week out of quarantine.

Yeah, I spotted yours on a different thread - they are very alike. Ours is actually a 5 year old Labrador X Springer Spaniel - VERY loopy and tons of energy! Alot of people think he's a full black lab puppy due to him being short - he's the most loyal dog I've ever had.

LittleMonkey

Wow, i bet he is mental in a lovely way! ours is a lab x retriever and is a big softy! If we were in the uk I'd be asking where you got him as we - well me rather than OH - would like another but thinking be too expensive now we are in NZ...will just have to keep my eyes open here, one day my OH may come hope to s surprise