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Pups & Rentals


Esky the husky
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It really depends on the state you are in.

WA legislates that an initial pet bond of up to $260 can be charged.

In NSW and Vic it is currently illegal to charge a tenant an extra amount of bond because they own a pet.

SA seems to have made some recent changes which allow for charging of a pet bond: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/realestate/new-laws-to-allow-renters-to-pay-higher-bond-in-return-to-keep-pets/story-fnczhk65-1226582276944

Not sure about Qld/NT as have not looked them up.

Note that a bond can only be paid at the beginning of a lease and can not be 'topped up' or added to during a lease. So if you get a dog during a lease, the bond can not be added to.

A bond however, is different from weekly rent and as far as I know there is nothing stopping a landlord charging a higher rent because you own a pet. Rent is largely market driven and there are no 'formulas' for calculating rent in legislation that I am aware of. An owner can charge higher or lower as they like.

This site may have some helpful info: http://www.petfriendlyrentals.com.au/

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My daughter owns a rental property and where she has always said yes to animals there the last lot of tenants had two dogs which she was fine with but they decided to not ask about a cat and when moving out she found out they had a cat and the place stunk of cat

She now wont rent to anyone with a cat no matter how clean they are or what references they come with.

If someone had done the same thing with a dog she wouldnt be renting to anyone with dogs either If someone lies when renting they cant expect people to be fair to them

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It's not illegal and I'd like to see where. In some states its illegal for them to charge more for having pets but to me personally its a show of good faith and that you wish to do the right thing by the owners... Ikknow we offered an extra $50 per dog with our bond when we moved in as a "pet deposit" is what I called it...as I understand that some people are just irresponsible jerks with animals and take advantage of an owners kindness as its hard to get a rental with pets. They declined the deposit but we've always tried to do the right thing by owners the yard was weeds when we arrived its now lawn, we keep small running repairs ect so if we can fix it we will to save money for the owners...

They would have declined that as that is also illegal.

If a real estate asked me to pay more bond or rent because I had a pet I'd tell them to shove it and report them to the RTA.

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It's not illegal and I'd like to see where. In some states its illegal for them to charge more for having pets but to me personally its a show of good faith and that you wish to do the right thing by the owners... Ikknow we offered an extra $50 per dog with our bond when we moved in as a "pet deposit" is what I called it...as I understand that some people are just irresponsible jerks with animals and take advantage of an owners kindness as its hard to get a rental with pets. They declined the deposit but we've always tried to do the right thing by owners the yard was weeds when we arrived its now lawn, we keep small running repairs ect so if we can fix it we will to save money for the owners...

They would have declined that as that is also illegal.

If a real estate asked me to pay more bond or rent because I had a pet I'd tell them to shove it and report them to the RTA.

We had a situation where some prospective tenants looked into renting one of our town houses. Our agent, who knows the rules and regulations said that now in Victoria, bonds can be up 6 week's worth of rent, not just one month. That goes for tenants without pets too. The place was really unsuitable for a husky as the courtyard was much to small in my opinion anyway.

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It's not illegal and I'd like to see where. In some states its illegal them to charge more for having pets but to me personally its a show of good faith and that you wish to do the right thing by the owners... Ikknow we offered an extra $50 per dog with our bond when we moved in as a "pet deposit" is what I called it...as I understand that some people are just irresponsible jerks with animals and take advantage of an owners kindness as its hard to get a rental with pets. They declined the deposit but we've always tried to do the right thing by owners the yard was weeds when we arrived its now lawn, we keep small running repairs ect so if we can fix it we will to save money for the owners...

They would have declined that as that is also illegal.

If a real estate asked me to pay more bond or rent because I had a pet I'd tell them to shove it and report them to the RTA.

Each to their own... we offered it was up to them if they chose to accept it or not... like I said show of good faith that we were serious tenants and that we wanted to do the right thing anf... its hard enough to find a place to rent with one animal let alone 2-3 we had at the time (our living circumstances have changed since so have flexibility on dog numbers).

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It's probably autocorrect changing the word illegal in the sentence.

I think they're trying to say 'it is illegal in Victoria to offer more rent. There was a time a couple of years back when there were many people looking at renting the same property, to try and secure the rental rights the applicants did in fact offer more than the asking price.

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It's not illegal and I'd like to see where. In some states its illegal them to charge more for having pets but to me personally its a show of good faith and that you wish to do the right thing by the owners... Ikknow we offered an extra $50 per dog with our bond when we moved in as a "pet deposit" is what I called it...as I understand that some people are just irresponsible jerks with animals and take advantage of an owners kindness as its hard to get a rental with pets. They declined the deposit but we've always tried to do the right thing by owners the yard was weeds when we arrived its now lawn, we keep small running repairs ect so if we can fix it we will to save money for the owners...

They would have declined that as that is also illegal.

If a real estate asked me to pay more bond or rent because I had a pet I'd tell them to shove it and report them to the RTA.

Each to their own... we offered it was up to them if they chose to accept it or not... like I said show of good faith that we were serious tenants and that we wanted to do the right thing anf... its hard enough to find a place to rent with one animal let alone 2-3 we had at the time (our living circumstances have changed since so have flexibility on dog numbers).

It's hard enough to find a rental without pets. :laugh: So I see where you're coming from.

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Definitely email a detailed letter to your property manager before you get the pup. If you already have well trained pets then that will probably work in your favour. Having it all in writing is paramount.

I emailed my property manager detailing what kind/size of dog, whether it was desexed or not, where I planned to house it and all the good points about it. (for example, 'Fluffy is a poodle, thus she has a non-shedding coat'). The landlords were fine with me having a dog (inside, too!) even though they had had bad experiences previously. As it turned out it didn't work out getting a dog but that is a separate story. I think it worked in my favour that I was a long term tenant with a good reputation.

Edited by mr.mister
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I have a rental property and all my tenant did was ring the rental manager to ask if she could keep a labrador at the house, she runs a companion dog program. The rental manager rang me, I said yes, as long as the tenant made the garden dog proof, put up side gates etc at her own cost, she agreed with that. It was that easy, no emails just a couple of phone calls. She's a good tenant and now she's a happy tenant too. :) Its as simple as asking, if you have a good rental record and the inspections show you keep the rental property in good order, there is every chance they'll say yes. However if the property looks like a tornado went through it, theres every chance they'll say no. I wouldn't dream of asking for more rent because of a dog, but I can't speak for other landlords. :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Sorry to bump this back up but I have finally worked up the courage to actually write the letter.

(Only taken like 4 years :laugh: )

Just want to post a draft up and see if anyone has some changes I should make.

I did try googling but couldn't even find a decent template.

Any thoughts on what to say at the end? I got kind of stumped... Wanted to keep it short though, I don't think ten paragraphs about Esky's routine will go down all that well...

Dear ____

Hi is Ashleigh, of Ashleigh and Boyd at ADDRESS

We are considering adding a second dog to our family and racing team and want to go about it in the right way by seeking permission first.

As with our current dog, our new addition will be managed in a way that does not disturb neighbours or cause damage to the house. This will be achieved with training, supervision, excercise and confinement. Due to the nature of our working hours, there will be somebody home to supervise 4-5 days per week, when one of us is unavailable we intend to confine the dog to a small pen until we feel they are behaved enough to have some freedoms. We intend to attend a dog school for teaching manners.

We understand that we are responsible for any damaged caused by the pets and that we to get the house flea bombed and the carpet professionally steam cleaned when we vaccate the property.

We will also arrange for our pets to be absent from the property during inspections if requested. I am happy to provide some references of people who know us and our pets too.

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Sounds good to me!

i think the fact that you already have a dog, and therefore know what you are getting into, would make you a shoo-in. Heck, I'd let you rent my property, and I'm pretty uptight since we had some terrible tenants.

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It's not illegal and I'd like to see where. In some states its illegal them to charge more for having pets but to me personally its a show of good faith and that you wish to do the right thing by the owners... Ikknow we offered an extra $50 per dog with our bond when we moved in as a "pet deposit" is what I called it...as I understand that some people are just irresponsible jerks with animals and take advantage of an owners kindness as its hard to get a rental with pets. They declined the deposit but we've always tried to do the right thing by owners the yard was weeds when we arrived its now lawn, we keep small running repairs ect so if we can fix it we will to save money for the owners...

They would have declined that as that is also illegal.

If a real estate asked me to pay more bond or rent because I had a pet I'd tell them to shove it and report them to the RTA.

Each to their own... we offered it was up to them if they chose to accept it or not... like I said show of good faith that we were serious tenants and that we wanted to do the right thing anf... its hard enough to find a place to rent with one animal let alone 2-3 we had at the time (our living circumstances have changed since so have flexibility on dog numbers).

I was chatting to someone from the RTT in SA about this and they said (here at least), it's their house and they can offer it at whatever rent they choose. And the tenant can choose to take it or leave it. What they can't do is charge 2 separate bonds.

--

Esky whenever I get stuck at the end of an email I usually write "please contact me if you have any queries or wish to discuss this further" or thereabouts :)

I've been thinking about renting but with 2 kelpies I'm not sure I'll even bother trying :/ I just resent having to pay so much stamp duty to buy a place! :laugh:

Edited by TheLBD
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