Renting in Orange with cats

Hi all,

I hope this is in the right spot (if not, let me know and I will move it).
I am finding myself on the other end of the tenant/landlord relationship. I am moving to Orange because I've gotten a new job (yay!) but now having to try and find a place to rent is proving to be much more difficult than anticipated.

Hubby isn't moving with me so I am looking for a unit or small house instead of a big house (I don't need the space) and I want to take our two cats with me. Unfortunately, no owners are even considering letting me rent with cats (even though they are older, well trained and don't wreck carpets or anything).

Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations for how I can convince someone to rent to me (not in Glenroi) and let me bring the cats?

 

You can do what some of my tenants do. Lease a place and not mention you have cats. When the REA discovers you do have cats on the first periodic inspection, say that "I'm just looking after them for a friend while they are on holidays."

 

Well... I will certainly keep that in mind as plan Z.

 

...Or say that you have A cat ... not a lie. 2 cats is too much information for some brains.
The problem is going for the smaller living space - you are competing with social beneficiaries and the landlords are a tougher breed out of necessity. Also, you need to choose a real estate agent who thinks you're fantastic. And you need to find out where NOT to rent in Orange. If you're a single female, you should have the pick of the bunch.
As propertunity said - no-one needs to know anything for the first 6 months and at inspection time, they could be the neighbour's cats soaking up the sun in your yard. Or hide them for the inspection.

 

We witnessed 2 massive dogs when driving past one....Yep, they said the husband would be at work and the wife didn't feel safe without dogs.

Another tenant, figured in a picture from an inspection.

Another tenant was allowed to get a 2nd dog without getting approvals ...thanks to the PM!

Another.......supposed to have a poodle and a short hair cat, but supposedly has 2 dogs and a short hair cat!

 

I understand that some tenants take advantage and that the owner doesn't know me from a bar of soap. I just wish I could send them some photos of my current place to ease their mind. Sigh.

Does anyone know if a lease is signed without a pet, can a landlord refuse to allow me to keep a pet if I put in a request? I can find stuff about strata schemes not being allowed to refuse a 'reasonable request' but what about duplex/houses?

 

Sigh. I was really hoping to avoid lying to a real estate because I would hate it if any of our tenants lied... (yes, I know they probably lie to me anyway).

I've figured out which areas to avoid, and you would think that I would be a suitable candidate... but on paper I look quite poor quality. No rental history, no rental references etc.

 

The key is not to have an orange cat, perhaps a black or grey moggie

 

I once rented to a single female tenant with a cat. This lady sounded very similar to you, and owned her own rental properties in QLD. I was adamant on no pets. However, she offered to pay 6 months in advance. This lady was the BEST tenant I ever had!!! She took care of the gardens, and the house like it was her own.

 

PM'd you

 

Offer to pay a higher bond.

 

Why rule out Glenroi ?

There is housing all over Orange, they have been selling of the old places and plonking people into new houses all over the place, basically, you could get an idiot neighbor anywhere.

Orange is a renters market, and at this time of year.......so I would suggest speaking with the agents more, I know some PMs there that do not care what you do to a LLs place, as long as you pay, I also know some who are always doing way under market.

 

I've seen some people do up a cute little introduction from the cats & submitted it with their application. Telling the land lord that they're well behaved, litter trained & have a PhD in sleeping. I've had clients when I was a vet nurse ask for references for their cats too!

I've done the lie to the agent thing out of sheer desperation. The agent found out, thanks to my beautiful Burmese sun baking in the front window and threatened to evict us (we had 8wks left until the house we were building was ready)
We locked the cat in a crate during daylight hours as he's an indoor only cat for the last 8wks of our lease and then moved into our own home.

 

You've probably already found a place, but we live in Parkes currently and have... two cats and two dogs (they are Pomeranians so we have 11kg of pets in total)! We moved here originally with just the cats, and also found it very difficult. Our cats are indoor only and I'm not willing to compromise on that.

We finally find a place which had horrible old carpet to live in. They took WEEKS to deliberate on our application (probably waiting for perfect people with no pets). We've since moved to a friend's rental but I now fear that with four pets we are truly unrentable.

My advice would be go for a place with crappy floor coverings and say you will keep them outside, when the lease comes around it may not include that clause (thankfully ours didn't)... I prefer not to lie but it it's between lying, homelessness and giving away beloved family members I will lie.

As a landlord i happily accept pets in my properties.

 

The place I just moved out of is still available - no carpet. I have 2 dogs and 4 cats (5 since I moved). It's a lovely house and close to town, huge yard. If you'd like more info, feel free to PM.

 

In my own experience as a lanlord, I allow tenants with cats. You just need to be lucky enough to find landlords who are cat lovers. Although my listing for the property in Melbourne didn't allow pets but I let a couple with one cat to rent my place because I love cats, the property carpet is not that new and they accept to have the carpet steamed cleaned once per year in addition to paying pet bond and buying cat's scratching poles. If you have good references and stable incomes, having a couple of cats should not be so hard to rent a place. Also look for properties which have blinds not fabrics curtains to avoid the cats from damaging them.

 

Dear JKAT
as a landlord I would gladly accept an honest pet owner.
For me, the trouble is, I cant get Landlord's insurance for pets. Does anyone know an insurance policy that accommodates pets?