Alison Hutchinson Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 My family and I have been in sydney just over 4 week staying in temporary accommodation while we secure a house! We are finding it impossible with the 100 point check and the fact we have a small dog (who comes out of quarantine on the 29th) The houses that will allow a dog are I'm my opinion disgusting and not habitable! I thought oz was an animal loving nation? we are looking at living in the shires area and would love any advice! I'm feeling very unsettled and miserable about the whole thing :-( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 Aussies are animal lovers but unfortunately when it comes to rentals they have another view. Many many people in rentals do have animals though so they are out there. Not every landlord uses an agent often there are adverts in the local area newspapers with vacancies. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzzy--bee Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 The vast majority of landlords will not allow pets. I do consider them in my properties, however I would insist on a dog which remained outdoors, and I would ask for an increase to the bond to cover damage. We may be an animal loving nation, but that doesn't mean we want to cop a load of costs for damage to a house that your pet might do, so maybe mitigate this by offering to pay a higher bond. BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenon4017 Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 Just about the only thing you can do is to offer a financial inducement. When the rental market is hot, landlords don't need to make concessions to pet owners. We have a dog, and when we were looking for a rental, about 1/3 of houses were ruled out straight away. The fact is that from a landlords point of view, allowing a dog doesn't bring any advantages, just disadvantages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted September 5, 2013 Share Posted September 5, 2013 Have you tried offering an extra 'Pet Bond' ? and submitting a pet reference ? It has worked for a few families. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
purpleal Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 How stressful for you. When we bought our house, it was tenanted and we said no to a dog. The reason being..obviously before this tenant, someone that lived here had a dog and the damage to the interior/exterior sliding doors, the wooden framework, the doors etc was immense. The scratchmarks are very deep and have just been painted over, although in reality it all needs to be sanded down, primed and repainted. To fix all this damage would cost far more than any bond/surety/guarantee which would be provided by the tenant. Now, I am not saying your dog would do the same - in fact, we ourselves are now living in the house and we have a dog who has caused no damage but I am just giving my perspective from an ex landlord point of view. I am not sure if you have done/know this already, but on Domain you can do a keyword search. If you go to domain, Rent, click on search by state, click on NSW, Select Sutherland as a location, don't select anything, put pets in the keyword search and then search. 41 properties came back. Good Luck and I hope you find somewhere soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alison Hutchinson Posted September 6, 2013 Author Share Posted September 6, 2013 I'm a landlord myself and the house I've left in the uk is perfect! I know some dogs do damage properties and I can understand the risk for a landlord! My poor dog is 13 and has never caused any damage! I've got my friends to give references which the have all put how well behaved our dog is and how clean and well looked after our house is! My main issues is the fact that most of the houses we have seen I wouldn't even put my dog in nevermind my 2 young children! I see lots of dogs around so where do they live! I'll try some of your ideas and offer a larger bond! thanks for all your replies, I just want some where nice to live for my family! And if my dog did damage any thing I would expect to get the bill or to put it right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenon4017 Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 My main issues is the fact that most of the houses we have seen I wouldn't even put my dog in nevermind my 2 young children! Welcome to the Australian housing market. In time you'll come to see that not all Ozzies treat their animals, or indeed their homes, as you might expect. I don't want to generalise, but some people keep their dogs in the back yard permanently. They never walk their dog. And they wonder why the dog gets territorial and barks at any passing shadow. Likewise, I've seen rental houses that were certainly not looked after. The problem is that such houses go on a spiral of neglect by both the landlord and tenant. They generally have a high turnover rate so you see them in the real estate listings more often. As is often the case in life, money can solve your problems. Either by offering more than the landlord is asking, which always turns their heads. Or by upping your budget and going for houses that fall outside the typical range for people who rent. (That sounds soooooo snobbish, but I can't put it any other way right now). Your best bet is a newly converted Petit-Property-Tycoon, who's just converted his hard to sell house into a rental 'til the market picks up'. Preferably there was already a pet there so the damage is done, and he won't have fallen foul of previous bad tenants. But Sydney is notoriously difficult and still seems to be in a gravity defying housing boom right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 My family and I have been in sydney just over 4 week staying in temporary accommodation while we secure a house! We are finding it impossible with the 100 point check and the fact we have a small dog (who comes out of quarantine on the 29th)The houses that will allow a dog are I'm my opinion disgusting and not habitable! I thought oz was an animal loving nation? we are looking at living in the shires area and would love any advice! I'm feeling very unsettled and miserable about the whole thing :-( I am actually very surprised you are having this much trouble with a small dog, how small is small btw? I can understand why a big dog might be problematic. We expected lots of trouble with two cats, when we put together our "rental pack" we put together a covering note tht explained we had two very well behaved cats but we understood landlords can have concerns so we were willing to pay an additional pet bond to cover any damage. It seemed to do the trick, we had no problems whatsoever finding a house and although we did not pay a pet bond in the end, there is a clause about fumigating or something at the end of the tenancy. I am also surprised you are having trouble with the 100 point check, without fail every agent we spoke to said we understand you are new to the country and might not have the same evidence as someone who has always lived here. We didn't even think about 100 points to be honest, although of course we provided proof of our ID and bank statements etc in our rental pack. Are you over thinking I wonder? For example are you assuming that because an ad doesn't say it will allow pets that by default it won't allow pets? And are you just assuming you need to get 100 points because you read it, or have you actually been told that? Oh and I was going to say, I have seen nothing to suggest that Aussies are animal lovers, in fact they seem quite unsentimental about pets compared to Brits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alison Hutchinson Posted September 6, 2013 Author Share Posted September 6, 2013 I am actually very surprised you are having this much trouble with a small dog, how small is small btw? I can understand why a big dog might be problematic. We expected lots of trouble with two cats, when we put together our "rental pack" we put together a covering note tht explained we had two very well behaved cats but we understood landlords can have concerns so we were willing to pay an additional pet bond to cover any damage. It seemed to do the trick, we had no problems whatsoever finding a house and although we did not pay a pet bond in the end, there is a clause about fumigating or something at the end of the tenancy. I am also surprised you are having trouble with the 100 point check, without fail every agent we spoke to said we understand you are new to the country and might not have the same evidence as someone who has always lived here. We didn't even think about 100 points to be honest, although of course we provided proof of our ID and bank statements etc in our rental pack. Are you over thinking I wonder? For example are you assuming that because an ad doesn't say it will allow pets that by default it won't allow pets? And are you just assuming you need to get 100 points because you read it, or have you actually been told that? Oh and I was going to say, I have seen nothing to suggest that Aussies are animal lovers, in fact they seem quite unsentimental about pets compared to Brits. Hi rupert, our dog is a staff cross but looks more like a mini lab! I've made a rental pack too including refreces from friends to say that our dogs well behaved and our house is well looked after! We are looking at between $500 and $600 a week! If the property doesn't state I ring or email to check! Don't get me wrong some of the real estate girls seam nice! I fact I spent a while talking to one yesterday about the area and schools but a lot seam like teenage girls that couldn't give a hoot! The 100 points is all I've heard since we got here lol! I just send them everything I have! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKC Posted September 6, 2013 Share Posted September 6, 2013 It might be worth you visiting a couple of real estate agents in person, and asking what they have on their books. We found, when we were looking to buy, that where we had gone in and met the EA's, they were more willing to give us the 'heads up' about things that were about to come on to the market, so we got in to view first. May be worth doing that, plus you may need to offer an extra bit of bond. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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