Are you looking to relocate to London with your pet? Don’t leave finding a pet friendly property until the last minute. You may be surprised how long it takes and how many landlords say no to pets. That is my advice as a pet friendly property professional.
London property is complicated. Even pet friendly landlords would prefer tenants without pets. In a competitive market, they can pick and choose. Less wear and tear. Landlords see pets as casuing a lot of damage.
The other issue in London is that many more central London buildings have no pets clauses. A landlord may say yest to dogs and cats, but the building says no.
Don’t assume because you see a dog on a lead in a building that it is dog-friendly. Some concierges, like to ‘turn a blind eye’, pretend they have not seen any dogs, because they like pets themselves. That does not mean you would be able to ‘officially’ rent there yourself.
I would never recommend that a client sign a tenancy agreement without a pets clause. Without it, you risk eviction.
No Lastminute.com
You’re relocating from the US with your pets. Visa done, crate sorted for the flight as well as vaccinations. Everything covered from the US side of the Atlantic, but what about the UK and where are you going to live?
People just assume that because the UK is a pet loving nation, that it must be easy to find somewhere to rent with your dog. How wrong can you be!
A Landlords market
Many estate agents say no to pets. Some don’t even ask the landlord if they will consider pets. They just want the instruction, so why ‘rock the boat’.
One issue I come across, is that some estate agents will just flatly say ‘no’ to pets. There isn’t that, ‘let me talk to a landlord’, who may well say yes to your small dog or house cat. Some can be really unhelpful. That makes it more ‘time consuming’ when looking for a pet friendly rental.
As it is a landlords market, they will ‘pick and choose’ tenants. Guess what, if you have a pet, you are not ‘top of the list’.
Good news is that you do come across ‘pet owning landlords’ from time to time, who sympathise and want to help.
Why do landlords say no to our cute pets?
It’s simple; all about finances without the emotion. Maximising your return is the number one priority.
For many landlords pets mean damage, neighbours complaining as well as the affects on future tenants with pet allergies.
With the security deposit in the UK capped to 5 weeks rent, a large number of landlords think this is not enough to cover any damage by a dog or cat in their property.
With some landlords, this is all about a bad experience with a pet owner. For others, it is just hearing about other landlords ‘nightmares’.
For some reason, many landlords think that pets cause loads of damage. From my experience, I would say that sharers are the worst! Pet owners are far more responsible as they value where they live, as I has been so hard to find.
Timing advice
In the UK, tenants give a standard 2 months notice. As soon as they do, agents will market the property to minimise the time the property is empty.
I would allow at least 2 months, more 3 months if you don’t know the UK or London well.
As a pet friendly London relocation specialist, I would say more 3 months. Firstly, you tend to need more time to find that dog or cat friendly property. Secondly, if you don’t know London that well, it takes time to work where in London you want to be.
Everyone has their own favourite parts of London for example. If you have a dog, look at areas around parks and commons. That then gives you more focal points.
If you spoke to 10 Londoners about where it is best to live with a dog, you’d probably get 10 different answers!
We Londoners have our own opinions.
When looking for a property, it does help to have a focus. If you have friends, relatives or a place of work, perhaps use that as a guide and look to fit that in with the budget.
Your budget will determine more the location. No point looking in areas if you can’t afford the kind of property you want. I
I hope this information is helpful. If you’re relocating to the UK with your pets, feel free to join our informative Facebook group, “Relocating to the UK with your Pets”, for more guidance and support.
Russell Hunt is the founder of Petslets.com, a UK-based pet-friendly property portal, as well as Petsletsrelocation.com, where he serves as a pet-friendly UK property specialist. He advises clients on renting and buying properties in and around London.
