Yay, we found a pet friendly flat!

Hi,

Just wanted to share the great news. My husband just signed the lease and moved into our new flat today! Our agent has included a pet clause in the lease and we have agreed to pay a £100 pet deposit.

It has been such a relief after weeks and weeks of scouring the internet, emailing agents, and viewings. So, I just wanted to share our strategy for all our fellow pet owners.

I mass emailed agents that were in the area we were looking for with this enquiry. It seemed like the secret handshake we needed, because after that agents kept giving us tips on which agents were okay with pets, strategies to use, recanted their own personal tales about renting with pets, and emailed us .pdf's of selected properties that were pet friendly, etc:

To Whom It May Concern:

I am currently looking for a one to two bedroom flat or house preferably in ____, but will consider _____ or _____. I am looking for something up to £__ PCM and would like to move in around ___ or possibly earlier if I found the right place.

I am wondering what your agency's policy is towards pets. My cat is a microchipped neutered male, who is well-behaved, is up to date with his immunisations, and is completely litter box trained. In addition, he is solely a house cat, thus he will not be free to roam around or disturb the neighbours.

I am more than willing to pay an extra deposit if pets would be considered. Therefore, would you be so kind as to ask your landlords whether they would be willing to consider a tenant with a cat?

If we can work together, I would be most happy to schedule a viewing as soon as possible.


Sincerely,

your name


Good luck everyone! Hope this helps!

I'm glad it worked out for you.  That's some great advice!

Well done you!

That's fab!  Congrats on your new home!

Thanks everyone!

I forgot to mention depending on where you are looking we found the most helpful and pet friendly agents to be Linley and Simpson, Adair Paxton, Bevan and Co, and Aston Properties.

Also, we added the offer to have the flat professionally cleaned upon our departure which helped.

This is what one agent said to us in case some of you are looking in Leeds centre. It saved us a lot of time and rejection! I'm not sure if this would apply to most city centres?

"I think you will face the same issue that I did when I attempted to move to the city centre with my cat! Nearly all apartment blocks are governed by a head lease (similar to a tenancy agreement between the landlord and the managing agents) stipulating that pets are not permitted in developments."

Again, good luck everyone!