Housing that allows pets (small dog+birds)

Does anyone have any experience on how difficult it is to find a flat (near the London area in particular) that actually allows pets? The pets in question are a very small dog and possibly 2-6 small birds (two budgies, four cockatiels). I say two-six because the limit is two per person, six per family and I have yet to recieve word on what qualifies as a "family." With the avian influenza scare I may not be able to take any of the birds but I'm trying to plan for the best-case scenario.

Thanks in advance for any input.

I think it's going to be pretty difficult.  I've been looking for housing with my small cairn terrier, a nearly non-barker, who has NEVER destroyed furniture, floors, etc. and who would hopefully be in care during my working hours and if they DO take a chance on you, it seems most of the landlords are going to want about 4-6 months rent as a damage deposit as well.  I will post if I get more information.

It is difficult to find a rental that will allow dogs (more seem to allow cats, if anything).  DH and I didn't have a dog when we moved into this house, but we knew we wanted to get one, so the letting agency contacted the home owner to see if that'd be okay.  As a result, a clause was added in to our lease permitting one small dog, provided that we have the carpets professionally cleaned before we leave. (The flat we lived in before this house was brand new and NOTHING was allowed -- not even goldfish!)

I think you're going to have a really hard time finding anywhere that will allow multiple pets.

Thank you both for the replies!

Do you think it might be easier to do if we avoid estate agents and look for private listings? I had a feeling that it was going to be complicated as it's hard to find apartments in the U.S. that allow pets without a billion strings attached as well.

Maybe it will help that the dog is litter trained? lol

God love ya and may the force be with you! LOL  We moved to London in Aug. 2005 and renting with Dogs has been the most challenging thing about our move. So many rentals were not an option for us. We needed a back garden, which eliminated a lot of properties, and then of the ones that do have gardens, we had to find a landlord that allowed dogs, and then we had to pay a non-refundable, higher cleaning fee in order for them to fumigate the premises once we leave. All of this can really influence 1) where you live, and 2) how much you end up paying in rent.  I will tell you that the advice we got was to focus on converted flats, because almost all purpose built flats have a no-dogs provision as part of the leasehold so the landlord couldn't allow your dog, even if it is litter trained, as it is a building regulation, not up to the landlord.

It is do-able, but just be prepared to have to make a lot of phone calls, and to be really persistent.  If you want to look for a private listing, you could try craigs list, as their website allows you to easily filter for landlords that will allow pets.  In the end we got our place through an estate agent - we found one that was willing to work with us. By contrast, when we walked into one agency and said we have dogs, the guy just stared at us and never said another word - he just wanted us to leave!  [sigh] In our experience, England is not as "dog-friendly" as we had thought it would be.

Good Luck!

Or... you might get lucky!

We have a greyhound, and when we were looking to rent a flat while we were house-hunting, we called a letting agent (Countrywide) and told them we were only interested in places that would accept dogs.  The boy called me back within an hour, with a list of 12 flats & houses to view!

Or... you might get lucky!

We have a greyhound, and when we were looking to rent a flat while we were house-hunting, we called a letting agent (Countrywide) and told them we were only interested in places that would accept dogs.  The boy called me back within an hour, with a list of 12 flats & houses to view!

Wow - you ought to give the poster the contact info for that letting agent if they are in London because we have been through H*ELL over this issue. I guess some people do get lucky - lucky you.  Seriously - COnsider PMing the poster with that info because I probably called close to 100 different letting agent offices all over London and never once did I have anything close to that kind of assistance.

Unlucky us

im not in london.... im just outside edinburgh.
but i think countrywide is a national agency....

Thanks for all the input! Craiglist looked promising last time I looked. It makes it a lot easier when you can specify "pets allowed." I think we'll be trying to rent privately as opposed to using an estate agent but everything is tentative and that's a long time away from now. Hopefully it will all work out in the end.