Possible to rent with four large dogs? (Boise, Meridian: renters, HOA)

[kyliec23]

My family and I are planning to move to the Boise area in the next few months. I've been looking (mostly on Craigslist) for 3+ bedroom houses. Are there any known rental agencies that allow large breed dogs? They're well behaved and come with references, but I'm finding people can't seem to get past *large dogs.* Am I limited to private landlords only? We would also be willing to do a rent to own.

[Lacerta]

As a landlord in Boise/Meridian, I can say that we would not rent any of our properties to someone with 4 dogs of any size or breed. Most of our houses are in subdivisions with CCRs and the CCRs almost always limit the number of household pets to either 2 or 3 (for renters or owners, either one). We would be in violation of many subdivision's HOA rules if we rented to someone with 4 dogs.

So you are going to be limited first to houses in older subdivisions with non-active HOAs, and secondly by landlords who are reluctant to allow pets in the first place, and 4 dogs specifically, and 4 large dogs even more specifically (I hope none of them are aggressive breed dogs, like rotties or dobermans). I honestly don't remember ever having an applicant with 4 dogs before. We've turned quite a few people away who had 3 though.

All I can say is good luck. It'll be a tough search. I don't know any property managers in town that would allow 4 large dogs. That doesn't mean they don't exist. I just don't personally know of any. But as I said, if you find one in a subdivision less than 20 or so years old, you'll want to look at the CCRs to make sure you aren't going to be asked to move as soon as the neighbors see you walking your dogs.

Edit* I just pulled my own subdivision to see what it said, and it says "No more than 2 domestic cats and no more than 2 domestic dogs shall be allowed to inhabit any one lot. Chronic dog barking shall be considered a nuisance." So my subdivision would actually allow 4 total animals if 2 were cats and 2 were dogs. Most of the ones I have seen say words to the effect of "No more than 2 domestic cats and/or dogs" meaning 2 total animals, be they cats or dogs. Finally, I have seen some that say something like "No more than 2 domestic cats or 2 domestic dogs for a total of no more than 3 total domestic animals"

[1+1=5]

In my experience, you're better off trying to get a private landlord (from Craigslist or another place) to rent to you. That's what we had the best luck with. (We made sure to leave the rental unit way better than when we found it when we left as a way of encouraging him to rent to other animal owners.) Good luck!