Pet friendly rentals (Kingsport: apartments, hotel, houses)

[LORIDALE]

My husband received a job offer to work in Tennessee. His territory would be from greeneville to bristol. We are looking for a place to rent until we can sell our house in Florida, problem is we have 2 dogs and 5 cats. Does anyone have any suggestions? We just got back from Tennessee looked at a couple of rentals but did not tell them how many animals we had. These houses were dumps.. Someone help. They want my husband to start work March 1st.

[gammarayburst]

I have a cat and moved here at the beginning of the month and all i have to say is it was brutal trying to find a rental that will accept pets. The tri-cities is NOT pet friendly at all. I really couldn't find any. So, the way I did it, was looked at a place, talked to the owner, and if they liked you, at the end of it...mention pets. That's how I got this place. "Well, we normally don't allow pets, but I like you so I will bend it." Paid the extra 100 bucks for a pet deposit. Sorry I can't be of much help, good luck though!

[Bailey.]

With the amount of animals you have it is going to be tough. I have 4 chinchillas and had a hard time. Some said absolutely NO, some said that will be an extra $100 a month, some wanted $200 per animal for a deposit.

I did find a place, finally, that said the chins were not a problem, but I don't think I would have ever been able to find a place that would have accepted what you have.

Apartment Rental and Hotel Directory accepting Dogs, Cats and Other Pets
Rent.com: Search Apartments for Rent has a pet friendly section
Or google "pet friendly rentals"

[jabogitlu]

A bit of subterfuge might go a long way. If it's a situation where the landlord isn't going to be by often (like if you rent from a larger business that owns many apts) then maybe you could tell them you have two dogs.

Because, yeah,.... that's a lot of animals.

[mbmouse]

Hate to be a downer here, but it is going to be VERY hard to find a "nice" rental that will allow that many pets. You may have to make the best of the temp "dump" to be able to keep the pets with you. From what I have seen, landlords are not very willing in general to rent with any pets, let alone that many.

[runrgirl]

We recently rented a place and the landlord did not want to allow our two dogs at first. This is because the last person who he rented to had a cat and it totally trashed the place- peeing all over, hair all over and he never cleaned it. We promised him how neat our dogs were and even promised him we would lock them in the bathroom or kennel when we are gone. He agreed to this. I cleaned the place up really good from the last tenant. The landlord has been in and sees how spotless it is and he actually likes our dogs now. We even offered to sign a contract that we would be legally responsible for any needed repairs for pet damage or a cleaning fee at the end if it wasn't cleaned to his standards ( our dogs are cleaner and well behaved than a lot of people so this did not bother me) and I think you just need to talk to the landlords and let them know your personality and that you will care for their property like it was your own. Make sure you take pictures of your pets too so they can see them, offer to sign a damage contract and encourage them to stop by and inspect the place to ease their fears.

[just13catz4me]

I own an animal rescue and it's totally depressing that this is the case. However, I have helped a friend of mine move twice and she has two large dogs (one of them a pitty) and 4 cats and we've always mananged to find something. I know there are some new apartments in Kingsport that allow pets...make sure to let them know it's a temp situation or maybe consider renting a house instead.

[dzann]

Problem really around here - as far as rent goes the landlord is protected but not the tenant. I went to court once because I refused to pay the rent after my landlady refused to fix the water leak in my apartment ceiling and I had black mold and a 3 foot hole in my ceiling from it. When she evicted me and took me to court, the judge told me "that's the problem, we don't uphold the landlord-tenant act around here" but the landlords will sue you and swear any problem with the property is your fault - she tried to pin the water damage on me. If I had not taken pictures and had the Fire Marshall write a statement the damage was too extensive for it to have started while I had lived there, I would have had to pay $25,000 in damages; as it was I had to pay back rent to her and that was all. Turned out, the next day there was literally a waterfall streaming where the wall separating the bedroom and living room had once been. I recommend before moving here you research all the laws regarding rent agreement and animal ownership. You will most likely find yourself being sued or in jail if you do not.