Is it easier to find apartments in person?

[68vette]

Burlington is unique. We have one of, if not the smallest number of available housing units. The laws are set up so that a landlord has little to no resources to collect on damaged property (outside of court and that takes months). It is much easier to rent to collage kids, even if they cause a little damage. I'm a landlord. I would rather fix holes and repaint than have to replace woodwork and floors. I understand many people have great pets, but I have no way of knowing that. I understand your frustration, but the laws in place seem to protect the tenant more than the landlord. This why landlords refuse pets.
Towns like Winooski are able to charge monthly rent for pets. The other option I can think of would be Keen's Crossing at Winooski Falls. I don't have the link, but you could do a Google search. They do rent with pets. They charge monthly rent per pet. The big downside is they are expensive. A big plus is you would be a few minutes from downtown.

[FrugalYankee]

Burlington also only allows landlords to ask for a security deposit equivalent to one months' rent. Ridiculous! The way the system is set up it takes approx TWO months to get rid of a deadbeat tenant in VT. I am a landlord in VT but no WAY would I ever want yo be a landlord in one of the areas like Burlington that make it impossible for landlords to deal properly wth trashy tenants.

[MRVphotog]

You have to look at this from a landlords perspective. The fact that your " not a scumbag with a puppy " has little to do with it. Same for being a physician, a moot point. Coming from the perspective that ALL physicians are perfect tenants and that adult dogs never make a mess is very naive. There are two sides to every issue, understand the landlords side. Some informative posts in this thread should give you some perspective on that. This will help you.

As others have suggested perhaps the idea of offering to pay an extra security deposit might make the diference. If your pets are as perfect as you say, you would be getting that back...right?

Renting with pets is gonna make your search much harder. Not just in Burlington, but many other places around the country as well. As I said, it makes it harder but certainly not impossible. Don't give up, use all resources available and there are many. Realtors(some manage rental units), Property Management companies, your employer, craiglist, Burlington Free Press, Seven Days, many more. I hope you find a place that works.