Renting a house/trailer with dogs.... (apartments, rentals, insurance)

[beckycat]

Is this usually an issue? I was looking at rentals on Craigslist and I see some say breed restrictions. The dogs are housebroken, well behaved, friendly, vaccinated and flea free. How easy or hard will it be to find a rental?

[Robynn]

What kind of dogs do you have?

[JRadV]

It would depend on the breed, size, and number of dogs you have. When we first moved down here, we had trouble finding a place because we had three dogs - we gave up on house rentals and found an apartment in Wescott that allowed up to 3 dogs with no weight restrictions. Almost all the house listings we saw either said no dogs at all, or had strict size guidelines (20-50 pounds normally) and only allowed for one or two.

[Robynn]

Originally Posted by JRadV

It would depend on the breed, size, and number of dogs you have. When we first moved down here, we had trouble finding a place because we had three dogs - we gave up on house rentals and found an apartment in Wescott that allowed up to 3 dogs with no weight restrictions. Almost all the house listings we saw either said no dogs at all, or had strict size guidelines (20-50 pounds normally) and only allowed for one or two.

Same here

The breed restriction is usually pit bulls, german shepherds, etc because then it effects insurance rates for the landlord.

[MustangEater82]

I had a wiener dog, and a Cat and ran into some problems. Someplaces allowed cats, but no dogs, or dogs but no cats, I never had to worry about breed or size restrictions.

the irony of the situation my 2 year old would probably destroy a house faster then all the dogs/cats I have owned in my life.

[Techgeek]

Some places have breed restrictions. They won't allow "problem" breeds like rotties, dobies, pitts etc. Personally, I've never had issues with breeds in general with one major exception so I don't buy the whole "some breeds are dangerous" argument. The one exception in my opinion are akitas. I was personally bitten by one,the rescue my dog came from won't take them because the one they had a few years ago killed another dog and I've heard other stories about them being "fine" with their owners but too aggressive with outsiders. In fact, I've only ever known of one akita that was fine with everyone.

In my experience most of the "problem" breeds are seen as such because they are used as guard/attack dogs (shepherds, rotties, dobies etc). People don't realize that they are used for those purposes, not because they are vicious, but because they are big AND obedient/trainable.

Some places have weight restrictions as well. They figure big dogs can do more damage than little ones. Limits on the number of dogs can fall into this category as well, more dogs = more damage.

Some places won't allow dogs at all because if the place is a rental, they have to rent it to someone after your lease expires. That means they have to defur the place or the next tenant may suffer from allergies etc.

Remember, when renting a home/trailer, you are renting from a person. That person has to take on all the risk of you damaging the place or your dog attacking a neighbor. If you rent an apartment, you are usually renting from a company that can absorb risk better.

[beckycat]

I have 3 dogs. The breeds are Rotty mix, Shepherd mix and Boston Terrier. They are all well behaved and wouldn't hurt anybody or anything. They are not guard dogs. I don't think there should be breed restrictions either because it's not the dog, it's how they are raised. I am a responsible pet owner and take care of my dogs.

Although we prefer not to rent, we will have to temporarily until we find the area we're interested and the location of work. Once that is established, we would purchase a home.

JRadV: Where are those apartments located? We prefer a house or trailer but if it comes down to it, we may have to rent an apartment.

[roxanneself]

Originally Posted by MustangEater82

the irony of the situation my 2 year old would probably destroy a house faster then all the dogs/cats I have owned in my life.

Right. As a landlord I promise you there were times I wished it was legal to refuse to rent to families with toddlers. I'm joking, mostly. I have had toddlers and I have had very large destructive puppies. My dogs have never come close to doing the damage that my kids did when they were little.
We allow dogs and cats in our rental property, but for a while we had a breed restriction too. It absolutely chafed at me because I am appalled by breed restrictions in general, but the insurance we were carrying at the time required it.

Unfortunately, insurance carriers aren't going to care how well behaved you say your dogs are. You MIGHT get a waiver if you can show proof, such as a certificate of training from an approved dog training program. I had a friend who got a waiver from an insurance carrier for her Great Dane, but that dog had some serious training and she had the documents to prove it.

[klysik]

Most of the larger management companies have the breed restrictions in their lease. I've notice (as I just signed one yesterday) the list has goeen a bit longer. They also have "lovebirds" listed as exotic pets!

[Sprouts]

The places we looked at charged 200 per cat and dog.....non-refundable. It was through a management company. That annoyed me so we decided to go ahead and buy a home (the no refundable part). It would have cost us an extra thousand in deposits.

We have tenants in our other home and didn't charge a pet deposit. Maybe look at a rental by owner, first. We do have stipulations and required a professional carpet cleaning before they vacate.