This may ruffle feathers, but I can't stay quiet about it anymore, and I've tried.
With an obvious housing shortage here, I can't understand how landlords can add that clause when looking for tennants, especially when looking for long term. Have the landlords been to an SPCA lately and seen what happens when people are forced to choose between having a place to live, or keeping a loved family member? Unless it's a crocodile who's constantly whipping it's tail and breaking drywall, I don't get it. It's called a damage deposit. Years ago we were in that spot, desperately wanting to stay in Rossland, still breaks my heart thinking of when we had to give up our black lab. Oh well, thx for listening, maybe one day that clause will be a distant memory...
I think that's a perfectly reasonable request to make. People should take into consideration that pets may not be allowed to live in certain places before getting pets. If you know you will be renting and will need to abide by a landlord's rules then maybe a pet is not a good choice. I adore pets and grew up with many cats and dogs but pet owners need to realize that just because you love pets and consider them a part of your family, that doesn't mean everyone else has to see it that way.
Go buy your own house if you don't like it. Save up the 10 - 20%, do the maintenance, pay the insurance and property taxes, put in the work. To many people thay can't look after animals have animals.
Zorzie, I do own my own house, but I don't just think about myself.
then you can rent yours out to animal owners. Don't tell me what i should and shouldn't be able to do with mine.
Animals tend to cause further wear and tear on residental property and it is completely resonable to have that as a stipulation for rental. Not everyone is an animal lover. People should stop assuming that everyone wants/likes/embraces pets as family members. As such many landlords are not at all interested in having animals in their rental homes. I purchased a home 8 years ago from a family that had two resident dogs. I am still finding clumps of animal hair (most recently from baseboards that were replaced) and having to look at near ruined hardwood floors. The clause will never be a distant memory.
I think the key word here is "responsibility" of renters....because another (more) sacred cow is children...I had a rental property in Warfield that was rented out after major reno's and it came back to me a year later with cigarette burns in the carpet, the wallpaper ripped off the walls in places, permanent marker on the bedroom walls....and a heat mark through the lino from a pan of some sort....they had no pets, but had 3 kids between 3 & 10...now the kids obviosly didn't smoke or cook (I hope), but the damage was a group effort that the damage deposit didn't get close to covering....and I have talked to others with similar stories....so it's not just (or only) pets....I myself have rented with a pet in a previous life, and have always been respectfuly and cleaned when I moved out so it was better than when I moved in...if they make it where maybe the damage / cleaning deposit is large enough to cover a proper cleaning, that might help compensate in both cases (kids & pets). But please, it's not just pets that cause renter problems (by a long shot). I stopped having a rental property & sold it because of the headaches (damages) constantly being left behind by inconsiderate tenants....without pets.
As with all other things....it depends upon the people involved. Some pet owners are GREAT and others are neglectful and irresponsible. What's a landlord to do? A lot of them decide not to take the chance and just say "no pets." It certainly does not solve all the problems but one hears quite a few horror stories about the renters from hell - and it's not that easy to get rid of renters once they've moved in. Also, some landlords that live in the same building with their renters have their own pets and don't want to take a chance on problems between the animals.
I have been renting my house for 6 years and can also confirm the damage deposit rarely covers damages especially done by animals. Hardwood, carpets and just general painting of a home are very costly on money and time. These are all the things ruined the most by an animals claws and daily routine even when well trained.
There’s a housing=Rental shortage Province wide not just here. I had many friends who ghad to move out of Squamish in the last three years due to Fact houses have doubled if not tripled in that time period. Doubt the same will happen here due to our remoteness but the Rental things a Province Wide Issue Definetly must make hard to attract workers plus low wages in this region...