People with pets find home search tough

Desperate tenants are forced to give up pets to get roof over their heads in city

When it comes to finding an apartment or a house to rent in the city, people with pets suffer an extra bite, besides a few scary barks from irate landlords.

Interviews with several pet owners and landlords revealed that having a pet can be a divisive issue, and many a times, cruelly forces desperate tenants to give up their pets so they can find a roof over their heads. On rarer occasions, lucky ones manage to find a landlord who is just quite fine with a tenant having a pet, as long as the pet is well behaved.

Deepshika Sharma, who lives in Shameerpet, is one such. She had to give up on her puppy, passing it to on to one of her friends, who was willing to adopt it.

“We found it very hard to find a house whose owner would accept our pet. After struggling to find a place, we finally decided to give up on our pup and handed it over to a friend. Because most house owners we approached were not in favour of renting out to pet owners, we had no other option,” she said with sadness.

House owners, who are reluctant to rent their properties to pet owners, have their own reasons.

According to a Ravula Sundar Rao, a house owner in Kukatpally, said he was initially pretty okay with tenants having pets. “We did this for about 10 years. But over time, I realised that most pet owners do not train or take care of their pets, or clean up after them. In my experience, most dog owners simply do not train their pets to behave. They may claim to be animal lovers but are in reality some of the worst animal abusers I have come across,” he said. Mr Rao said that once he decided not to let out to pet owners, his stress levels have fallen. “I no longer have to keep cleaning up and fixing the place because of damage unruly pets can do,” he said.

Ratnam Prabhakar Sharma, a retired professor who lives in Kukatpally, Phase 4, said that he lets out a fully furnished place that invariably ends with furniture getting chewed and scratched by pets. “Pets can definitely damage furniture, making them look worn out and less appealing to next tenant,” he said.

Yet another house owner in the same area, Vikram Pandey, said that he believes that unruly, untrained pets are ‘accidents waiting to happen’.

“Though the pet might be tenant’s responsibility, there’s just no avoiding the fact that as landlords, we are still held responsible,” he said.

Meanwhile, M. Ravi Kumar, who owns a dog, said he had to shell out `4,000 in addition to `8,000 rent per month to the house owner for being allowed to keep his pet. “Despite my dog being vaccinated and sterilised, many owners refused to let out a portion,” he said. ■ Page 5: Owners not living in same building a blessing

● House owners say that tenants do not train or take care of their pets, or clean up after they leave.

● Tenants who have pets are forced to shell out additional money as rent every month to keep pets.

● In spite of dogs being vaccinated, many owners refuse to rent houses.