Pets get rental cold shoulder
JAMIE HEATHER describes his great dane boxer cross Harvey as one of the family.
But when the 35-year-old project manager and his wife Donna-Lee wanted to move to Auckland from Australia, it took a stressful month of searching to find a house where they could live with their dog.
‘‘It was quite a shock, just how many [ properties] were not dog friendly at all,’’ Heather says.
And with home ownership decreasing as property prices soar, more renters are being forced to give up their beloved pets to find a place to live.
SPCA Auckland chief executive Andrea Midgen said the charity often received animals from renters who couldn’t find a petfriendly property.
‘‘This is incredibly distressing for people, as parting with a pet is like losing one of your family members,’’ she says.
Heather said many properties which were listed as pet-friendly did not allow large dogs.
‘‘ There’s this perception that they’re trouble,’’ he said.
Heather found a pet- friendly rental property in Remuera only after a chance meeting with Wendell Property Management owner Natalie Wendell.
While dogs are the hardest animals to accommodate, even cats can make finding a property difficult, as conservation biology student Lydia Tyrell discovered when she had to move house with her cat, Mingus.
When she was between flats two years ago, it took her three months to find a place that allowed cats.
‘‘ I really got the impression when I was looking for flats that most people, including landlords, have an idea that cats damage property, and wee inside and scratch curtains and things like that,’’ she said.
‘‘No cat I’ve ever had has done things like that, but I have heard stories of it.’’
When she had to move again, Mingus stayed with her then-partner before moving to Christchurch to live with her parents.
She said she would not get Mingus back until she had settled somewhere more permanent.
‘‘I love animals and I love having a pet, but I wouldn’t have one again until I had a stable living environment, not because of the hassle to me but because of the . . . guiltiness of not being able to meet that pet’s needs,’’ she said.
Auckland Property Investors Association vice- president Peter Lewis said pets were more difficult to accommodate than young children. Landlords do not have to be notified about kids.
‘‘It’s probably now harder to get a tenancy with a pet than it used to be,’’ said Lewis. He said the increased difficulty was a result of more compact properties such as apartments – which are often unsuitable for animals – being on the market, as well as landlords becoming more discerning when choosing tenants.
‘‘Landlords have become a bit more professional, and more aware of the problems and looking rather more carefully at their tenants than they used to.’’
He thinks only one in 20 rental properties in urban Auckland allow animals. In the rest of the country, where rental properties tend to be larger houses, pets were more acceptable.
Lewis said landlords generally ban pets because they damage properties and disturb neighbours.
However, property managers sometimes ban pets simply because it is ‘‘easier to say no’’, according to Wendell.
She said pet owners were usually settled and dependable tenants, but accommodating them could be complicated.
‘‘It’s more work, which is why I think a lot of people go, ‘Nah, toohard basket’.’’