At Wills & Smerdon we are acutely aware that pet owners struggle to find rental properties. We joined the Lets with Pets scheme in 2014 as we wanted to be able to work with our landlords to encourage acceptance of pets – big and small.
Landlords can be nervous about letting to tenants with pets and we explain how the perceived risk can be minimised using the information published by Lets with Pets. When we carry out rental appraisals we always discuss the pros and cons of accepting pets and many of our properties are advertised as Pet Friendly or Pets by Negotiation. As we cover a semi-rural area we find that many landlords are pet owners themselves and therefore actively encourage pets. In the last year we have housed dogs, cats, tarantula spiders and mini turtles and we add an appropriate clause into our tenancy agreement.
As pet owners ourselves, we encourage our landlords to consider accepting pets if the property is appropriate. We explain to our landlords that we work with the Lets with Pets scheme and by considering pets demand for their property will increase and, in our experience, pet owners can make long term, excellent tenants. We have received many enquiries directly from the Lets with Pets website and are proud to be associated with Dogs Trust. Our office dog, Percy, is always happy to welcome new friends to the neighbourhood!
Wills & Smerdon tenants Tim and Kim explain how the agency helped them to find a property that would also welcome their dog Molly:
Finding a premises to let which is suitable for a dog is tricky. Is there a garden? How big is the garden? Is it enclosed? Is the home in an area which has dog-friendly spaces to walk/exercise your dog? And these are just some of the issues relating to the dog only!
Along with these requirements is your owner ‘human’ checklist which obviously needs consideration. Add to all this the fact that most property owners/landlords are hesitant at best to lease to tenants with pets, can make the search for a suitable premises bordering on impossible, which we found out first hand when looking to move house. We found our bargaining tool to be the fact that Molly goes to Doggy Day Care Monday to Friday and is never left at home unattended.
We were delighted to eventually find a home to let through Wills & Smerdon where the landlord was happy to lease his property to pet owners and were fortunate that it was a short hop to wide open spaces where Molly can rid herself of the excess energy which defines her breed. We have let the property for two years now and could not be happier. We are thrilled with the great service received by the managing agent, Wills & Smerdon.
To find out more about Wills & Smerdon visit www.willsandsmerdon.co.uk
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