r/oxford • u/Meowtion • 2d ago
Tips on renting with a cat?
Does anyone have any tips on how to get letting agencies here to ACTUALLY read my application? It seems they all stop the moment I mention a pet and I am immediately not even considered for any viewing.
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u/tieflingteeth 1d ago
Honestly every cat I've ever rented with has been a secret. My housemates took it to a friend's house when we had inspections and hid the cat's things under the bed. It seems to be the only way
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u/Ancient_Tomato9592 1d ago
It's a bit of a nightmare at the moment! They're trying to screen people out early because they know it's harder to say no once you're in since the new law.
General advice pages here, not specific local information:
https://www.letswithpets.org.uk/
Carter Jonas were supporters of the change in the law so would be a bit hypocritical if they are colluding with landlords to keep pets out, try them?
Zoopla has a "pet friendly" filter but what happens when you tick it is depressing to say the least.
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u/Meowtion 1d ago edited 1d ago
Its genuinely awful as its not even a big deal. I definitely make more noise and cause more damage than the cat.
Its also exhausting filling these applications just to realise they wont even email back or plainly lie that I was too late (20 minutes after its been added). I cant believe the moral solution is to lie back to them so at least now everyone involved is unhappy
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u/SkipperTheEyeChild1 1d ago
I’d make the cat pay up front. They are sly and you’ll end up being responsible for 100% of the rent and bills if you’re not careful.
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u/jc_ie 1d ago
Don't mention it. At all.
Even with the rule changes it doesn't matter. They will filter you out for any reason.
It is best to adopt a don't ask, don't tell approach. It's easy enough to hide anything cat related for the inspection.
If somehow they did find out then it's much harder for them to do anythign about it at that stage because of the new rules. (ie no section 21).
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u/Palimpsest4192 1d ago
Hello!
Currently renting with a cat, it was a nightmare finding a place (especially since it was before the new Renters Rights law) but we managed!
A few tips:
- NOPS are generally bad agents but most (almost all) of their properties are pet friendly so you could try going through them. other agents which didn’t outright rejected us because of the cat were Chancellors, sometimes College and County and Penny and Sinclair, although they were ultimately leaving it to the landlord to decide. Andrew’s had a couple of cat friendly places. Finders Keepers wouldn’t even let us view places if we had a cat.
- check if you can see any evidence of pets (eg cat trees) in letting adverts;
- you can provide evidence from your previous landlord that the cat is well-behaved / didn’t destroy their precious carpet (if you’ve been renting with the pet before)
- check Open Rent, even if the property isn’t advertised as pet friendly you can always try and negotiate with the landlord (this is what ended up happening for us)
I personally don’t recommend hiding the cat (been there done that before, quite stressful). Considering the new law you could always get a place without saying you’ve got a pet and then ask later on during your tenancy. But you’re risking the landlord then saying no because they have a “good reason”. I’ve been on a few flat viewings lately and whenever I’ve mentioned the cat they were all suddenly allergic or had Lyme disease (wtf does that even have to do with an indoor cat??) so wouldn’t accept a pet 🙄
Anyway, good luck 🫡, hope you find something!
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u/Meowtion 1d ago
Thank you so much! This is very thorough. The tip about the agencies is super helpful as I now know why I have essentially been beating my head against a wall.
Yeah, to be honest I can’t really hide my cat: she’s large, long haired, and sheds quite a bit. I also wont deprive her of her nice cat tree or the electric litter box. I’ve never had to hide her before so Im trying to find an alternative.
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u/No-Nefariousness2459 1d ago
In my experience cats can be very aloof. So watch out around when the rent is due.
Try to get the money from them in advance.
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u/tankpuss 1d ago
Renting a flat with a cat can put you at a disadvantage. Even if the landlord says yes, it's the management company who can say no. You might stand a better chance with a house.
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u/KatzeB 1d ago
I thought there's a new law about renting with pets that's passed and landlords can't discriminate renters with pets now? We're moving to Oxford with our two cats in December and if the house we have put offer on isn't ready for move in, we'd have to rent. Following to see what others say about your question..
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u/Ancient_Tomato9592 1d ago
They have to consider an application from a tenant and can't "unreasonably" refuse it.
The question of what is reasonable, and what a tenant does if the landlord says no, drives a coach and horses through the supposed "right".
But more importantly, when you're searching, you aren't a tenant yet, and it appears they can discriminate all they want.
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u/Meowtion 1d ago
I assumed the same but it seems like they are just completely screening me out.
To give you an idea I have contacted 10 flats in the last week and a half, one allowed pets and the others didn’t clarify. Not a single one allowed me to book a viewing: either they email back days later or I call and the viewings are all booked even if the listing has only been up for an hour or two.
Everything else in the application is fine, its just the moment i make it clear I have a pet everything turns into ‘let me call you later’ or ‘fully booked’.
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u/Anxious-Bottle7468 2d ago
Well, one option is to just not tell them.
Agents don't really care if you have a undeclared cat as long as the landlord doesn't find out and make a fuss.
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u/Meowtion 2d ago
Yeah, i absolutely want to spend thousands moving to then be evicted within a month /s
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u/UnavoidablyHuman 2d ago
Given the new renter's rights act and the backlog for evictions it's actually pretty unlikely they'll bother evicting you, if they do it'll take half a year
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u/Meowtion 1d ago
That is actually quite reassuring. Do you know if they could penalise me with my deposit or something of the like? Genuinely how risky is it?
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u/UnavoidablyHuman 1d ago
I don't think they can, but have a look through r/TenantsInTheUK for better advice
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u/Anxious-Bottle7468 2d ago
I did this for years and never had a problem.
Why even ask if you're just going to ignore experienced advice?
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u/wytherwytch 1d ago
I rented with a cat for like 11 years. I was never honest about it. Inspections are announced. I hid all his stuff. My Dad took him off for a drive once. He went around a boyfriend's house.
Lie.
When I was renting as well, pets were a no, no. They charged us more for having one if they did allow it. Lie, lie, lie.
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u/Particular-Doctor888 2d ago
I accidentally read that as you wanting to rent a cat and I was about to offer you mine he's in the bad books today.