In Australia, particularly in Victoria, there are no such laws on pets and renting. As a result, the decision of allowing or barring pets from tenancies or residencies depends entirely on the discretion of the landlord. If you are animal lover, then you need to keep this in mind while shortlisting houses.

With that said, it has been observed over the years that the real estate industry is not particularly welcoming to tenants that have pets in their homes. While their reservations maybe justified in some cases, given that pets if not trained properly, can cause disturbances to surrounding neighbours and or property damage.

So, what can you do to make sure that ALL members of your family are welcome in your new rental home? How can you gain the confidence of your real estate agent and landlord? Below are some tips that may help;

Pet Training

If your pet has been to and passed any training at an accredited facility make it known to your real estate agent and landlord.

References

Make sure that you have letters of reference from people that can attest to your pets behaviour. These references could be from your vet or previous landlords.

Shortlist pet friendly houses

Make it clear to your real estate agent that you want only to be considered for pet friendly rentals. This could narrow down the number of houses for you to choose from, but it is well worth being upfront at the beginning of your rental property search.

If you are scouting for rental apartments, ask your real estate agent to show you properties that are in walking distance to parks and in close proximity to vet clinics. In addition, you can also ask your agent to lookout for apartment complexes where there are tenants with pets. This may make it easier for you to gain approval to have pets in your rental apartment from the landlord or the building association.

Read your house agreement carefully

Since you are choosing a pet friendly house, make sure to read your rental agreement carefully. Your landlord could put in a clause that could be detrimental for you in future. The clause could be about reviewing his/hers decision to allow pets after six months.

Assure the building association

You could face the situation, where even if the landlord is willing, the building association is against allowing pets in their building. In such cases, you need to fight for your cause this may be in the form of a petition that is signed by the tenants on your floor. If the building is small, then try to get the petition signed from all the tenants. This may make the building association reconsider their decision.