As you probably know, we have an amazing dog – Festus. In Romania we didn’t have to rent with him, as we had our own apartment.
When Festus and I moved here it was easy because hubby was already here and the landlady said it’s fine if he wants to bring his rottie.
After a few months, in May last year, we moved from Liverpool and we were undecided between Liverpool and Manchester. We had options near Manchester and in Liverpool, but we’ve decided to move to Wirral.
It was a very good idea, we both like Wirral. Near us there is a small forest, a lot of parks, shops, nice restaurants, beach and interesting tourist attractions.
We’ve made a few friends this year, I am a volunteer and I like what I’m doing. All this and the nice landscapes of Wirral were enough to make us decide to look for a house in this area.
We started looking 2 months ago, but we weren’t in a rush. We went to 4-5 agencies and we looked online for properties to rent. We said from the start we don’t want to collaborate with one of them, a very big one, but with quite unpleasant employees.
The 3rd agency was the one that we thought it had potential. We went there and talked for a few minutes, they didn’t ask nothing about us, just what type of properties we are looking for. We booked viewings for 2 houses that were fine from our point of view. Unlike most tenants, we didn’t want a place near a bus station or a school. Both houses were in an industrial aria. That was perfect for us, just a few houses, so less cats. It sounds strange, but the number of cats is a big deal for us with Festus, because he has a high prey drive.
Anyway, the houses didn’t look good. We told the agent we want to see more proprieties and that we had a dog. After 15 minutes, we got a call from the agency. We were asked where are we from, what breed is Festus. Apparently it made a difference, as in 5 minutes she called again and told him they cannot help us find a place.
We were disapointed. The houses weren’t nice, they didn’t look like in the pictures and I’m sure the landlords would have said it’s fine to let with a dog. Considering the way the houses looked, it was unlikely that Festus would have damaged the place. The lady said she didn’t call the landlords, but she thought they wouldn’t agree, that no landlord would agree.
The 4th agency was the one. We went there and talked with a lovely lady. We told her about Festus and our requirements. Again, we booked viewings for 2 houses and we had low expectations. After the ordeal with the 3rd agency, we thought the houses will be in a bad shape, unlike the pictures on the website. The 1st house we saw was fine. The 2nd one was even better. So, we went back to the agency, told them we want to rent it.
They talked with the landlord and she said she doesn’t mind we have a rottweiler. So, we saw it on Thursday and on Tuesday next week we paid the deposit. Happy ending!
I still don’t think is hard to rent with a dog. We end up renting the 1st house we said we want to rent. It takes time to find a good place, but everybody has issues when they search for a home.
We had a lot of requirements: post office in walking distance, easy to find a parking space, a quieter street and not near a bus station, a green spot close to the house, a yard (even if it’s small), 2 bedrooms, storage space and enough cupboards in the kitchen.
