PETS

We are unlikely to refuse a request for a goldfish or guide dog. In a non sharing house we are more likely to agree to pets.  I.e. a house for one.  In the unlikely event we agree to pets there is an administration charge of £50 to consider and agree to your request.  No charge for a guide dog


We are unlikely to agree to other pets for for the following reasons:

    • At least 50% of times when we have agreed to pets we have regretted our decision. 
      We consider each request based on anticipated risk and mobility.
    • The problems experienced to date have ranged from:
    • Damage caused by the pet - ruined furniture, urine stains on carpets and smells, fleas, (e.g. hamster ate curtain though cage on window sill) etc.
    • Other housemates initially agree, but later fall out over the pet and this has included:
    • A second housemate retorting, "you agreed to one housemate having a pet so I would like one too."  Other tenants later claim, "I did not realise the consequences of pets".
      "I did not know I was allergic, now their pet has become more important than my heath!"
    • "I did not think the others would allow it to walk on kitchen work tops - it is unhygienic, I am leaving!"
    • Other housemates initially think, "how cute", until they endure the smell in the hot final months of the contract when exams are looming and nerves are strained. 
    • One housemate left (with his pet) at the start of term in a hot September when another tenant complained bitterly that flies were swarming around the droppings, the inseparable student and pet departed together, amidst great acrimony. 
    • Phobias (irrational fear of harmless thing) and realistic fear of certain pets are likely to put off specific prospective tenants from viewing during your occupation, e.g.:
    • Rodents, snakes, large spiders. 
    • Some claim they will keep the pet in an outbuilding and not in the house - but bring it in during the colder months which coincide with viewings.  Some turn the heating up to keep the pet warm to the discomfort and annoyance of other tenants.
    • Impressions and perceptions are important - viewers from November to January have stated they could not live with the smell – “do you have any other houses?”  It does not help to say the smell evaporates with the departure of the pet.  The first impression has already been made.