Are You Moving to Sydney with Your Cat or Dog?
This week’s Mailbox Monday post is about finding pet-friendly rentals in Sydney.
Today’s Question:
My husband has already relocated to Sydney and has been chatting with his co-workers about rental properties.
He was surprised to learn that it will be very difficult to find a rental with our cat (just one). His co-workers said that lying about pet ownership is common on rental applications and recommended that we take this route. I don’t feel comfortable with this.
Is this standard practice? Can you offer any insights?
Lauren’s Reply
So this is going to crack you up. You’ll need to create a pet resume for the real estate agent/owner.
Yes, your cat will need a resume.
Check this article out on how to write a resume for your cat.
It’s probably not absolutely needed if you find an owner who has pets and understands life with pets. I’m sure they would be more relaxed about it.
Rent with Pets is specificly for pet-friendly rentals but, unfortunately, they have very few listings.
I would instead use Domain.com.au to search for pet-friendly rentals. You’ll have to start your initial search that won’t allow to filter by pets allowed. After you click search, you can then select the pets allowed option on the left sidebar.
Gumtree.com.au also lists apartment rentals, some are by the owner which might be a good option. If it’s pet-friendly and rented by an owner, you will probably have better odds.
As far as just keeping your cat a secret, that’s a bit risky. Though we have never had someone check on us after we rented a place, but then we also didn’t get any complaints.
If the rental is in a building with a strata management committee, then if pets are allowed is handled through them. So if you try to be sneaky and end up renting in a building that is not pet-friendly and you get caught, there are usually high fees and a deadline given to have the pet removed.
Hi Lauren, Very concise and helpful article. We’re moving to Sydney with a cat and wanted to know if you have any updated advice here. Yup lying on the form would suck but curious if it’s still not a very pet friendly city. Appreciate it, Thanks!
Hi Sid, Yep, still difficult finding pet-friendly rentals in Sydney. Sorry to say but not much as changed on that front. As far as cats go, if your cat is an outdoor cat, you will need to make sure that it has a collar with a tag and your details, also a bell. Feral cats are culled in Australia so you don’t want your sweet kitty to be mistaken for one. It’s best to be able to keep your cat indoors, especially at night, as several city councils are at war with cat owners. Here’s an article about this happening in Randwick. Here’s some more info you might want to check out from North Sydney Council about cat owners being fined if their cat trespass in a Wildlife Protected Area.
Oh man, I don’t have any good news for you. Sorry about that, but it’s best to be informed.
Lauren