Really hard to find a pet friendly rental in Sydney

[ZAtoAUSsoon]

Hi guys,

 

We've been in Sydney for more than a week now but finding it really difficult to find a pet friendly rental. We've got Chihauhaus aged 10,11 and 12. They sleep most of the day and aren't noisy. At this stage we are even looking at suburbs far south and west. Our container is already being processed by customs and the dogs will be flying early March. Bringing the dogs with us has been the most expensive part of our journey to Aus. This is really stressful as we cannot focus on securing employment until we've found a place to stay.

 

By selecting pet friendly on realestate.com.au or on other similar websites, 99% of the places are eliminated.

Any contacts, advice or general information would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Ruaan

 

 

 

 

[Malans]

Hi Ruaan

I would suggest not filtering for pet friendly on realestate.com. Phone the agents and speak to them rather about the properties you're interested in. Some will be pet negotiable.

Where in Sydney are you wanting to ideally live? We've just recently moved to Perth after being in Sydney for almost 4 years.

If you're interested in living up on the northern beaches (it's beautiful!) then try calling Nadene at Bell Property in Frenchs Forest. Tell her that Sally Malan referred you. 

Something will come up and your agents should be able to hold your container for a bit if you need them to. I inadvertently got ours delayed by a week because I forgot about the final 'release' paper that was emailed to me.

Good luck. It will all come right. 

[Mara]

I have had cats when looking for rental properties. Once I found the property I wanted, I told them about the cats. I also suggested that they add a clause to the rental contract which stated that I would be responsible financially for any damage or destruction that my cats caused to the property and that I would have the carpets steam cleaned when I vacated the property. All three of the times, I had no problem, the cats caused no damage, and I steam cleaned the carpets when I vacated. No issues and no problems.

[ZAtoAUSsoon]

Hi Malans & Mara,

 

Thank you for the advice. We are going to adapt our approach going forward.

 

We are trying to find something relatively central (not CBD or its direct surroundings as this would be too expensive) that would allow us to commute in lets say 40-80 minutes. There are lots of show houses tomorrow so hopefully we'll find something decent. Once we find jobs we will then reconsider our options regarding location and cost.

Sydney is crazy busy compared to Pretoria so it'll take some time getting used to.

 

Thanks again!

Ruaan

 

 

[Mara]

Ruaan, I may add that all of our rentals were brand new homes, we were the first to live in them. Perhaps the owners were worried they may not get tenants,  not sure!

[vrooyan]

Hi, something slightly of topic, what is the approx cost of taking your pet to AUS . I have a Jack Russell and am looking at about 50k is that correct.

[Elandri]

On 3/10/2016 at 11:31 PM, vrooyan said:

Hi, something slightly of topic, what is the approx cost of taking your pet to AUS . I have a Jack Russell and am looking at about 50k is that correct.

Hi, We are in the process of sorting out every thing for moving our dog. For our Rottweiler the south African cost will be R45000, then there is quarantine and permit $2065. Have a look at the topic below:

 

[Shellfish]

My understanding (in victoria) is that if the advert doesn't specifically disallow pets, then it is assumed that they are allowed. I would ring the agents to confirm but I also wouldn't filter to 'pet friendly'. 

Edited June 9, 2016 by Shellfish

[ZAtoAUSsoon]

@Shellfish: Thanks, we found a nice place soon after my initial post. It was a mission thought!

@vrooyan & @Elandri: Also budget for the following:

• Getting your dogs from the Melbourne quarantine facility to your final destination.
• Council registration fees. In NSW it is a $52 once off lifetime fee for a neutered dog.
• The first vet's visit to scan the microchip, fill out a council form and the first battery of annual inoculations (heartworm, etc.) cost $220/dog.

Also, make sure that the agency you deal with does their job. Our dogs were offloaded from the airplane at OR Tambo as our agent could not arrange an internal airline permit (to be issued by the airline's HQ) in time. This had a knock on effect as all the prior vet's visits and permits were scheduled around the planned date of departure. 

 

By not registering a dog, you risk being fined up to $2,200.

[rozellem]

@ZAtoAUSsoon, this is a subject that stresses many new arrivals out.  Can you give them a few pointers as to what you did to secure your rental?  Was it necessary to go live on the outskirts of Sydney just to get a pet friendly rental?  Hope Sydney is treating you well. 

[ZAtoAUSsoon]

@rozellem Thanks for the suggestion.

 

How we secured a pet-friendly rental in Sydney:

 

We landed in Sydney middle of February 2016. We gave ourselves 10 days to find a rental. In hindsight, I think an extra week would have been better. We were really panicking as we approached the last few days in our temporary place. During this time, we also had to buy a car, sort out admin like insurance, dogs' paperwork, etc, which takes a lot of time.

 

We stayed in a nice new bachelor's flat in Wolli Creek that we found on AirBnB. Our host even picked us up at the train station, which is about two blocks away. When we booked we only looked at places with WiFi, but the mobile network here is fast and stable so don't stress too much about it. Wolli Creek is two stations away from Sydney Airport. It's not an ideal suburb for longer stays as most of the rentals there are in 30-40 storey buildings. At night, you hear all the sounds bouncing between the buildings.

 

Initially, we only went online looking for pet-friendly rentals. My opinion is that "pet-friendly" means that no-one else wants to rent it. The places we saw were horrendous. You start itching just looking at the house. Eventually, we downloaded the Realestate.com.au app. It shows all the open houses on a map which is useful when driving around. (It works better on iPad). There are always places on show right throughout the week. Usually, there is 15-20 minutes time for viewing. I would recommend just driving around to view nearby showhouses. This will give you a good idea of the different areas. We found the online searches to be a waste of time. The agents rarely respond and the nice places are quickly snatched up.

 

Initially, we only looked to the South. We didn't want to spend too much being unemployed so we didn't search for rentals close to the city centre. We were not impressed by the West. We eventually went to the North where a new building was on show. The agent was late and we realised that the building opposite the street was also on show. The agent showed us around and we really liked the place. We asked him if the owner would consider pets in the unit, he said he would find out. He didn't really respond to our calls or e-mails until we sent him a document with photos of our last house, a bank statement and a reference letter from a family member in Perth. I think this sorted the issue of the dogs.

 

The next issue was our ability to pay. We showed him that we have more than adequate reserves, but he said the owner would require six months rental in advance plus the bond (which is equivalent to one month's rental), to which we agreed. We wanted a six-month rental but he insisted on at least 12 months, to which we also agreed as we really liked the place and we were desperate. So we got the keys to our rental on the same day that we had to move out of our AirBnB place. The lease agreement was in the agent's own name and all the post in mailbox was also addressed to him, so we figured out that he must be the owner.

 

We have never stayed in an apartment before, but I must say that it's a blessing not to worry about the garden, pool, house maintenance and security. Our place is a decent sized 2 bed, 2 bath unit with basement parking and a storage cage. Our cage is packed to the rafters. We also have two large balconies facing North and South. I am not a fan of carpets, but it is not too bad. We bought a Bissel Spot Cleaner for the occasional accident on the carpets and it's an awesome appliance. I think we'll probably renew our lease. I guess apartment living will only work if you've got small dogs or trained dogs used to living in an apartment.

 

We stay in a suburb called Hornsby. There are many Asians, Indians and Russians here. Most of them are friendly while others are just plain rude. We've got a big mall and the train station is within walking distance. It takes 36 min from Hornsby station to Central station if you take the fast limited stops train. It takes my partner 25 minutes to get to work (St Leonard's). The Kuringai Chase National park is also very close. It has lovely picnic areas next to a lake with paddling boats, walking trails, a war museum, etc. The closest beach is Mona Vale and is about 25 minutes drive. It is really a lovely beach with both adult and kiddies tidal pools. The Northern parts of Sydney are very green with massive trees. I know there are many benefits to staying close to the CBD but prefer the setup we've got here. I think it's because it reminds me of our suburb back in Pretoria. If we had to move, I would look to the North/North-West again.

 

As for employment, my partner got a job offer within two weeks and has since been offered another position. I on the other hand, am still looking. I am a highly qualified and experienced mechanical and electronic engineer. I have rewritten my CV/resume several times. I customise my cover letter and CV to the individual job postings to get past the ATS but it is difficult as there are hundreds of applicants for each position. I knew beforehand that it would be a challenge but it is a bit discouraging having had a very successful career back home and here nothing. I do however know that we've made the right decision and I will eventually find something, even if it is in a new field. We've had an armed robbery at our house last year in Pretoria and this has now recently happened again to the new owners of

our house. This brings back so many bad memories and certainly helps to remind us why we left South Africa and put things into perspective.

 

So good luck to all of you coming over! Don't stress too much about everything as we did, most things fall into place even if it is not exactly how you planned. And yes Sydney is a lovely place. Having since been to Perth and Melbourne twice already, I would choose Sydney again.