Welcome to Flatmate Rooms 100% official weblog. Be the first, subscribe to our RSS feed.
I love cats and my wife doesn't let me keep one. I figured she's just jealous. Whatever the reasons for not allowing pets in the house, here is some valuable information for landlords to consider.
Statistics show that Landlords who exclude pet owners from their properties are missing out on a large chunk of the rental market as 43% of the population currently own a pet. By adopting a pet-friendly approach, you can easily increase demand for your property and attract long-term, responsible tenants.
Finding privately rented accommodation that allows pets can be very difficult. Many pet owners are forced to live in unsuitable properties or keep their pets without consent from their landlord. In some extreme cases, we know that owners are even having to give up their pets or else face becoming homeless. We'd like more landlords to have this information available so they can see what they are missing out on.
Statistics also show that most people don't keep a 6-foot Burmese Python. Large snakes didn't even make it to the top 10. I'd advise landlords posting adverts on our site to leave out the pets option for later discussion. If I didn't convince you yet, read on... there's another kitty pic later on, promise.
It’s estimated that 43% of the population currently own a pet[1] and almost 5 million people live in privately rented accommodation in the UK[2]. Yet few landlords will rent their properties to tenants with pets.
As the UK’s largest dog welfare charity, Dogs Trust receives many enquiries from pet owners who are struggling to find privately rented accommodation that will accept their pets. All too often people are forced to live in unsuitable properties or keep pets without consent from their landlord. In some extreme cases, owners are even having to give up their pets or else face becoming homeless.
In a recent survey* by Dogs Trust:
Dogs Trust has launched its Lets with Pets campaign to show landlords and letting agents that renting properties to tenants with pets can be straightforward and does make business sense. By following the simple steps set out in this booklet, anyone can maximise their property’s rental potential.
[1] Pet Food Manufacturers Association Annual Report 2008 www.pfma.org.uk
[2] Figure based on data taken from www.arla.co.uk and the Office for National Statistics, General Housing
Survey 2006
[*] Taken from a Dogs Trust survey of 1417 pet owners, June 2008.
Not many landlords allow pets and therefore if you do, you will have an edge over the competition in your area.
Pet-friendly landlord
The majority of pet owners are responsible and prepared to pay a larger deposit.
Steadfast Property Management
Most people have some form of pet ...if you cut them all out you’d have no tenants.
Pet-friendly landlord
I rented my two bedroom house to a family with a dog and it was a very positive experience. The tenants brought their dog with them on the second viewing so I could meet him and see for myself that he was well behaved. They even offered to pay a higher deposit. They moved out after 18 months and the property was left in a good condition with no sign of a dog ever having lived there.
I found that because we offered the property to tenants with pets, we found tenants very quickly. I would definitely rent my property to tenants with pets again.
Ben, Norwich
I use Belvoir Lettings in Rugby to look after my properties for me and they take a higher deposit from the tenant to cover the possible cost of carpet cleaning or repairing any damage that a pet may cause. This gives me extra reassurance that there will not be any problems.
I have let houses to tenants with both dogs and cats and would far rather the property was occupied by a responsible pet owner than left empty.
Hilary, Rugby
My female tenant wanted a cat to keep her company. After checking that the leasehold agreement did allow pets, I agreed to let her get one. Although I did have some initial reservations, the flat is still immaculate two years later and she remains a model tenant.
I am so pleased I allowed her to have the cat as it has encouraged her to stay and allowed me to keep a good long term tenant.
Sheila, Wiltshire
When I bought a buy-to-let property I decided I wasn’t going to miss out on potentially good tenants by rejecting pet owners. I have had tenants with cats and have happily allowed them to install a cat flap.
In today’s economy there are so many rental houses on the market that tenants can afford to be choosy. As many of them are pet owners it doesn’t make sense to rule them out, particularly when you can cover any accidental damage with an extra deposit or a clause in the tenancy agreement.
Andrea, Grantham
Download the full guide as provided by letswithpets.org.uk
If you posted an ad already don't forget to edit your ad to leave the pets option for discussion instead of ruling out a massive chunk of the market upfront.
Frank
I could use one of these when I was Flatsharing. This could be the new future. Flatshare fridge that might finally stop tough arguments about who ate my food or why do I have to clean up their mess. The fridge allows each person in the household to have their own personal space. It consists of a base station and up to 4 stackable sections.
Each compartment has a tall section for bottles as well as sections for vegetables and even frozen foods. These sections can be further customized with various colourful skins and add-ons like a whiteboard or bottle openers
The Flatshare Fridge was the winner of the Electrolux Design Lab Competition and was created by Stefan Buchberger from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna scoping a prize of 5000 and a six-month internship at one of Electrolux global design centres.
This Flatmate Hair Dryer Prank is topping over a million hits on YouTube. Enjoy!
Search for gay or lesbian flatshare. Every ad on our site can optionally display a preference for gay flatmate or tenant as well as lesbian or gay couple.
If you are gay, please don't hesitate to allow other gay people to search for your ad. Just fill in the "about me" section of your ad as appropriate.
Naturally, there's not many ads that use this labelling yet. Therefore, the gay search results are quite scarce.
Edit: There is loads of new ads.
To search for gay flatsharing ads, just sign-up or login and use the search options.
Edit: You don't even need to do that anymore.
Edit: I am sorry, I didn't get the design right the first time round. I didn't mean to offend. Thanks for all the feedback from the gay community.
Special thanks to Eleanor Saunders follow here, Sophie Lewis from MSc Nature (Society & Environmental Policy), Cassian Lodge follow here, Darren Naylor from LGBT, Anna from CircusPerformers.com, Tyler Smith, Julia Cloughley-Sneddon, Kevin McNamara, Bill Dare, Jen Lavery, Paul.Clayton, Lauren G, Chris Darby, Beverly Wilson, Alistair Stevenson, Anna Mason, Hestia, Jo Mueller, Jack Price, Emily Ruddock, Luke McGee, Ruth Martin & Bram, Amy Crowe, Chloe Barker, Matt Winkworth, Trampenfurter, Marie Sandland, Thomas Midlane from Mancunian Matters and 100s other anonymous users and Twitterers, who pointed out the issues.
Frank
Yes you read it right, Barack Obama was named students ideal Flatmate in a recent student poll.
Obama’s clean-living lifestyle, high intelligence and dynamism made him the clear favourite housemate over UK politicians, a whole host of famous faces and current housemates.
So it looks like David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg need to polish up their skills to be more student and flatmate friendly.
The recent Survey was performed by www.accommodationforstudents.com, surveying over 1,100 UK University students.
We were surprised to see that than 51% of students wanted to live with a tidy and intelligent person, confessing the current flatmates drive them crazy leaving a mess everywhere and eating each other’s food and only 14% crave a ‘rich and generous’ housemate and living with a ‘sexy and gorgeous’ flatmate was even lower at only 11%. So budge over Paris Hilton and pull up a chair Mr Obama.
Taking in a lodger or tenant the first thing you should have in place is a Tenancy Agreement.Having an agreement in place will help make sure everything runs smoothly throughout the tenancy, setting out the rent, deposit, terms and notice periods etc. These are also important If any future disputes happen, then you can refer the tenant back to the Tenancy Agreement.
Tenancy agreements forms are now available for printing to all paying members.
Become a member and get an inclusive tenancy agreement worth £10.
Flatmate Rooms would like to pay tribute to 32 year old Property TV Presenter Kristian Digby on the recent news of his death.
Kristian gave many homeowners all over the UK inspiration, giving them tips and advice on updating, letting, Flatsharing, buying and selling properties and was a credit to the industry.
He came from a family property developers and was best known for presenting BBC One Property programme To Buy or Not To Buy but also hosted an array of TV programs including Buy It, Sell It, Bank It, Double Agents, Living In The Sun, House Swap, Open House and How to Survive The Property Crisis.
Digby is believed to have had owned a number of properties worth approximately 1m and made money from buying cheap properties and renovating them.
The Talented Presenter entertained many people especially daytime viewers and will be sadly missed.
We found this video on You Tube showing Kristian doing what he loved.
After looking through You Tube this week I came across one of my much loved programs Mock the Week and found this really funny video "Things You Don't Want To Hear From Your Flatmate"
Warning Some Strong Language is used.
If you know of any funny Flatshare related videos, stories or jokes, fire them across to us in the comments.
And if your looking for a flatshare, follow to the homepage.
Since the recession it seems that the traditional impression we have of Landlords has improved, Landlord Assistis has claims that stereotypes of the buy-to-let landlord has improved because of the Credit Crunch.
As property prices reached their peak in 2006/2007 perception of landlords was typical of the 70's sit com Rising Damp where the landlord Rupert Rigsby is greedy and miserly and a bit of a creep. When the property market was booming UK landlords were often accused of this stereotype, accused of setting high rents and not paying for repairs or maintenance to their properties.
Since the recession a lot of people have been forced into sub standard rental accommodation, but it isn't just tenants that have been hit, Landlords have been stuck with high mortgage payments and tougher legislation but Landlord Assist believe that Landlords have earned and been given a much better reputation.
<blockquote>He said: The credit crunch has forced more and more people to turn to rented accommodation over the last 18 months. This has helped to remove bad landlords from the UK rental market and made those remaining much more socially aware, with affordable accommodation and high quality customer service becoming a priority.
Institutional investors have also introduced high quality rental accommodation to the market and enforced others to provide better quality accommodation in order to compete.
</blockquote>It's good to see UK Landlords are getting a fairer rep, I have been in plenty of rented accommodation but only ever had good landlords, I've never had to put up with the Rigsbys of this world.
I've heard of Speed dating before but recently I've come across the new phenomenon of speed flatmating. Landlords, flatmates, and tenants meet together at an event to spend a few minutes interviewing each other to see if they can live together.
This speed interviewing process enables flatmates to ask questions they feel is important when finding someone to move in, landlords also get to meet potential tenants and judge them in a few minutes.
I think speed flatmating is quite a good idea as it gets people with the same goal of renting or providing accommodation all in the same room, but I'm not sure what questions you would ask, and I don't think 3 minutes is enough time to judge a persons character.
However, most speed flatmating events will split you into certain groups of areas so you don't waste time speaking to flatmates who live out of the area you are looking for. You get a good first impression and although you can't tell everything from them you can get a good feel of whether you're going to get on. Sharing a house mate does not mean you are going to be best mates, although can happen, so don't go into it with too high expectations. Look for someone who asks decent questions, has a personality you can get on with and gives good answers to your questions.
I have never been speed flatmating before but will be trying it soon (so I'll let you know how I get on) but I've been thinking about what questions to ask. I'm not sure if asking hygiene questions is appropriate and probably wouldn't give off a good impression but its a valid question when moving in together. I'll probably stick to hobbies and interests and hope to meet someone that will join me to watch match of the day.