Rental reforms

[Dreamweaver]

Although this applies to all Victorian renters, I think it is especially relevant to seniors, pensioners and retirees.

Every tenant in Victoria will have the right to have a pet in their rental property under sweeping reforms to the state's tenancy rules, which will also prohibit real estate agents from soliciting higher bids for rent.

Key points:

Changes include creating blacklist of landlords and estate agents
For rents over $760 per week, landlords can't ask for bonds worth more than a month's rent
Premier Daniel Andrews says the reforms will make renting fairer
The reforms announced by the Andrews Government, give tenants more rights, will allow them to stay on longer leases and make bonds smaller and fairer, in response to a detailed review of the state's Residential Tenancies Act.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-08/v ... es/9027000

[terra]

Good news and bad news....
Good for restricting the bond maximum but not so good for pets.
I'm not rich enough to own another property to rent out, but if I did, I wouldn't want the tennants to turn my house into a dirty, smelly place with dogs.
Sure, one small dog might be OK but there are plenty of renters who have several dogs and they think that it's "normal".

[Perrorist]

Perhaps limiting it to one pet...provided of course it's not an elephant or a giraffe.

[Dreamweaver]

Where I rent we are allowed any pet of 10kg or under.
One only, I presume, but not sure. A bird and a cat might be okay?

[Perrorist]

A 10kg bird would take a lot of feeding.

[Dreamweaver]

[godfather]

That sounds a very constructive idea by the Vic government. Was/is there much debate or negative feedback so far?
Agree, numbers of pets must be limited, especially if you are talking Units/flats etc without a garden or open spaces.

[terra]

Many years ago, I lived in Sydney. One of my neighbours who lived two doors down, owned a dog that barked non stop all day whist the owner was at work.
I eventually approached the man respectfully and tactfully to let him know how his dog was "disturbing the peace".
The owner immediately sprang to his defence and denied that it was his dog barking.
How in hell would he know ??
The bloody dog only barked when the owner wasn't there.
Grrrrr !
Not long after this, I left Sydney and built my new home in paradise.

[Perrorist]

He must have been a politician.

[Mahalia]

I have recently moved into an over 55's Village community and I have 2 dogs both over 10 kg and they are neither noisy nor smelly or dirty. My dog groomer comes regularly to make sure they remain clean and tidy. Having been a 'landlord' several times in the past I would personally prefer and give preference to a tenant (like me) with animals that are loved and cared for, over a family with children. I never had any problems with pet owning tenants who had to pass a fairly stringent list of what was required for their pets before any tenancy agreement was signed. Having said that the list for a caring pet owner was not an issue. Proof of dog registration and micro chipping, up to date vaccination certificates, dog registration papers with the local council and a certificate from a dog obedience class were my criteria.

However one cannot say the same for families with children. I have had to repaint walls after kids scribbled all over them. Replace wall panels with holes in them from kids riding pedal bikes inside, replace carpets that had been stained by cordial and other things, replace cupboard doors, broken windows, cupboard handles, shower screens, cracked toilets etc etc

Give me a caring pet owner any day

[Perrorist]

I had good tenants until about the fourth group, and then they treated the house like it was about to be demolished. The real estate agent should have picked up this, but they changed too often to keep track. Before I sold the place, I had a lovely Irish family there and they took pains to treat the property well.

[mavisbramston]

I have never said no to a tenant with pets. I think people rely on pets for company and providing they well controlled and dont annoy neighbours with constant barking I have never had a problem.
I found the same thing that pet owners were fine. In the Netherlands its illegal to refuse to allow a tenant to have pets.

[Perrorist]

As with most things, it's the irresponsible few who make it difficult for the rest of us.