Housing Options Near Manchester For Someone With A Dog

I have a friend who lives near Manchester, U.K.. She's having trouble finding an apartment to rent because she owns a dog, and while it's illegal to discriminate against dog owners, practically speaking no one want to rent to one. I would appreciate any advice on housing options for her. She doesn't want to leave the Manchester area.

What about buying a piece of land and putting a caravan on it? This is the only affordable option that I can think of. Any idea how much this would cost?

Thanks

 

She should simply look for a dog friendly landlord. Then when she views the apartment it is important to take the dog with her, rather than being apologetic about it.
If her dog bites the landlord, then poos on the carpet, before trying to eat the settee for lunch, she will probably not have much success.

A landlord friend of ours had a further check. He sent me around to the applicants existing property to get something signed.
The check started there, did the dog let me in and what was the condition of the property. Believe me, it varied.

The funniest one was when the woman went off to make some coffee while I was sorting out the paperwork, her massive rottweiler decided that it was time to make me welcome by sitting on my lap. The look on the womans face when she returned with the coffee is something that I will never forget.
She thought that she had blown it, but the reverse was true. The house was impeccable, she got the apartment and I had a new friend for life.

She also got a free extra service. When our 10 year daughter heard about what had happened, she went with me while the woman was moving in and ended up taking her dog out a few times a week after school.
All this was about 25 years ago, but our daughter still talks about the dog today. Needless to say, she now has her own dog, so my lap is still useful.

 

Thank you @wilsjane

Ok, so landlords aren't against dogs, just the destruction that sometimes goes along with dogs. However, what if my friend still has trouble renting? Are there any other options?

 

I've seen difficulties for dog owners in that situation.
It's most often when an estate agent is representing the landlord and not bothering to re-check with the landlord if a dog seems OK.
It may also be because most dogs tend to bark and in an apartment complex, it could give rise to complaints which would trouble the agent/landlord.
What may swing it is:
a. Bring up to date photos of the last place that was rented, to show it was kept in good order.
b. Offer to pay more for a new damage contract.
There's usually a clause in the agreement, which places a charge if the place needs fixed after a tenant has left.
Make the amount bigger so whilst the tenant won't be out of pocket from the beginning (and will only need to pay it if there is damage), the landlord may be reassured.
c. If possible, get a reference from the previous landlord and the reason the person is moving as well as whether there were ever complaints about the dog.
d. Bring the dog to show how little it barks and ideally, if it does, that it isn't loud.
hth

 

Damage is one of the 4 factors that cause most reluctance. The second important concern is mostly barking, particularly if the owner is out at work during the day and the dog barks every time someone passes by, or a letter drops through the letterbox. Barking during the night is a real problem. The dog also needs to be safe in communal areas, particularly with children. Smell is the final important one.

The first thing that sprang to my mind, was buying a slightly run down property. Unlike rent that is lost forever, with inflation on property prices, money paid on the mortgage will come back if she sells again in the future. Money spent in renovation or improvements is a similar investment as long as they are done properly.

Whenever I hear about caravans, it is normally a horror story. Unlike property they depreciate at an alarming rate.
You are paying for the site, bottled gas and electricity at an inflated price from the owner. Water and sewage can also cost a lot and insurance costs are more than a house.
When you add them up and take into account the depreciation, they are a complete money pit.

Just to make you laugh.
Some years ago, a nitwit who I worked with rented a nice apartment four floors up in a block of 25. It had a lovely outside balcony to sit out in the summer. He did not have any dogs or cats, so everything was fine.
Well, that was until he decided to install a couple of bee hives on the balcony, along with their 20,000 inhabitants. There was no local vegetation to make the honey needed to support the hives, so one of the queens allowed a queen cell to hatch, then kicked the virgin queen out. Possibly you do not know, but this causes the drones and around 6,000 of the workers to follow her and set up a new colony. This is what we call a bee swarm. With no trees around, the virgin queen got tired and led the swarm back into the main lobby of the building and tried to set up home on a pot plant.
Police evacuated the entire building for 2 days, while a professional firm sorted it all out. Fearing that further swarms would follow, after temporarily sealing them, they also took both the hives away with the help of a fire department turntable ladder.

And you thought that dogs were a problem.

 

A lot of good advice.

 

Thank you @Bazz888 and @wilsjane

I've read that often a property can be bought at auction for a discount. The downsides are that you'd have to do good research, and also come up with the money due in short order.

 

I recall trying to buy a house through an estate agent, which needed just slight modernisation. New kitchen, bathroom, (both were knackered), first-time installation of heating, redecoration - that was all.
The mortgage companies weren't interested unless I put 20% into it, which I wasn't able to do.
They almost considered it non-mortgageable.
I went to an independent financial advisor and within a couple of weeks he found a company who would do it with 5% deposit.
I did the work myself - having done heating once before and one kitchen before which saved me a lot of money.

I've not bought through an auction house but if I were to do so I would
1. be ready to accept that the house isn't mortgageable and therefore a non-starter if I don't have the money myself.
2. get a solicitor (as normal) to do the relevant checks
3. get a 'full survey' done. (The 'mortgage survey' is only to safeguard the lender, to ensure they'll get their money back).
4. have the loan arranged and in place before bidding.

 

I should say more about my friend and her circumstances. She used to have an IT job, but she's disabled now and getting PIP. She's pretty stubborn and won't leave the Manchester area, and above all she won't leave her dog.

She's been living in her car for the past year. I'm not sure she's going to survive another winter in her car, so I'm especially keen on finding her housing. She's already been through every UK social service and there's nothing they can do for her. I'm assuming that being homeless and having a dog she won't give up is the obstacle to her getting housing. All or nearly all of her money is going to buying take out meals.

I've been hoping that I could buy a plot of land and then a caravan or mobile home that she could then rent, but it seems like @wilsjane you are saying that this ends up being more expensive than renting a conventional piece of real estate. I could try to buy a conventional piece of real estate, but I'd have to secure the financing for that.

Any thoughts?