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Meet Denver: An avid spooner, goofy and harmlessly affectionate. Denver has been involved with Jillian Mason for just under seven months. He wakes her in the morning with smothering kisses and waits for her at home after work. The bond couldn’t be stronger between the two, but finding an apartment for the pair wasn’t easy.
Denver is a dog, and not just any dog. He’s a 70-pound brindle boxer/Amstaff mix.
Mason says she looked at thousands of apartments during the time she adopted Denver from the SPCA. Landlords would spark interest in her as a tenant, but when time came to introducing Denver into the equation, she was immediately cut off and refused.
“My heart would break when showing his picture to landlords and receiving the response, ‘we don’t allow pit bulls, they’re fighting dogs,'” says Mason.
In Halifax, those plagued by a discouraging economy and affected by debt and salaries unfit to match the cost of living will often shepherd pets into their lives to relieve stress. Yet many young adults can’t afford the decent dog-friendly apartments the city has to offer.
Joan Sinden runs the blog charlieloveshalifax.ca, which helps other dog owners find apartments. She says it’s troubling that while we have a feline-friendly city, renting is a challenge for dog owners.
“I think it’s difficult to rent with a dog because landlords don’t have to make any accommodations for dog owners,” she says, “and many are expensive buildings with weight restrictions, so it’s no good if you’re poor or have a big dog.”
According to the Residential Tendencies Act, all property owners and landlords can have their own rules related to pets on the premises.
Other provinces are more renter-friendly, like in Ontario where, by law, landlords can’t refuse potential tenants who own dogs and must allow pet owners to rent from them.
Lynne Snow of Homefinders Halifax says one of the main reasons landlords and property owners don’t allows dogs is consistency in owner negligence leaving mess and destruction by the animal in their midst.
“In all honesty, apartment buildings are not the place for dogs and the few places that do allows dogs get abused,” she says. “It’s that simple.”
Barring dogs, Snow adds, is easier for many landlords than having to continually carpet clean or replace floor mouldings and door casings.
Jillian Mason suggests developing a separate damage deposit for pet owners as a compromise. If the respect between landlord and tenant is mutual when it comes to renting, there shouldn’t be a problem.
“Renting a pet friendly apartment should not be this difficult,” she says. “Denver and I need each other, and I hope that landlords can become more considering and put trust in the young people of Halifax.”
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This article appears in Oct 22-28, 2015.
“Other provinces are more renter-friendly, like in Ontario where, by law, landlords can’t refuse potential tenants who own dogs and must allow pet owners to rent from them.”
Well, BY LAW they can’t, but they do, in huge numbers. It’s a nightmare trying to find a dog-friendly place in, for example, Toronto, especially given that so much of the rental stock is condos that owners are fussy about. You can take a landlord to court over it, but no one does.
So, young people have dogs for comfort because they’re “plagued by a discouraging economy”? Guh? Maybe, since our youth unemployment rate is around 15% and the median hourly wage for youth is $14 an hour.
But I guess that means it’s even worse in Toronto where youth unemployment is 18% and their median wage is only $14.30 per hour. Or anywhere in Canada, which overall has youth employment figures almost exactly the same as Halifax’s.
But you know, you wouldn’t want people to pick up a newspaper without being made to read a weird and irrelevant aside about how much better it is everywhere else than it is here–even if it’s exactly the same most everywhere else.
I am in awe by the amount of landlords in Halifax and beyond that will rent to a cat owner, but not a dog. I have owned both, a cat and dogs, and from my experience, my cat ruined way more carpet, walls, and furniture (obviously my cost), then my two dogs ever have combined! My dogs are not small either, 55lbs & 90lbs. I own my own house now, with my two dogs, and the damage my feline unleashed on my home still haunts us.
Who is Snow to say apartment building aren’t for dogs? They are just as much for dogs as they are for the dogs owner. Being a home owner now, I do the same thing any other dog owner would do, take my dogs outside for exercise and so they can do their business. My house is the same size, if not smaller, than many apartments out there. Yet we have the 2 dogs, a one year old child, and my husband and I. We live comfortably and destruction free. Why would this be different in an apartment?
Note*: correction, my one year old is the one making the messes and breaking things – so should someone not rent to a parent? Afterall, he’s not quite all the time, isn’t toilet trained (yes, he has found a way to remove his diaper, enough said) and I’m sure will cause lots of damage in the future. Outlandish, but not far from my point.
I moved into an apartment that had significant damage from the previous tenants dog. As mentioned in the article, door casings were completely chewed up, floor moulding was affected, the carpeted stairs reaked like a wet dog was rotting under the staircase. Even after being cleaned the place still has a lingering dog stink that I cannot get rid of. Also, the house was completely infested with fleas. It was unfortunate for the landlord having to deal with these issues as we were moving in; he was justifiably upset and kept the damage deposit. My roommate has a dog and he let us move in despite the last tenant. We cut a deal with him and my roommate (who’s a carpenter) is fixing up the damage and we get a reduced rental rate. That being said, we know the landlord personally and he was one of the few who allowed dogs. It’s tough out there for dog owners but it’s tough for landlords too since they don’t know what kind of dog owner they will be dealing with.
I think it is completely unreasonable to state that apartments are no place for dogs and also to assume dogs are abused when living in this type of property. As Denver’s owner I can assure you that he always comes first in every situation. I make sure to have him out a minimum of 1.5 hours each day. I can say this for others as I watch dog owners bring their pups to public spaces to run free and play multiple times a day. Creating a stigma around apartments not being suitable for dogs enables lower rates of adoption, higher costs for not-for-profits and more cases of stray/ neglected animals.
Landlords: please take an extra 10 – 15 minutes in your viewing to meet the animal, evaluate their behaviour and reconsider the possibility of respectful tenants.
I own several apartments in Truro and allow pets (of all kinds) in all my units. Over the past 30+ years I have rented to hundreds of animals and have only had 3 bad experiences. Those odds are way better than the many more bad experiences I have had with the non pet owners!!
In Halifax a huge amount of the rental buildings are owned by Killam Properties. Their policy is “no dogs”. Ever. In any unit. This is a big reason why. They own an unbelievable amount of apartment buildings.
The simple answer is risk. I have a beautiful apartment with almost new hardwood floors. I’d guess that a BAD dog could do around $30,000 worth of damage and there is very little chance I would ever recover that money if it happens. I don’t “pocket” the rent, it covers the mortgage and I break even on expenses.
If you are “affected by debt” and have a salary “unfit to match the cost of living” then maybe dog ownership should be a little lower down your list of priorities, regardless of how much “stress they relieve.”
What dog owners also don’t seem to ever want to understand is that dogs are noisy, they cause property damage, and some people are afraid of them. They are a luxury — not a right that other people should have to bend over backwards to accommodate.
You couldn’t have a Pit Bull in Toronto. They are banned. Otherwise, I agree, Landlords should allow dogs.
I’m looking for a 2 bedroom apartment in lower sackville or dartmouth reasonably priced 1000 to 1200. With washer and dryer in unit but everytime i look at 1 at the end they say no pets. Don’t landlords realise pets are companions for people. I don’t know what to do.
I called one and she was the manager and said she was the only one in the building with a dog because it was in her contract. So give us a contract and if my dog does damage I pay the damage. The other thing to the person that said pets are a luxury, i hope your thankful that you don’t have PTSD or anything that you don’t need the help of a dog. We own our own home and my husband got sick, so now we need 1 level living and my dog is a 13 year old Chihuahua, smaller than most cats and uses a litter like a cat. My dog doesn’t go out so no one will be afraid. SORRY but some people have opinions about things they know nothing about