Renting with chins!

[Airyn]

I "hid" Boji and Maia from my landlord for two years and it was a headache and a half. I was in quite the bind, as my apartment was too close to work to warrant a move and I was completely unwilling to part with my babies. When I first moved in, I figured it would be easy since I knew the law required the landlord to give me at least 24 hours notice before entering the apartment. Then, the day I moved in, I received an "Extermination Schedule". Since I wasn't allowed to have pets, I couldn't ask if what they were spraying was toxic to rodents. Instead, I had to move Boji and Maia to my parents house for at least a week, sometimes two, when the exterminator was there. They never had to spray my apartment, but they did spray the hallway and I didn't want to take the risk.

Ultimately, I realized that I needed to be a "responsible adult" and decided to start hunting for apartments that did allow pets. I asked the landlord if he would change his pet policy pretty regularly. Every time, he told me no.

The month before I was scheduled to move out, I tried one last time. I stressed that I was a responsible tenant and always paid my rent on time. I also pointed out that he had two empty apartments below me and offered to pay whatever pet deposit he felt would be reasonable. His response, "What kind of pet?"

He didn't know what a chinchilla was, so I showed him pictures and used the magic words... "caged pets." Long story short... I am the ONLY person in the 4 complexes that my landlord owns who is allowed to have pets AT ALL. More importantly, he didn't charge a pet deposit.

Landlords are in it for the money, so it's all in how you approach them. If you pay your rent on time and keep the floor and the cages clean, I doubt you'll have a problem. If he nit-picks about this or that, you can always ask if an extra pet deposit would alleviate some of his fears.

Good luck!

 

[mable]

I live with my mother in a apartment who does NOT allow pets... but yet the neighbors have dogs who bark all hours of the night... i know the stress of having to hide my chins for inspections.. as i feel it shouldnt be a big deal its not like a dog or cat who roams around the house .. chinchillas are caged and clean... Now the same thing im moving on my own May first and bringing my babies with me of course and the landlord is cool with it but i know cause most landlords want a rent deposit for the pet even if its as small as a hamster.. like seriously :/

 

[SamiJami]

We rent and have 3 chins and 2 rabbits in 4 cages. The apartments we live in want $150 a month per pet no matter what it is. I can see that for ones that run around and tear things up, but not my babies! So I hide them. We have an inspection every 3 months. We move all the cages to the bedroom, along with all of the supplies. I vacuum several times to make sure there is no hay or poo and to remove the marks in the carpet. I then move some things around my house. When they come in and want to go in the bedroom, I tell them my boyfriend's in there sleeping. I also put the radio on in the bedroom and spray the living room with fabreeze and open the sliding door for maximum airing.

We have a piece of carpeting under the chinchilla cages. You may want to do that. It could show them that you're protecting their furnishings. Good luck!

 

[cremellomare]

You could maybe get some thin wood and lean it up or somehow attach it over the baseboards. Or make a paper 'wall' and tape it up when they are out. That is what we do. Contact paper on the walls behind cages makes it easier to clean.

I guess I find that landlords are idiots most of the time. Stick to your lease and know your laws for your state. Our current landlord is pretty easy going. When we moved in we had one chin and one rabbit..we now have 3 more chins and 4 rats. He has never batted an eye at the cages in the living room. We will be moving in the next few months and I am not looking forward to it. I do plan on putting together a portfolio with pictures of a perfectly clean cage and written testimonials from this landlord to sway the places we will be checking out.

 

[Charming Chins]

My husband and I are landlords. We have no problem with our tenants having animals but we installed laminate wood flooring through-out our entire rental home to make clean up easier.

We are most concerned with damage control and as long as it's kept clean and the property is cared for we're happy. Showing your landlord that chins are fairly clean animals with low odor might help a lot. I certainly wouldn't mind if someone only wanted to keep chinchillas as pets!

 

[Stackie]

I try to bring as less stress upon my life as possible. With a crazy family, school, and working two jobs to support myself, the last thing I want to worry about is having to hide my animals from a landlord. I live in an apartment with my 8 chins, a dog, and a boyfriend. The first criteria when I was looking into apartments was somewhere pet friendly. Every apartment we went to, one of the first things I told the leasing office was that I love my pets and the only way I would live somewhere was if they were allowed. Anytime I mentioned caged, they completely dismissed the topic and weren't phased by it at all. So, I think it would be much better to be honest as every single apartment complex I went to didn't seem to care about caged pets.

They never even asked how many chins I had, but I told them anyway and let them know that they had large cages that would be very prominent. I also told them that I clean up after them daily, they still didn't seem too interested anyway after I said the magic word "cage". I wouldn't have even had to pay a pet deposit if I didn't have my dog.

It may have just been my streak of luck, but we visited 5 apartment complexes when on our apartment search and none of them really cared about the caged animals.

 

[mishellyshel]

If had more uniform looking cages I think that would help out too, but unfortunately that is not the case!

you could actually take the bottom portion of the FN off an make them more lined up if it annoys you that much.

as for all those people who hide their chins. aside from the stress & potential fines not to mention eviction; of that there are 2 major things that I would be concerned about:

1. Extermination/Spraying. When your landlord does not know there are pets around they can use whatever Toxic materials they are going to use for pest removal as well as grass/tree spraying, which could affect your pets if your windows are ever open

2. Fire/Emergency Evacuation. If there is every any type of emergency or evacuation or fire NO one but you knows you have pets. There for if you are NOT home....they get left behind or die.

If I was a renter........that would not be a risk I was willing to take.

 

[Pikaia]

You are really lucky Stacie. I would not be happy if I had to find another apartment with my chins. The reason I got Chichi was because her previous owner was informed caged pets are not allowed in their complex. You were allowed to have a small dog or cat. This didn't make much sense to me, but needless to say, she had to find Chichi a new home.

I know that apartments around here are very strict with pets. I'm sure if I looked hard enough I could find one that would approve my chins. I am so happy I have such awesome landlords.

Michelle makes a good point about the spraying and emergency situations. I would be worried sick if I had to hide my pets. It is tough. Sometimes I wish I could just buy a house and do what I want.

 

[annm13339]

wow I guess my landlord is totally different. he lives an hour away, never comes to the building, and does not do inspections. nothing like that. if he needs to get ahold of me he calls or texts me. he has came to my apartment once to give me a christmas present. and my chin is in my bedroom not even in the living room so if he was to come over, he would stay right in the living room.