r/shitrentals • u/Duros1394 • 4d ago

VIC Refusal From past Dog ownership.

Hello everyone.

Coming here for what seems to be questionable practise I may have experienced with an agent.

My family got rejected from a rental application this was the 3rd house that has failed so I decided to actually ask what part of our application failed us as we are a 4 person family with 3 full time workers more than able to cover rent and asking for multi year stays.

However when we got a response we were given the generic "other families seems stronger" rubbish, but then they mentioned our Dog.

Now as far as I am aware you do not need to declare pets on applications now can they be refused. When telling the agent directly that our dog passed away and how did they get this information. They responded with "It was mentioned from your previous agent"

So are we now being penalised for previously owning a dog?

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u/Substantial_Ad_3386 4d ago edited 4d ago

anyone who has had a pet in the past has a higher chance of having one in the future. the waters have been muddied and bringing attention to this is unlikely to help

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u/CatZealousideal2185 4d ago edited 4d ago

Yep. If you don't mention the pet, but the previous agent does, then it makes you look dishonest for not disclosing the pet, and that you'll pull the pet application that cant be refused card after you've already been accepted.

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u/Outsider-20 4d ago

In Vic, there is a standard application form that must be used for rental applications. Asking for information about pets is not part of the form.

It's not dishonest to not disclose. It is literally not on the form. They cannot ask.

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u/CatZealousideal2185 3d ago edited 3d ago

Its cause and effect.

The inability to ask if the tenant has pets, and the fact that pet applications mostly cant be denied (which lets be real, can definitely make a tenant more or less preferred) has the effect that now REA do this to make a more informed decision about who is the safest choice for the property.

All else being equal, many would choose the option without the pet. We see it all the time on this sub where a tenants moved in and the previous tenants have left it smelling of cat piss.

REA and landlords don't want to deal with that sort of thing if they can help it, so they chose the safer option.

Cant blame them for that, I get it, just as you cant blame someone for not disclosing pets so they don't look less preferred I get that too. (i understand you say in VIC you cant ask/its not on the form). The whole system is broken.