If you’re looking to buy an investment property on the Gold Coast, or in Brisbane, it’s worth ensuring that it’s pet friendly if you want to secure a higher rental return.
When it comes to buying into a complex, or apartment block, there will be a body corporate in place and a set of by-laws you must abide by, so it’s definitely worth doing your research to ensure that pets are allowed by the body corporate. You should also check for any restrictions on what types of pets are allowed in the complex.
Most apartments will limit the number of pets that can occupy the property and when it comes to dogs there is usual a size and weight limit. Restrictions such as these are put in place to ensure that an owner’s pets don’t interfere with other owners enjoyment of the property.
We conveyancing solicitors recently stumbled upon this great article from Ray White that sheds a but more light on property ownership and keeping pets in Queensland.
Is it Pet Friendly?
When I grew up my two four legged best friends were Riley & Rusty. Riley was a collie (picture lassie) my parents found him wandering the streets, they investigated their way back to his owners and discovered that Riley was a ‘runner’ & his owners circumstances meant we could keep him. After years of adventures with my brother and I, Riley pulled the same stunt and one day just up & vanished. We searched, letter dropped and cried...but no Riley.
A few years passed and we were ready for another dog. We went to the RSPCA at Yeronga and met Rusty. He was half Labrador, half German Shepard. Rusty was a scally-wag! I recall coming home from school one day to see him chewing on an entire leg of ham that he had pinched from one of our neighbours! Dad was furious!! Unfortunately Rusty was a bit of a runner too and he was hit by a car... More tears!
Pets and people have special relationships. Today, I wouldn’t call myself a dog person. We have no pets and don’t have any short term plans to get them. But when I had them, they were my best friends and I loved them. This love and those relationships have played a role in a number of recent QCAT (think small claims court) decisions. Many owners or tenants that have pets are moving into apartment complexes and being told ‘This building is not pet friendly’. The body corporates have their reasons however when investigated those reasons have been deemed invalid. It is now quite common knowledge in community title circles that they know the restriction of pets in their apartments is their rule, however if challenged is likely to be overturned.
Most people’s concerns with pets in units are around noise and enough space for the pet. The irony about noise is many New Farm complexes are pet friendly and when you walk through them you rarely hear anything and when you do, it’s certainly nothing like the noise you hear from pets barking at pedestrians through front fences of local houses. And with regard to space, well most owners who want to live in an apartment with their pet dearly love spending time with them. They walk them along the riverwalk, run them through the park and socialise at the dog parks. They make exercise part of their life, not the ‘back yards’ job.
In a lease a tenant is responsible for repairing any damage they cause, so whether that’s the human tenant or the puppy tenant any damage must be fixed.
We have seen that rental properties that allow pets get a slightly higher rent and that is also true for sales. It simply comes down to supply and demand. Parties with and without pets can compete for a ‘pet friendly’ property & only parties without can compete from a property that is not.
Time, and one by one court cases, will slowly see more buildings forced to change their policy. Pets are playing a major role in people’s financial decisions, they are coming anyway, it’s time to avoid unnecessary costs and open the doggy doors to them.
Article written by Heasley Cush of Ray White New Farm.