Feeding the hand that bites you

Are you renting your home? Do you have a pet? If so, then you are in the majority. More homes have pets than don't. Homes with pets are about double in number of homes with children, yet families with children make up the largest demographic of dog owners.

The real estate industry is slow to capitalise on this reality and 'no pets' is frequency seen in adds for rental homes. Many rental applications include questions about your pets. Legally, pets are no different than your TV, toaster or handbag. They are chattel - meaning property, legal property.

Each time a responsible tenant puts a case 'to have their pet' to a prospective landlord, including references for it or offering to pay an additional bond (the taking of which would be illegal), they are feeding the hand that bites them!

I know, it's hard when you need a home, love your pets and are an honest person and a good tenant - but letting someone decide if you are their suitable tenant has no more a relationship to your status as a pet owner, as it does to the brand of your toaster or the size of your TV!

So please, show that you are a responsible tenant, neighbour and pet owner by your actions, not by playing into the hands of the 'no pets allowed' brigdage or by letters written by people who happen to love your pet like you do.

In South Australia, NSW and most other states, there is no prohibition of pets in the residential tenancy laws - and why would there be? When renting, you gain a right to quiet enjoyment of the home for due consideration (rent) and you have a responsibility to act legally, take due care of the property and repair what you break or damage beyond reasonable wear and tear.

The Real Estate Institute of NSW has propagated a rental lease form used extensively and they have added a no pets clause as 'standard'. This is contrary to the residential tenancy law. We recommend you request your lease be based on the Act and Regulations, not the REI form.

We've started a case in NSW challenging the special conditions on a residential lease regarding a dog. This is based on contracting out the right to quiet enjoyment and/or the provision for normal wear and tear and/or a tenants' obligation to return the property in the same condition.

In South Australia, the tenancy tribunal can vary terms if they are found to be harsh or unconscionable. Of course, refusing pets in an otherwise pet suitable home with a good tenant is most unconscionable!

Hot Dogs in the Adelaide Heatwave

As Sydney is stuck on 30C degrees, the Queensland coastal area is flooding, Melbourne had several 43 degree days until a cooling change last night and Adelaide has had more 40 degree days in a row since records were kept, I found this gorgeous picture of titled "Roxy is no longer a hot dog" at news.com.au.

All I want to say is GET DOGS ON BEACHES!!!! Most of us live in the 'coastal fringe'. We are told to SWIM BETWEEN THE FLAGS. We have thousands of kilometres of coastline and endless remote or empty beaches and we want our dogs AND our human family at the beach together. We're a beach culture - our dogs should be able to be at the beach with us and we'll compromise by keeping them on a lead or away from crowded or flagged areas!

I live 30 seconds' walk from a dog-friendly ocean beach. Sometimes it's just too scary, maybe dangerous for me to swim at my beach, so I walk a few minutes to one of two patrolled areas. But these areas are usually not in the dog beach area - but in a strong NE swell the flagged area is in the dog area - OH JOY!

Many dogs sit on my beach and wait while their owners surf. Other dogs play with visiting dogs while their owners swim. This beach has lots of holiday houses, so throughout January the beach and lagoon is full of kids, families, dogs, surfers and fishers. It's gorgeous and it all works. A few of us 'full-time' residents noticed that A LOT more 'tourists' brought their dogs this year. It seems that having dog-friendly beaches, and dog-friendly/family beach houses is the way to attract tourists and visitors. We even welcome dogs on the ferry from Palm Beach to the Cental coast.

It's been a gorgeous summer and a joy to meet all the visiting dogs from Sydney. I even saw two Labradors the other day that had never been in the ocean before. Sydney, and other coastal suburbs that try to ban dogs from beaches, are cruel. Cruel to Animals - isn't there a law against that?