Mum who gave away birds to secure Campsie rental backs more support for tenants with pets

A Sydney mother who spent two-and-a-half months trying to find a rental property while going through a divorce has backed calls for stronger rights for tenants with pets in NSW, after giving her birds away to secure a place.

Going through a divorce is difficult enough, but when Patricia Krain also found herself, her daughter and her four pets thrust into the centre of the rental crisis, things got even tougher.

The Sydney mother is calling on the NSW government to make it easier for people with pets to be able to rent, after she had to give away her pet birds in order to secure a rental property.

When Ms Krain and her 20-year-old daughter were searching for places to live with their Maltese cross, Benji, and their three birds, they faced roadblock after roadblock.

With Australia facing one of the worst rental shortages in history, compounded by limited stock, skyrocketing prices and seemingly no relief in sight, Ms Krain found landlords and strata management companies could be pickier about who they chose and often opted for tenants without pets.

Some straight up rejected her, while others wouldn’t say why her offer was not accepted, but she strongly suspected it was due to her furry and feathery companions.

Last Christmas with Santa, Patricia Krain, her daughter and their dog, Benji. Picture: supplied

“It was hard just to get the information out from a real estate agent when asking a straight-forward question about whether pets are allowed,” Ms Krain said.

“But there were a lot they were like, oh, you know, just fill out the application form and we’ll see. And that means I have to give all of my personal data, and it’s time consuming, and sometimes I wasn’t even hearing back at all.”

After more than two months of searching, and making the tough decision to give away two of her three birds, Ms Krain found a pet-friendly rental in Campsie — but not before blowing out her budget to secure it.

And she still had to give two of her three birds away due to there not being enough space for all three birds in her new place.

Ms Krain's Galah that she had to give to a family member in order to secure a rental property. Picture: supplied

Stewie the budgie was kept by Ms Krain. Picture: supplied

In NSW, landlords can refuse to allow a tenant to keep a pet without providing a reason, unless it’s an assistance animal.

The Tenants’ Union of NSW believes that restriction is a breach of a tenant’s reasonable peace, comfort and privacy.

The NSW government is currently reviewing tenancy laws, including the landlord’s right to ban pets, to bring it more in line with other states and territories where it’s easier for tenants to keep pets in rental homes.

Andrew Colagiuri is the CEO and founder of real estate document-signing platform FLK it over.

He said about 24 per cent of the 12,000 residential agreements signed in a month with his company had allowed pets, and this had increased by about 3 per cent year-on-year since Covid.

He said what that showed is that more landlords were actually allowing pets as more tenants bought pets during the lockdowns.

But he said the current rental crisis meant having a pet still made it more difficult to find a place.

“Because it is so competitive, I think every owner who’s trying to rent out their property is getting multiple applications,” Mr Colagiuri said.

“And sometimes, they might default to allow the person without a pet when they’ve got an option.”