Navigating Apartment Rentals with Pets

Yesterday, we had another viewing—our seventh already!

The house is wonderful, and the neighborhood, our beloved Muswell Hill, is just perfect. It's on the second floor, a spacious two-bedroom (70 m²) flooded with natural light. The living room window overlooks a neighboring garden with a pond.

In person, it looked even better than in the photos—really fresh! We met the owner, who was just finishing some cosmetic repairs.

If you love Victorian homes, you’ll need to appreciate a bit of a climb. The kitchen is on one level, while the other rooms are on another. Even the bathroom requires a small step up with three stairs.

At first glance, the layout seems a bit strange, but it didn't feel like a deal-breaker, unlike one of the previous apartments we saw.

Each room has a charming lighting solution—just light bulbs with colorful wires.

The Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating is a D. It's not the worst, but we currently have a B. Polina, just for you—our last apartment had the same rating!

Every property is assigned an Energy Performance Certificate rated from A to F, which indicates approximately how much you can expect to pay in utility bills.

The only downside is that those beautiful wooden floors will need to be covered with carpets. The reason is quite interesting—it's for soundproofing. The floors do creak a bit underfoot, which seems to have been a concern for the residents below. This seems like it will be one of our compromises.

In the end, we made an offer and even put down a deposit to ensure no one else snatched the apartment while we await the final decision. You won’t believe what’s holding us up this time—our dog!

The owner and his wife approved all pets, but the landlord and neighbors also need to give their consent! They aren’t bothered by their cats, but our doooooog. What size is it? Does it bark? What’s its temperament like? They’ve asked us to send more videos so they can check her out.

So, to rent an apartment in a place like this with three pets, you need to not be turned away by the realtor first and then go through a series of approvals from the owner, the landlord, and the neighbors. Who knows how many neighbors there are?

In our case, it seems just one is left. Sometimes you wonder where these neighbors come from who are so negatively predisposed. Well, here I am!