Doctor shines light on problem with pets when moving

Immediately I could relate to what she wrote.

A doctor in Sydney, she was moving here to start work along with her husband, who is a nurse. Now if it was just the two of them it might have been a little easier finding a rental. But as Priya wrote on the public Facebook page, they have cats (pictured above).

She said they had applied for 12 houses over two weeks, been rejected for two and heard nothing from the rest.

With less than two weeks before she was starting work in Dubbo she was anxious.

But that Facebook post brought a good response from the community.

People reached out with offers for a temporary room at their house, and Priya and her husband have since found a place to live.

Around the same time I also reached out to Priya and mentioned I went through a similar move last year, coming to Dubbo and trying to find a rental that allowed pets.

Mind you I can also understand the other side of this issue. I still own a place I bought when working in the New England region and dealt with one tenant who would allow a large dog inside. Although at least that wasn't as bad as the tenants who upset the neighbours with wild parties, or the one who came next who grew cannabis behind the shed. But I digress.

Priya agreed to speak to us about the pet issue, and for the story the journalist, Sarah Falson, also got in touch with a local property manager to chat about pets in rentals.

Jennifer McGrath, property manager at Bob Berry Real Estate, told the Daily Liberal if you're looking at something in a unit, landlords are not going to take a large dog but birds and fish might be okay. You can read the full story here.

The good news for renters came a few days' later when Sarah had another story on what the latest figures revealed about renting in Dubbo, which indicated the increase in rent prices had eased.

Thanks for reading and have a great week!

Laurie Bullock

Editor, Daily Liberal