Wanted 3 bedroom Southend on sea

Looking for a 3 bedroom home.
Southend on sea & surrounding areas.

Must have off street parking
Must accept pets - dog large newfiebernie
Must accept smokers.
Long term lease only

Current landlord is selling after 16 years. Glowing reference available. Never missed rent always paid on time. We have always worked with landlord & decorated numerous times at our expense & their approval.

Really struggling & Agents shame on them for lying. I wish I could contact a few owners. I have asked agents to contact landlords to fight for us stating we are happy to pay extra bond for smoke & dog. I know some landlords will point blank refuse but there must be some that will. Most agents just lie & say no longer available and in my opinion they don’t ask the landlord. My hubby phoned & lied and all of a sudden the property is available and when would you like to view.

Any advice on how to find a property would be gratefully received.

My thoughts are, as a landlord: no problem with a well behaved dog, but smoking would be the deal breaker for me. Once a property has been smoked in, the background smell lingers for years, and all carpets etc have to be replaced
I’ve had smoking tenants who promised not to smoke inside, but then did. They masked the smell for the checkout, but once the property had been empty for a few days, the smell developed and I had to replace all of the carpets. Even if you can get it agreed, 5 weeks deposit in most areas is not going to cover a house full of carpets. And legally, you can’t pay more than 5 deposit weeks now.

1 Like

same with me… standing next to someone who smokes makes ME cough

Hi Cath

Thank you for your response. I really appreciate your points.

Our friends suggested we should lie about smoking but I refuse to. I know how much damage is caused by smoking. I want to be able to relax wake up in the morning in our rented home have a cuppa and a smoke. To outright lie I couldn’t. Honesty in my book will always be the best policy.

I didn’t know about 5 weeks bond. Thank you for that information. Surely some arrangement can be made to hold monies for new carpet & paint. We are private, quiet, respectful & honest people hoping for a lease for 2 to 3 years. If a lease that long is still possible.

Hopefully a smoker friendly & dog friendly landlord will be out there.

Clare