We moved here August 26th. Have stayed in temporary living and found a permanent home beginning last week, Sept 16th. We have our two cats with us and did not have a problem. Had to sign a special "pets" section of the application but it was ok.

My husband and I looked at apartments here for a long time, and it seems that most of them do allow pets. In fact, I can't remember one that didn't!

Also, most of the apartments here seem to have wood floors, so I think that may be one of the reasons why (compared to the US), most landlords DO accept cats (less potential for damage).

So bring those kitties!

Meow!

Well, I still haven't found anything both affordable and cat-friendly in my area. Even if I were willing to buy a train pass, I have only encountered two places that would've worked.

Move out in 7 days :S A co-worker is renting me his spare room for October, but it's well beyond a distance I can bike. Plus, I doubt his three-year-old kid will get on very well with my cat.

Have you checked Brugg? I rented a place there that had no problems accepting a cat (it was also the first place I looked at). I have since moved to Zurich, but I have a friend that lives in Brugg now and she has a cat... Maybe the word affordable is more of the problem?

Hi,

We moved into an apartment that had cats previously and they were even kind enough to leave their nets up.

Our rent is very affordable and we can get into Zurich within 40 minutes. There are lots of apartments in our village that allow pets, I definitely think they prefer indoor cats rather than cats pooping on the gardens and veg patches. We have a wonderful balcony which is very spacious and the cats love the storks and various birds which fly over all the time.

Hope you get what you want.

Darcy

I just applied for an apartment and the rental agency was extremely worried about whether my Pabli was indoor or outdoor, they wanted him to be strict indoor. I have heard people go two ways: either lie on the application and say they got the cat later, or specify on the application that the cat is strict indoor.

Since Pabli was strict indoor anyway and I don't want to live anywhere that doesn't want his awesomeness, I told the truth on my form. But my new agency didn't send me the contract until three people told him he was indoor.

We've got a cat and have stayed in two houses in Brugg.

Both adverts said 'no pets', but when we asked the owners we were told that the cat wouldn't be a problem....in fact in the first house they even let us cut a hole in a door for a cat-flap!

I often wonder whether there is a standard application form used which isn't altered (i.e changed to 'pets accepted') unless the owner of the house specifically asks for it.

If you do find a place you really like try getting in touch with the owners themselves through the leasing agent....you might be pleasantly surprised.

Good luck

What I did for my last 2 apartments and the one I am moving to now is that I go see the apartment, if I like I call the agency/owner and ask about my pets (cat and large dog - dog does not bark unless someone knocks on door). In all 3 cases I was given the apartment and my pets were accepted even though the apartment ads either said no pets allowed or said nothign about pets.

Sometimes they ask for an insurance in case the dog/cat makes damages to the apartment, parquet floor especially (quite reasonable price to get this insuranmce done). Besides, they ask whether you have a dog sitter or dog walker, but anyway I think that many of us with dogs have a dog-walker and would not leave them all day alone while we are at work, so that is not much of an issue.

But it was not as hard as I thought to find an apartment so far. I think that calling them directly helps a lot

The application form from the HEV asks if you have pets and what kind. It does not say whether they are or are not allowed. That is up to the owner's discretion. The HEV lease clearly states that pets are not allowed unless permission has been granted.

I would not recommend this. A property manager has been given the responsibility of finding then a tenant. If they wanted to do this directly, they wouldn't hire anyone. If the owner says no cats, that is generally the way it is. Going behind an agent's back to find an owner will not score any points, in fact, it may mean you don't get the place. Sadly, there are agents who are lazy and won't go to bat for a tenant who is a pet owner, even if the tenant has excellent references with regards to the pets. There is nothing you can do about this.

In my experience, pets can do a lot of damage. I have an owner who needs to spend thousands to put his house right after the previous tenants left as they had cats. Fortunately he has not said no to other tenants keeping pets (dogs) in one of his other properties.

I think you are very lucky to have such a colleague with a big heart.

I can only tell you my experience here in Basel. In general all the apartment that i found on Homegate accepted cats with no problem, even those that did not advertised it explicitly. I also had the feeling that when you tell them about your pet, they appreciated if you spend few minutes about them and their habit, if they are indoor or outdoor, neutered or not, and so on. It is true that they prefers indoor cat than outdoor and sometime i got the request to not let the cat in the garden.... as if you can do it with a cat. Apart from this, i found that being straightforward and telling them from the beginning your pet situation helps a lot and they are usually openminded. In my specific case i was fist moving with one cat alone, but then i decided to move my own and one of my mother (they got very much attached to each other and we did not want to divide them).This decision was taken after i signed the contract, and when i told them they said that i was not a problem at all. I may have been lucky the the company that manage my building, but i think that this is more the rule that the exception.

Wish you the best for you and your cat and that you can find a great place as soon as possible.

I think I might have to choose 2 of my 3 criteria, and settle for that. I did find a place willing to take cats, affordable, and within a distance I'm capable of biking to work, but they chose a different tenant.

I have been calling/emailing the contact person on every ad I find that's even close to my distance/price range. I've contacted dozens of people, and only had two positive responses. The one I was turned down for, and one that wasn't actually affordable, after all the extra costs.

In the meantime, at least Brugg is a very short train ride away. It's only a problem on late nights, so long as I remember to validate my ticket. And my coworker's place is actually quite nice.

Thanks for everyone's well-wishes. If you hear about a place in the Baden area, please pm me