Every year brings a new selection of legislation relating to gites and holiday rental properties, none of which has ever been officially communicated to us so usually we happily drift along in ignorance – an approach which never seems to do much harm and tends to save money.
But one new regulation caught my eye – apparently a court in France has just rules that holiday rental property owners can no longer refuse to accept pets. While they concede that ‘dangerous dogs’ can be excluded, if someone wants to bring their pet dog or cat (or presumably their parrot, tortoise, boa constrictor and goldfish) along with them on holiday the property owner no longer has the right to say that is unacceptable.
This is a subject dear to me because we don’t currently accept pets, for a few reasons including:
- We have two gites and don’t want a misbehaved dog in one disturbing the peace for the other
- Many years ago we had dogs stay in one of our properties and it caused several hundred euros of damage to sofas
- We have a small lame cat ourselves which would not get on well with big dogs
- At the moment we can assure people with pet allergies that our properties are suitable for them
So where does that leave us all and what are the options?
We are free (for the time being!) to set our own prices, including reduced charges for low occupancy and higher charges for increased occupancy, and also to decide ourselves what security deposit is payable. So it seems likely that those not wanting to accept pets can say something like ‘An additional 500 euros security deposit is payable in cash on arrival, for each pet accompanying the party. An additional cost of 75 euros per night per pet will also be charged’.
There are also possible options along the lines of stating (quite reasonably) that a property is unsuitable for pets, and/or that complete vaccination certificates must be produced before any pet can be admitted.
You can see the subject discussed here on the lay my hat forum for property rental owners for more details of the ruling and possible options available for owners.
There are currently properties that also advertise ‘adults only’ for some of the same reasons, but the ruling doesn’t seem to be applicable to those who try and stop children from having a nice holiday…
Is it just me or is this ruling bonkers? If someone doesn’t want to accept pets for any reason should that not be a straightforward choice for owners? Or is it just me being insensitive to those who want to bring doggy on holiday with them?
Theoretically, after a recent judgement in UK, you have to accept same sex couples to your home if you are providing accommodation. So a ‘booking form’ will have to be very specific these days with M or F beside each name plus relationship to the first named. We would want to put D for Dog and could provide references as to his behaviour. We also ‘pick up’ after him. Can you specify no all same sex groups? Life is becoming too complicated and I expect that you will have soon to keep records that detail what ethnicity your guests call themselves. Our D thinks he is a human but he is really a Setter.
We do not have pets and would never stay where pets are allowed. For a government to say you MUST take pets is just a dictatorship It will be some EU ruling or the like. The sooner we are out of the EU the better. They have just tried to tell us that prisoners must have the vote, but for once one of our judges has called their bluff.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1358295/High-Court-kicks-prisoners-bid-vote-compensation-Cameron-told-CAN-defy-Strasbourg-diktats.html
We are losing our freedom to run our own lives You should be able to say who or what stay at your properties.
I have just been caught out for the first time. Our lovely guests from Belgium (and they were really nice people) turned up with a Lab and a Bulldog! I was alarmed but they assured me that the dogs were very well behaved, gentil, and slept in their travel cages. What could I do? I made then promise me that when outside the digs would be kept on a lead, that they cleaned up any mess, and that they would not go upstairs or on any furniture.
It was a disaster. The dogs romped all over the place (fortunately not upstairs), barked at everybody and made the whole week unpleasant for everybody.
Saturday was a Marathon. Cleaning took forever as you can imagine.
NEVER, Never again. And I love dogs. I have two myself.
Next time they get their money back and sent on their way law or no law!
I am looking for a holiday rental to take my 2 dogs with me, I totally accept where people do not want dogs in their home, there are a lot of people and children who are allergic to animals. there are also places which do not accept children!.
Where we stayed last year we borrowed stair gates and took throws to cover furniture, Never leave the dogs in the house alone (it is their holiday as well) and we Always clear up everytime they do their business, and check the area twice a day.
You should be able to choose who you have in your house rented or not.
Unfortunately the people with genuinely well-behaved dogs suffer because of the people who say ‘small well behaved dog’ but really mean something quite different. I think nowadays there are even websites for ‘pet friendly gites’ which might be a good starting point.
I guess it is as simple as charging extra if guests want to bring dogs to a property where they are not welcome, which will go some way to clearing up/repairs which may be needed.
The majority of dog owners are respnsible people (just as the majority of people with children are) but there will always be exceptions.