No-pet rules in flats leave pet-lovers anxious

PANAJI: Have a pet? Good luck renting out an apartment in Goa. A majority of apartment owners in Goa do not let their houses out to tenants with pets- a fact that is made clear in their classifieds ads and even communicated by brokers. Sixty percent of house-owners that TOI contacted said their apartments levied a 'no-dog' policy, some even extending to cats and birds."We can't help it if a majority of the occupants demand a no-pet policy. Even if we like animals, neighbours complain that dogs would disturb them with their barking," said Allwyn R.F , who has put up his Dona Paula flat for rent, with a 'no pets' clause.
Dog-owner Sunil Menon had a hard time finding a rented flat around Panaji, when he moved to Goa for work. "While the owners of furnished apartments flat-out refused to entertain tenants with pets, others said their 'society rules' would not allow dogs. We finally had to move into an independenthouse 18km away from my workplace," he says. Animal activists claim that Goa's animal shelters are filling up with abandoned adult pet dogs."It is difficult to re-home adult dogs as they tend to be depressed and miss their families," says Atul Sarin, who runs WAG. International Animal Rescue(IAR) at Assagao also takes in animals from tenants pressurized by their landlords to give up their pets. While the fundamental freedom given to Indian citizens includes facets such as 'living with or without companion animals', the Animal Welfare Board states that apartment complexes cannot legally introduce any sort of 'ban' on pets, or even impose restrictions on the size or breed of dog. Multiple court-orders have ruled that societies cannot force a person to get rid of a companion animal or vacate a rented house because of his pets. The law may protect pet-lovers, but enforcing it is close to impossible, laments Dr Max Patel, director of IAR. "When a pet-owner confronts the landlord with the law, the property-owner comes up with a thousand other reasons to vacate," he says.