Renting with a cat in Canada: what landlords ask, and how to answer

Most advice about renting with a pet is written about dogs, because dogs are where the arguments are. Cats are different. They are quiet, they need no walking, and a landlord’s concerns about them are narrower and easier to answer. They still get refused, usually because the request did not answer the concern the landlord actually had.

This guide covers the five provinces this site writes about: Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia.

What the law lets a landlord do

• Ontario: a clause in a lease that prohibits animals is void. A landlord can still turn down an applicant because of a pet, but once you are a tenant, having a cat is not in itself a reason your tenancy can be ended. What that rule does and does not do.
• British Columbia: a tenancy agreement can prohibit pets, or restrict their size, kind or number. If a landlord allows a pet, they can ask for a pet damage deposit of up to half a month’s rent.
• Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia: the landlord decides whether pets are allowed, and a no-pets term in your lease or the landlord’s written rules binds you.

None of the five treats a cat differently from a dog. And in every province, if the unit is in a condo or strata building, the building’s own rules apply to you as well as the lease. How those rules reach tenants.

The five concerns behind a cat refusal

1. Scratching. This is the concern behind most cat refusals, and the easiest to answer with specifics: a scratching post already in use, claws kept trimmed, and a plain sentence about the state of your current furniture. Do not offer declawing. The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association opposes it, and veterinary regulators in most provinces, including British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia, prohibit elective declawing.
2. Litter and smell. A landlord picturing a litter box is picturing the worst one they have seen. Say where the box lives, how often it is cleaned, and how the litter is thrown out. Manitoba’s Residential Tenancies Branch tells tenants to follow any instructions the landlord gives about litter, which is a fair guide to what landlords worry about.
3. Indoor or outdoor. An indoor cat raises no questions about the yard, the road or the neighbours. An outdoor cat raises all three, and some cities have a view of their own: Calgary requires cat owners to keep their cats on their own property. A cat door is an alteration to the landlord’s property and needs their permission separately.
4. Fleas. Treatment kept up to date, stated as a fact, answers this in one line.
5. Allergies. A landlord is entitled to think about the neighbours and the next tenant. In Ontario, a serious allergic reaction suffered by the landlord or another tenant is one of the few animal-related grounds on which the Landlord and Tenant Board can end a tenancy, and not where the Board is satisfied your animal did not cause or contribute to it. An offer to have the unit professionally cleaned when you leave lands directly on this concern.

What your city may require

Cat licensing is a municipal matter. Toronto requires every cat to be licensed and to wear its tag. Calgary requires a licence too. Other cities have their own rules, or none for cats, so check yours.

If your cat is licensed, say so. If it is microchipped, spayed or neutered, and up to date with its vaccinations, say that as well. A landlord reads a short list of plain yeses as a sign of a person who does things properly.

Deposits and fees

The rules on money follow the province, not the species. Ontario allows only one kind of security deposit, a rent deposit, so a pet deposit is not allowed at all. British Columbia and Manitoba allow a separate pet damage deposit within set limits. Alberta caps the security deposit, refundable pet deposits included, at one month’s rent. Nova Scotia caps the security deposit at half a month’s rent and does not allow an extra deposit for pets. The detail, province by province.

The request, for a cat

The free template works for a cat as it stands. Where it asks you to describe the animal, write about the five concerns above, in that order, and you will have answered the landlord’s questions before they thought to ask them. A one-page pet resume does the same job with headings, and a property manager will file it.

Outside Ontario, keep the cat out of the unit until you have permission in writing. If your lease says no pets, a cat moved in without permission is a breach of it, however quiet the cat. In Ontario the lease cannot stop you, though a condo’s rules can, and telling your landlord early is still usually the better start.

Where our certificate fits

It doesn’t help with the landlord. A certificate from a private register, ours included, creates no right to keep a cat anywhere, and a landlord is free to ignore it. For a cat, the difference between yes and no is usually the two sentences about scratching, and you can write those yourself.

If you would like a keepsake record of your cat anyway, a certificate, a wallet card and a public lookup number, that is what we sell: $35 once, current for 18 months, no subscription.