So a lot of you would have seen this on facebook already but oh well lol.

If you recall, a few weeks ago I was super sad because hubby and I had basically moved from Bathurst (country) to Sydney (city) and we were living in a 1 bedroom flat that did not allow pets. It was a garage converted into a flat and was just off the main house, and our landlords were a 60-ish year old couple. It was great as a temporary accomodation solution but it was awful, it was basically like living with your parents again. And they wouldn't allow pets at all so Whiskey and my birbs had to stay back in Bathurst. I was driving 6 hours round trip every weekend to go back and see them. I missed Sam SO much and every weekend couldn't come fast enough.

Well after looking high and low (and applying as much as I could) for pet friendly rentals, we FINALLY got one, and it's AMAZING.

It's a recently renovated 3 bedroom house set on 5 acres of land. We don't get use of all of the land because the entire property is being rented by a guy (whos name is also Sam) who runs an earthmoving company and he uses most of it to store his machinery and equipment and his guys work out of the yard. But it was cheaper for him to rent the entire property (land, shed and house) and sublet the house. The rent is extremely reasonable and Sam is a very flexible guy so we were happy to apply. He chose us to sublet the house and got the agents final approval and we moved in a couple weeks ago!

The only downside is the owner has a strict "ALL PETS OUTSIDE" policy. Whiskey is an outdoor dog most of the time anyway and the cockatiels are indoor/outdoor but Sam is strictly an indoor bird. He does not cope with the extreme Sydney weather well at all. Before I moved in with danny in the flat I came to visit him over Christmas and I had to bring Sam with me because at that point in time he was still being handfed formula so I couldn't leave him. Chris (the LL at the flat) agreed to have him there but outside only. Sam legit nearly died outside in the heat, despite me doing everything I could to keep him cool, and I had to bring him inside otherwise I would have lost him. I had my avian vet on the phone when Chris knocked on the door wanting to know why the bird was inside when he specifically said he had to be outside. He didn't seem too concerned when I said that he almost died out there and I have the vet on the phone giving me instructions on bringing his temperature down. Danny had my car and if I couldn't get Sam's temp down the vet would have made a house call which would have been expensive.

When we got approved for this place I sent an e-mail to the agent (they want all requests via e-mail) requesting permission to keep Sam, and only Sam, indoors. I explained that it's for his health and the last time I had to leave him outside he nearly died. I explained that he is a very clean bird that does not produce feather dust/dander and that he eats a fresh food diet with no messy seed (most people envision the floor coated with seed when I say I have a bird), I told them that he is kept in a large cage which is cleaned daily. My previous landlord offered to write a letter or call the agent to verify that she also had a "pets outdoors" policy but had granted me permission to keep Sam inside and that he was a clean and non-destructive bird. I even offered to pay an extra $500 "pet bond" on top of the $3000 bond we had already paid (bond is like a deposit to cover damages etc at the end of the tenancy, you get it back if there's no reason for the agent/LL to keep it)
They STILL said no. They said I could only keep him outside or in the shed, which a) is being used by Sam (the guy) and his earthmoving equipment and b) would be much, much worse heat-wise than just being outside. If I put any of the animals in that shed during the day they would 100% be dead by the end of the day. Great solution!

Danny, who was originally against the idea of keeping him indoors if the agent said "no pets inside" (because he likes it here and didn't want to jeopardize the tenancy, which I completely understand), was actually a bit outraged that they were being so unreasonable and told me to keep him inside anyway and just wheel his cage outside when the agent comes to do their quarterly property inspection.
For danny it's not so much the bird's health he's worried about (he cares, but not as much as I do), but if Sam were to die, that's $750 down the drain and he's not prepared to let that happen.

So anyway, I have Sam's enormous cage in the exact spot I wanted it to be in the first place and it's so amazing. It fills a huge empty space in the living room and Sam can be with me all the time (when i'm home, that is lol) and I am SO happy. I clean up around his cage area every night after work, and I wheel him outside on nice days and you legit can't even tell he's been inside. It's amazing.

I'm sitting at my dining table right now and this is my living room (excuse how bare it is)

Renting and pets can be such a nightmare. I'm so happy that you've got things figured out to work for you guys

Just dont post any pics of him inside to where the owner can see!

Glad you have him with you again!
We've totally just had 2 cats before *cough*there were actually 5*cough* when I was renting this duplex with two of my friends. xD

i think ive only ever paid half a pet deposit before 
and we had bought our house by the time the second was due XD
we always snuck pets in XD
and honestly i dont consider a bird a "pet" that to me is like having fish or a hampster 

so the ll is an idiot in my opinion XD

Right? None of my previous landlords cared about my birds being inside as long as I cleaned up after them. I've never had to beg for permission to keep a bird inside before, let alone be told i'm absolutely not allowed to. I was actually considering getting a tank and perhaps a lizard or maybe even a snake but now I don't think i'd be allowed to lol. I mean Sam's cage is on wheels so wheeling it outside once per quarter is no trouble but I don't think i'd like to be carrying a 4-6ft tank outside every 3 months :P

Well, this whole thing has been a disaster and we're moving back to Bathurst next week lol.

I'm honestly so happy though. The extra space in this house has been great but I haven't actually been happy since we moved here. I've been miserable pretty much the entire time. My work turned to crap and danny's new boss turned out to be a complete d-bag and nothing is working out. The rent is over double what we were paying in Bathurst but the pay from our jobs hasn't been any better so we've basically just been going backwards ever since we moved.

So, since we haven't actually handed back the keys to the old place yet, our LL invited us to move back in. She said we've been excellent tenants for the entire 3 years we've been renting it and she'd love to have us back. So we're meeting with her on thursday or friday to have our lease reinstated and we're moving all our crap back in on Monday 19th.

Whiskey will be happier because he'll have his neighbours back again (he loves their girl dogs next door) and I already know my LL loves my birds and doesn't care about them being inside. 

Ever since we decided that we're definitely moving back to Bathurst all I can think is "omg I can't wait to go home"

I work in a letting agents and honestly LL's and pets are a nightmare. It's so rare to find a place that will accept pets at all so I'm so happy for you and Danny and that you've finally got something sorted out! You deserve it!