When Sarah Bradnam and her family moved from Brisbane to Tasmania a couple of years ago, she said it was a shock to find a place that allowed for her two labradors.
"It was hard because it's not just finding somewhere that's pet friendly, it's somewhere that's in a safe area [and] if you've got kids, that's an added challenge," Ms Bradnam said.
"When I've searched for a rental [and] put in the criteria [I choose] pet friendly, and that rules out probably 75 per cent of vacant rentals," she said.
But this may soon change.
During this year's Tasmanian election campaign, the Liberal Party promised to introduce legislation to allow pets in rental properties in its first 100 days in office.
The existing system has faced criticism from tenants' advocates and welfare organisations in the past, who have cited situations where tenants were forced to give-up their pets in order to secure a rental property.
Loading...What would these changes mean?
Changes to the Residential Tenancy Act 1997 were tabled in the Tasmanian Parliament on Thursday.
If the legislation passes in its current form, a tenant would be allowed to keep a pet in their rental, even without the property owner's consent, so long as they're notified.
Owners wouldn't be allowed to "unreasonably reject" a person from renting their property on the basis of pet ownership and could only do so if the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TasCAT) agreed the animal was a nuisance, causing damage to the property or endangering the safety of neighbours.
What is considered a 'pet'?
According to the bill, a pet is defined as a "domesticated animal, or an animal that is dependent on a person for the provision of food or shelter".
Animals that aren't considered a pet include dangerous dogs, dogs over six months of age that are not registered and cats over six months that are not microchipped.
Guide dogs are also exempt because they're already not considered pets, meaning users and trainers of guide dogs can continue to have them on their property.
What about damage to the property?
Just like with tenants, if an animal causes any damage to property the tenant will have to fork out repair costs.
Under the Residential Tenancy Act, the tenant is obliged to return the property to the condition it was at the beginning of their tenancy — and this won't change for people with pets.
Any damage caused by a pet will need to be rectified by the tenant at the end of the tenancy, otherwise the owner can make a claim against the bond.
The bill makes no mention of an additional 'pet bond', which Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff originally ruled out when the policy was announced.
Having previously owned properties herself, Ms Bradnam explained she always approved tenants even if they had pets because she understood the challenges they faced.
"I understand how hard it is to be a renter with a pet, [but] as long as you can have that level of trust with your tenants that the animal is somewhat well behaved," Ms Bradnam said.
"Recently I've had to try and find a new rental and I offered to have a reference for my dog from a previous landlord.
"If you own a property, it's so kind to be able to offer that ability to a renter... but [they've] also got to respect that it's someone else's property."
Ms Bradnam said she didn't doubt some people may not be "as respectful" of their rental, but believed the vast majority were and understood their moral obligation.
"If your animal damages it, you repair it."
What are the rules in other states and territories?
Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, the ACT and the NT have all eased laws around 'no pet' clauses in rental agreements.
NSW and Western Australia are similar in that tenants can ask to have their pet in a rental, but it's up to the landlord to grant them permission.
Ben Bartl, principal lawyer at the Tenants Union of Tasmania, welcomed the proposed legislation.
"We think the government has struck the right balance between renters being able to have a pet and landlords being able to refuse a pet on reasonable grounds," he said.
"There's research that's been done right around Australia to show that renters with pets cause as little damage as renters without pets.
"We also know that renters with pets are more likely to rent in the property for longer which ensures that the landlord is getting a longer return on their investment."
What do real estate agents make of the proposed changes?
Members of Tasmania's real estate industry have previously raised concerns around the Liberals' election commitment.
Adrian Kelly, former president of the Real Estate Institute of Australia, fears the policy will encourage property owners to sell because they don't have control over their homes.
"We already have many of our tenancies around the state which have pets in them and 99.9 per cent of those arrangements work really well.
"The problem is when they don't, it usually goes off in pretty spectacular fashion, because it's quite expensive to remedy.
"If the government thinks that all of these private property owners in Tasmania will just suck it up then they're very much mistaken. These are significant investments that people have, and they won't want them degraded in any way."
Mr Kelly also said he was disappointed by the lack of consultation with the industry.
"We could have made this bill nation-leading, not make the mistakes that other jurisdictions have. [We could've] really come up with something of good quality, but that hasn't happened."