Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Australian family adds cat to the sale of their house and increases value by £76,000

A pet is not just for Christmas. It's also a valuable asset to your property

Kiran Moodley
Wednesday 15 October 2014 07:12 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The value of an Australian family's house shot up by $140,000 AUD (£76,000) when they agreed to include their pet cat, Tiffany, as part of the deal.

The Perceval family in Melbourne auctioned their five-bedroom home last weekend, receiving a bid of $2,060,000 AUD.

However, real estate agent Glen Coutinho approached the family and said that the child of one of the bidders had become smitten with the house cat during a recent viewing.

Thus, the bidder offered to buy the Perceval house for £2.2 million AUD, but Tiffany had to be part of the deal.

Talking to Melbourne's Herald Sun, the mother of the family, Fran Perceval, said Tiffany would always sit on the couch during the numerous house viewings.

“People would come through, and she’d observe them and be patted," she said. "She loved all the attention — she does look a bit ornamental.”

While Perceval agreed to the new terms from the bidder, her son, Sam, was not as pleased to see Tiffany change hands. 19-year-old Sam had bought Tiffany, the last of the litter, in a pet shop because he felt sorry for her.

Sam's mum told the Herald Sun, “We’re thinking we’ll put $20,000 in a pile next to the cat and say to Sam: you choose.” Sam is hoping to travel next year and his mother said the extra money garnered from Tiffany would help to pay for his trip.

While the Perceval family said they would be sad to see four-year-old Tiffany leave, they do have two dogs, two rabbits and a fish to fall back on. Still, they are now considering adopting a cat from the RSPCA when they move out.

Replacing a $140,000 AUD cat is not going to be easy.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in