Finding a home for your pet

In relatively recent legislation which incorporates the Model Tenancy Agreement, landlords can no longer issue blanket bans on pets. Instead, consent for pets will be the default position.

This Model Tenancy Agreement will now form the government’s recommended contract for landlords. This is no surprise, with figures showing that more than half of adults in the United Kingdom own a pet, and this figure is on the increase.

These changes have resulted in more landlords having to cater for responsible pet owners. Under the new agreement, rejections can only be made where there is good reason, such as in smaller properties or flats where owning a pet could be impractical.

Landlords will have to file an objection in writing within 28 days of a written pet request from a tenant.

At Ringley, our lettings platform PlanetRent automatically generates a pet-friendly agreement for landlords to use and makes any sign-up quick and easy. We can also provide pet request forms via our online Gateway.

Having pets as tenants

We feel that pets are family and we are pleased to see that the Government agreed.

We do, however, understand landlords’ reservations. Irresponsible pet owners often allow their dogs and cats (and other more uncommon pets!) to cause a huge amount of costly damage to fixtures and fittings. We were pleased to see that the legislationr makes it quite clear that pet-owning tenants will continue to have a legal duty to repair or cover the cost of any harm caused to rented property. What is more difficult for landlords is to determine what constitutes a “well-behaved” pet.

What is the definition and how can landlords tell how well-behaved or otherwise their tenants’ pets may be?

The UK is famously a nation of pet lovers but if the neighbours start complaining about pet noise, mess or trespass then landlords may have a whole different set of problems to deal with.