Pets in rentals

[Mike4]

What's the current state of play with rights of tenants to keep pets, please? Specifically, a small dog.

I gather legislation currently in passage grants this as a right but I have in mind there is already some sort of 'human right' to keep a pet. Is this correct?

The situation is a tenant of mine asked to get a small dog and I replied that while I have no objection personally, if the freeholder of the flat objects or any other problem arises, the dog would have to go or I'd have to terminate the tenancy. The management company has now popped up saying now my tenant has a small dog, several other tenants have asked for a small dog too and been refused, and those tenants are citing my tenant and asking why they are allowed and not them. Bad decision on my part to respond as I did, so it turns out.

Before I give my tenants the bad news, I'd just like to be sure of the real situation. Any views or further info much appreciated!

[servodude]

How about from the horse's mouth
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/can-my-landlord-prevent-me-from-keeping-a-pet/
- not that a horse would be appropriate normally

Clause C3.5 prohibits a landlord from exercising a blanket ban on pets. A responsible pet owner will be aware of their responsibilities in making best efforts to ensure their pet does not cause a nuisance to neighbouring households or undue damage to the Property. A landlord should take steps to accommodate written requests from responsible tenants with pets. They should only turn down a request in writing within a 28 day period if there is good reason to do so, such as large pets in smaller properties or flats, or otherwise properties where having a pet could be impractical. Landlord consent is therefore the default position unless otherwise specified in writing by a landlord.

[Lootman]

Every time I allowed a tenant to get a pet, or accepted a tenant with a pet, I regretted it. And this was before all these new laws "protecting" tenants came into play. It used to be the case that you could only not refuse genuine service animals but these days people claim gerbils and parrots as "emotional support animals" so it's a minefield.

What I did was ask for an additional pet deposit to cover the eventual extra clean-up and repair costs. And of course tenants with animals find it harder to get a place and so you can generally charge more as a result.

So in the end I just maxxed the rent and accepted the hassle. People with dogs and no outdoor space generally moved on fairly quickly, I found.

[modellingman]

How about from the horse's mouth
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/can-my-landlord-prevent-me-from-keeping-a-pet/
- not that a horse would be appropriate normally

Clause C3.5 prohibits a landlord from exercising a blanket ban on pets. A responsible pet owner will be aware of their responsibilities in making best efforts to ensure their pet does not cause a nuisance to neighbouring households or undue damage to the Property. A landlord should take steps to accommodate written requests from responsible tenants with pets. They should only turn down a request in writing within a 28 day period if there is good reason to do so, such as large pets in smaller properties or flats, or otherwise properties where having a pet could be impractical. Landlord consent is therefore the default position unless otherwise specified in writing by a landlord.

What you are quoting as Clause C3.5 is a clause in the Government's model tenancy agreement. There is no obligation on a landlord to use this as the tenancy agreement and at 55 pages in length I suspect that few do. I certainly don't.

Bearing in mind that the Commons Library webpage is aimed at helping and guiding MPs with their constituency casework, it starts by saying that what is contained in the tenancy agreement is important and is, in effect, pointing MPs to the tenancy agreement as their starting point. It notes that a blanket ban on pets may fall foul of the "unfair terms" provisions of the Consumer Rights Act. None of this will be news to experienced landlords.

The actual text of clause C3.5 puts, perhaps, a slightly different spin on things to the interpretation given by the quote from the Commons Library webpage. That text is:

A Tenant must seek the prior written consent of the Landlord should they wish to keep pets or other animals at the Property. A Landlord must not unreasonably withhold or delay a written request from a Tenant without considering the request on its own merits. The Landlord should accept such a request where they are satisfied the Tenant is a responsible pet owner and the pet is of a kind that is suitable in relation to the nature of the premises at which it will be kept. Consent is deemed to be granted unless the written request is turned down by a Landlord with good reason in writing within 28 days of receiving the request. A Landlord is prohibited from charging a fee to a Tenant who wishes to keep pets or other animals at the Property. Permission may be given on the condition that the Tenant pays an additional reasonable amount towards the deposit, but the deposit must not breach the deposit cap requirements under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 (see section B10).

Earlier this year, I turned down a request from a tenant. The request was to keep a large-ish dog in a small 2-bed terraced house with front door onto the street and a small year yard. The response given included:

We have the following reservations related to keeping a dog as you have requested:

• No garden with green space and rear yard is not big allow to allow any form of exercise for a dog
• Complaints from neighbours about noise (barking and/or howling)
• Damage to furniture and woodwork (doors, doorframes, skirting boards, etc) from scratching
• Marking of walls and wallpaper caused by oils on dog's coat from habitual brushing past
• Damage to carpets and soft furnishings from biting and pulling with mouth
• Retained smells within carpets, mattresses and soft furnishings at the end of the tenancy
• Infestation of fleas and other parasites in carpets, mattresses and soft furnishings at the end of the tenancy

These concerns are based on our experience in the keeping of dogs in domestic premises.

Had you signalled you intention to keep a dog prior to being offered the tenancy we would have declined to offer it to you and would have instead made the offer of tenancy to alternative applicants.

We note that both you and your co-tenant are undergraduate students. In consequence and given your degree subjects, it is likely that during term time there will be parts of each week (and probably significant parts of each week) when neither of you will be on the premises. In our experience it is when a dog is left alone and unsupervised that the type of problems noted above can occur.


There was no pushback about the decision not to give landlord's consent to the request once the tenant received our response.

modellingman

[Mike4]

Thank you for the replies everyone.

Reviewing my OP I didn't really explain properly that while I see the reasons to decline permission, I am happy this otherwise quiet and trouble-free long term tenant will look after the dog well and not allow any of the common problems to arise. I'll take that risk.

The ManCo however is telling me the head lease on my flat bans pets. I was looking for ammunition to field this really. Mind you I haven't read the lease to check yet but they are probably right. I'll do that next.

[monabri]

""The situation is a tenant of mine asked to get a small dog and I replied that while I have no objection personally, if the freeholder of the flat objects or any other problem arises, the dog would have to go or I'd have to terminate the tenancy"

Any other problems....looks like you might need to follow through!

We had a tenant who decided he wanted a cat...the cat shred the new Wilton carpet ( my wife had contacts and we got a good deal on carpets). He amassed 20 bags of USED cat litter in the flat, didn't know how to get rid of it and so left it for us! He is also the person we suspect padlocked the gate with 10 padlocks in a fit of pique , installed multiple locks and padlocks on all doors (inner and outer) plus windowbars , repeatedly breaks in to the outside mail box despite having left in November, dumped a pile of rubbish on the carpark and cut down the wooden gate so he could move his furniture out. The inside of the property...


( suspect = he was seen doing it by a neighbour but we didn't have it on cctv so the police can do nothing).