Who Decides on Pets in Rentals? Navigating the New Legislation for Landlords and Tenants - Ep. 22

Who Decides on Pets in Rentals? Navigating the New Legislation for Landlords and Tenants - Ep. 22.

Welcome to this episode of The All Things Property Podcast, where Simon Bacon and Ian Sadler tackle one of the most hotly debated topics in the rental market: pets in rental properties. 

With guest Ted quietly observing, the conversation cuts through corporate scripts and explores the real questions: Who gets the final say on pets, what does new legislation mean for landlords and tenants and how do you balance responsibility, risk and fairness? 

Whether you’re a landlord, letting agent, or tenant, this episode offers practical advice, honest assessments, and invites you to consider how personal relationships and clear communication shape your property experience.

Chapter

00:00 Pets in rental properties

05:55 Pet deposits and security rules

09:28 Handling tenant pet requests

12:02 Understanding pet policies in leases

14:03 Supporting tenants and landlords with pets

17:29 Ending thoughts on pets in rentals

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Get in touch with Simon for all your property needs. 
www.prefprop.com

E: simon@prefprop.com

T: 0121 2402244

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

So, in this episode of the All Things Property Podcast, it is uh episode 5 of 6, and today we're going to be talking about pets in rental properties. Who really gets the final stage? And I'm pleased to say that Ian and I are joined by Ted. I'm not sure how much you'll participate, but probably apt for him to be sitting in and listening to uh to what happens in terms of pets in rental properties. Welcome to the All Things Property podcast with me, Simon Bacon of Preference Properties. Every week, Ian Sadler and I will delve into All Things Property. We'll guide you through with friendly, no nonsense advice. Now, pets in rental properties has probably been one of the most talked about aspects of the new legislation. Um, what is the key principle as far as you understand it, Ian?

SPEAKER_01 0:57

I think you're far better placed to explain that now.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Well, let me say then that the key principle um in the new legislation is that tenants will have the r the right to request permission for a pet, and landlords will not be able to unreasonably refuse. So, Ian, do you often get requests from tenants for pets in properties that you rent?

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yeah, at viewings, yeah. And existing tenants. What do you generally, what's your thought?

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Response to those?

SPEAKER_01 1:33

Not the expected one, maybe. I I've always been in the mind to assess the people who control and own the pet rather than the pet themselves. So if you've got responsible tenants, new tenants or existing tenants, and they they want to bring a pet into property, the way they approach it's important. Totally upfront to begin with. We have two cats or a dog who's nine years old and house chains and so on. Um, then uh if if I feel they're responsible tenants, I would I quite I'd quite happily agree to it. Okay, alright. It's more important, the tenants are more important in a weird way than the pet.

SPEAKER_02 2:13

I mean that's an interesting concept. I wonder what landlords would would say of that. I'd also wonder what tenants would say of that. So, from a landlord's perspective, why why do you think landlords well put it another way, if you're a landlord and you got asked to have a pet in your property, what would you say? Would you be in favour of it or would you be trying to put barriers up? And I think, you know, certainly the experience I've got is I've probably got both of those. Landlords who want to put barriers up and also landlords who will embrace it.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

Preconceptions that often turn out to be misconceptions about the damage pets can cause.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Yeah, but let's be honest, pets can cause damage. What kind of damage can they cause? Why would a landlord go, you know, what makes a landlord go, actually, I don't want a pet in my property?

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Well, I guess if you if it's a dog, then a potential um smell on carpets ingrained. If it's a cat, uh regular one is clawing the carpet of doors and damaging the carpet. But all all these things, if there's so much more than that though, isn't there?

SPEAKER_02 3:23

I mean, there's you know, fleas, there's pest control, there's you know, damage, there's you know, dare I say it, g poo in the garden, uh, you know, lawns get damaged by dogs.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

You're doing exactly what landlords do, which is go down the worst possible. Yeah, absolutely. You've got a pet, I've got a dog.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

I've got two dogs. Okay, this is my dog.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

Right. I'm a responsible adult, you are nearly a responsible adult. Okay. My dogs don't cause any damage in the property, they're well behaved, they poo in the garden, pick I pick it up. Yeah. They don't damage doors, kitchen units, because they're well looked after and they're well trained.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

When Ted goes to the loo in the garden, okay, has a wee in the garden, does he burn the grass? Is he a boy? Yes. Then he doesn't. He does. Okay. So do you only limit female dogs or male dogs?

SPEAKER_01 4:16

Because one I think I think I but that's part is it when humans live in houses, they scuff the walls, they walk down a an entrance hall, down the stairs, and you get dark scuff marks down there. That is wear and tear. If you agree to have a pet in the in the house in the tendency, and you pee in the garden, burns the grass, wear and tear. Not damage. Is it?

SPEAKER_02 4:39

Because if I didn't have a dog, if I didn't have a dog though, yeah, but if I didn't have a dog, then the lawn wouldn't get burned. And therefore, why should the landlord have to pay to because if you would would a tenant want to move into a a property where the lawn has been burned?

SPEAKER_00 4:59

How is that right?

SPEAKER_01 5:00

You have a big dog and he must get rid of gallons of pea, I guess, which burns your lawn dramatically. That's not the norm. I've got two dogs and there's not a sufficient area of my lawn burned that would make me want to get rid of the dogs or prevent a tenant from moving into the property.

SPEAKER_02 5:16

But does that make you you know, is a landlord this comes back to I suppose one of those cruxes. Is a landlord responsible for the actions of a tenant? Is it fair wear and tear if the lawn is burned or the or there is dog poo in the flower beds or the flower borders?

SPEAKER_01 5:39

That's your second example. No, of course it's not, because part of keeping a pet is picking up after them in a garden.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

Okay, so what's your understanding then of what the legislation is going to say in terms of you know extra deposit or putting in other other controls to pet owners.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Such as increasing well, what increasing the increasing the deposit then. Okay, what um the new rules say about that?

SPEAKER_02 6:09

You know, because the the the law says, you know, the legislation is exactly the same, that the maximum security deposit you could have is five weeks rent as deposit. So in the past, landlords have often asked for an extra deposit to cover uh you know damage by pets. There are clauses you can put in, such as carpets must be professionally clean, but you know, I'm I also know over my experience that you know you don't always you can't always tell whether a carpet's got fleas until a tenant has moved out, and suddenly two or three weeks later, you notice that there are fleas in the property, by which time you've already returned the sk the tenant's security deposit. Is it right that a landlord should be responsible for that?

SPEAKER_01 7:09

You make a decision at the start of a tenancy to choose what you consider to be the most suitable tenant. For me, pets are just as likely to cause damage as humans. If you're playing devil's advocate, if you've got two people, two parties both want the property, one is a professional couple, perfect credit history, good track record with the letting agents, they've got a dog. The other couple, whether whatever their circumstances, maybe they've um uh their job status isn't correct, or they need a guarantor, or something in their background makes you think, well, they're not as good potentially as the other ones. Would you take the two professionals, clean credit history, clean credit history with a pet?

SPEAKER_02 7:56

That's not a fair question. The question should be no, it's not. The fair question is you've got two identical couples, professional couple earning the same money with the same number of children and everything else. So you've got two identical couples, and one has got a dog and one doesn't have a dog. They're not identical. But they are. My example wasn't yours, you're saying they are. So you could say, well, I've chosen somebody with a dog because they are absolutely the best person, but the reality could be you could have two identical people, you know, two professionals or two full-time employed people doing similar jobs going into a property. Would you choose the one with a dog or without a dog?

SPEAKER_01 8:44

Well, the natural angle would be you choose the one without a dog. Yeah. But a tenant, a bad tenant, can cause far more damage than a bad dog. Bad pain. No, no, I I absolutely get that. Well how it'd be interesting to know the statistics, but how many families, how many people have pets in their lives? 50%?

SPEAKER_02 9:01

I don't mind.

SPEAKER_01 9:02

So it's it's can't be far off that. So life life is that 50% of your tenant demographic have pets. So you to have a policy that precludes any kind of pet in the property, regardless of the the owner, would would be limiting yourself severely in the process.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

Which is why which is in fairness why you know I think the legislation has has been brought in and why there is such a focus on it in terms of is it fair and reasonable to preclude somebody from renting a property because they have a pet? No. No. So but if that tenant, if you choose a tenant, going back to your scenario, if you choose a tenant based on um, you know, that they don't have a dog, but they then um are in the property and then they ask for a dog or a cat or something, where where do we stand on that? What if they are what if they are, as you put it, uh not not your ideal tenant? You know, where they're perhaps uh they're rent they're not looking after the property in the way that uh you would like to you go and do your inspection and you notice that I I don't know the property's not being looked after in as well as you would like it to. And then they ask if they can have a let's let's focus on dogs because we've got a dog sat here, um, although he just goes where he wants to.

SPEAKER_01 10:33

But yeah, what would you do? How would you Well your starting point would be to say the landlord uh you wouldn't say the landlord, would you? Uh would rather not. But you can't, is that unreasonable behaviour?

SPEAKER_02 10:46

It's saying no is unreasonable. Okay. Discussing the problem. I'd rather you didn't have a dog. That's not going to cut it, is it? Because you've got to be definitive. Yes, you can have a dog or no, you can't. But you you won't let me have a dog. Why are you not letting me have a dog, Mr. Saddler?

SPEAKER_01 11:04

This is where it gets awkward, isn't it? Because you can't actually say reality is different to um the proposals the legislation's making.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

So the only way, you know, that there are things that you can determine. Um is the property reasonable for for a pet? So, you know, I I would have said, and I'm not being funny here, that if if I was living in a uh one-bedroom uh house, a small Victorian terraced house, would the size of the dog determine whether it's the property is reasonable? Yes. Okay. So that could be a ground then. If I lived in a um a flat, could I decline having a pet? What what would I have to consider what could I consider as a landlord then?

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Well, if somebody said I'm I want to get a house cat and I live in a flat, then you'd have to consider that. But if somebody said you they wanted uh a dog or two dogs, then you the the exercise aspect of a dog and the fresh air aspect of it.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

But it's okay saying leases, you know, landlords need to understand their leases, don't they? So again, one of the things I would encourage all landlords to do if you have a you know, if you have a uh flat that you rent out or a leasehold property where there are there is a lease involved, you need to know very clearly whether or not the lease stipulates whether or not you can have a pet or not. Information finding at the earliest possible stage means that if you are going to decline a pet of any description, you need to have a justifiable reason for doing it. A lease or a head lease is a justifiable reason.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Yeah, but a standard freehold property, a reason for denying is subjective, isn't it? It can be challenged. And where okay, where does what happened then? So tenant asks for a dog, you stroke landlord says no, what can a tenant do? What recourse do they have?

SPEAKER_02 13:22

They can challenge it, and they can say, under the under the terms of the current legislation, you I am entitled to I can have a pet unless you give me reasonable grounds for saying no. Which reasonable grounds are gonna are gonna it's too woolly, isn't it? They're all gonna be subject to. So they go to the property ombudsman and say, I am being declined a tenancy, or I'm being declined a pet, sorry, Ted, on the basis that, you know, the the landlord is being unreasonable. So there are grounds for them to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 14:00

What else too woolly? It is, but what else could a landlord what what else could a landlord do if if they get a pet request?

SPEAKER_01 14:09

It's so difficult to be seen to be reasonable, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 14:13

It is, but I think there are things that you know we're letting agents can do to support both landlords and tenants. It it's a pet owner has to be seen to be responsible, and that is either through um, you know making sure that the making sure that the pet has pet insurance, um that they are, you know, have their worms and their fleas done on a regular basis, you could make sure that the, you know, uh my personal view is if I was a landlord and I was asked if I if my tenant could have a pet, what mechanism, what would I do to try and justify my decision? Well, I'd want to know what kind of pet it was, is it house-trained, uh, is it left alone during the day? Do you both go out to work? Is it left alone all day? What arrangements have you got for um looking after that dog? Um, you know, who who are the vets? Is it microchip? Does it meet with compliance in terms of you know pet legislation? So they're all the things that I think landlords and us as letting agents should be doing to work with landlords and tenants to say, Mr. Landlord, Mrs. Landlord, you are going to likely get more requests from tenants for pets. What can we do to safeguard you? But also from a tenant's perspective, if you want to have a pet, what can we do to facilitate your request? Show us that by having a pet the landlord is not going to be materially affected by you having a pet in the property. Don't you agree?

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Yeah, the more caveats you can put in place, the better, really.

SPEAKER_02 16:25

So let's go back then to the first question. So pets in rental properties, who really gets the final say? What would you who who do you think it is?

SPEAKER_01 16:39

The agent acting on behalf of the landlord on their instructions.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

I think the landlord will still have the final say, but the final say has to be based on reasonable grounds. And advice from the agent. Yes. And the tenant has to show that they are responsible and that the pet that they are looking to have is reasonable for the property, and we need to look at what mechanisms can be put in place as addendums to tenancy agreements to better aid both parties because ultimately we go back to that same question the relationship between the landlord and the tenant. The landlord wants a tenant who is going to look after the property, and the tenant wants to live in a property where they can make it feel like their home. Well, I think that's probably a good place to end this particular episode. So we know that uh the issue of pets in properties is probably one of the most contentious issues that landlords and tenants face. We would really welcome hearing your views on whether pets should be allowed in properties or not, and if they should be, then what precautions, what mechanisms can be put in place to protect all parties. So if you're a landlord or a tenant and want advice around pets in properties, please do give us a call. We'll be happy to help. Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of the All Things Property Podcast. If you found this episode useful, don't forget to subscribe, like and share. These things really help us reach the people who need to hear this advice. See you next week.