So as I understand it, pets are now allowed ?? Does anyone know when this starts ? I am so thrilled I will now be able to move to the UK and not spend months living in an Airbnb while looking for a place because I should be able to find one quickly where I can bring my cat. Does this mean that the pet’s allowed filter should now apply to everything ?
it is proposed, it is not law yet
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The proposed law is the right to ask for a pet and it cannot be reasonably refused. Dogs in flats, not a chance. Cats in many flats, not a chance. I would argue that allowing owners to leave their dog locked up all day inside is not reasonable.
I have properties in which the leases specify no pets.
If this law gets passed, along with the other nonsense, you’ll be wishing it hadnt been as many more landlords will dump their stock and you’ll be struggling even more to find a place.
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Allowing tenants to keep dogs in particular will bring down the quality of available properties. I’ll be buggered if Im sorting out the mess they leave behind, if it were to ever happen. I will dig my heals in that’s for sure.
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I just won’t accept anyone with a pet , and I don’t need to give a reason why
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Yes, but when they move in and ask if they can have one, you aren’t going to be able to say no, by the looks of things, unless you have a very good reason.
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Agree, the tenant may say here is a copy of my insurance document, which could state that the first £200 of any claim is not covered.
Additionally could cause an issue with the management company if the property is leasehold.
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I have 3 letting experiences with pets of which only one is net positive. 1. Large powerful but lovely dogs in a whole house let whom I came to adore (+) resulted in expensive damage to the garden (-). I am a soft touch when it comes to returning deposits at the end of a long happy tenancy so that was expensive but I am friends with the ex tenants (+) I have a dog of my own and we still walk together with our respective dogs. Lesson take massively detailed and careful inventory of the garden at the beginning of tenancy including the state of the lawn and trellis and condition tenant into understanding that this is likely to end in substantial deductions. 2. Another where there is a communal garden an anxious female dog (-) acquired as a trained puppy (+) during the tenancy has bitten another tenant (-) and it is really difficult / unfair to harness the pet at all times. Also the large ammonia content inthe urine is resulting in dead grass (-). Other tenants now don’t want to use the garden (-). These are insufficient grounds to serve notice partly as said tenants will move anyway in due course. Lesson pet should have a track record that is referenceable and a new pet cannot qualify. 3. A wonderfully behaved male shnoutzer communal garden and a great companion and no threat whatsoever to other tenants. Came with the tenant and was referenceable.
Overall I am pro pet but have learned a lot the hard way.
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My solicitor said he could think of a number of reasons from medical to small print in deeds , and like he said I could have a allergy but how would the tenant know I was lying as they not able to view my medical record ,so word of mouth .
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Hmm, you’d really want to lie in court, if it came to that??
It’s not lying , I said a tenant can’t access my medical records and only a judge could see them and yes if it came to it I would be economical with the truth !
If I say no pets etc I firmly believe my house my rules .
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Hi Alexander, why do you believe the grounds you quoted would be deemed insufficient?
Noticeably, NRLA, having looked at the White Paper just issued re: Rental Reform states that the Govn’t may be looking at a U-Turn on the No Fees Bill, whereby Tenant gets Pet Insurance.
Tenant should be the one to cough up for damages; it’s not down to L/L that an initial XS isn’t covered.
My argument for No Pets (inc’g cats) is that I provide a furnished, carpeted property with
fabric soft furnishings - sofa/chairs/curtains, mattress, etc. - as well as the kitchen being ‘bijou’ and unsuitable (no room) for pets. [Expensive previous experience when tenant got 6 house cats without seeking permission, which they knew was stipulated as a “No”. I was too soft!]
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We have an example set by Leaders " I did not have sex with that woman " Bill Clinton… “We will not invade Ukraine” Putin… We can go on and on. As you say economical with the truth
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I don’t know for sure. You make a very good point.
The mistake I made was at the point of allowing the pet that turned out to be a nuisance.
If the tenant is well behaved as is the case here but the pet is not it’s quite a ruthless thing to end tenancy or to insist on the pet removal - same thing.
I had a smoker and had no difficulty asking him to either quit or go. So I am not that much of a softie but pets are a different ball game.
I have not looked into it but think S8 grounds to end tenancy are open when it comes to pet nuisance for a court to decide - non mandatory which makes the whole matter even messier.
In any case to get out of a pet mess you and I (and others no doubt) would have had to behave in a ruthless fashion neither of us would have been comfortable with whatever the legal justification.
There is a supposition by the govt that the landlord tenant relationship is formal and adversarial. Well if it was for me that would be ample reason to quit. I like giving value dealing with nice people and being on the service business.
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I dont think it will necessarily be that difficult to refuse if you have a reason. Reasons may include concern about furniture and fittings in a furnished property, or distutbance to neighbours in a flat.
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you are probably right David 122. The difficulty is when you have somewhere that would be ok if the pets are well behaved and afterall want to keep within the spirit of the rules. Do you avoid all problems in the first place by giving the reasons for refusal or do you blunder in to a mess as I have done or is there a way of allowing certain pets and avoiding the mess? I am not totally put off by my poor experiences but I think I would insist on a letting only where there is an existing pet that can be checked out with decent references and that I could see for myself is likely to not to be a problem. No to puppies and kittens sadly as they have no track record and for that matter nor does the owner in controlling them
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Are you sure you dont have an allergy to pet hair that would make it impossible to do inspections, check-out etc?
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I don’t get it, I own an ex-council flat on leasehold, the council is the freeholder, and it is the council that demands in its lease that no pets are allowed. So are all councils in the wrong, and will this lease have to be amended? As it stands it is quite convenient, I can always blame them…
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One of my properties is also a flat with a “no animals” clause in the lease. I do wonder how this will be reconciled with new legislation. Surely the existing lease will have to comply with the new rules? For example: if my current lease (dates back to the 1970s) states “no animals” but I had a blind / disabled tenant with an assistance dog, I’m guessing that this lease clause could not apply as it would contravene later legislation in which blindness / disability is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 and others? Therefore the new laws would overrule the no pets clause in existing leases? Does anyone know what would happen in this instance?
A few people here have already suggested reasons to be able to refuse pets even after this new legislation passes, so perhaps this won’t be the big change that people expect?
I am not worrying to much as things can change, I would be more worried about the prospect of a left wing government.
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