Finding a suitable rental property that will accept pets is incredibly difficult, but there is some light at the end of the tunnel!
Finding a place to rent is never easy, it has to be in your price range, in the right area, it has to have enough room, you’ll need to put down a tenancy deposit & of course demand is high, but if you are one of the 12 million households in the UK that shares your home with a pet it has always been even harder. Currently, just 7% of houses available for private rent are described as “pet friendly” with landlords often reluctant to accept tenants with a furry friend, despite evidence that shows tenants with pets on average stay longer.
However, could that all be about to change?
The government yesterday announced its new Model Tenancy Agreement and they encourage all landlords & letting agents to adopt the changes. It has shifted the goalposts, now making pet ownership the default position of the tenancy with the landlord having to object in writing within 28 days of a written request for a pet from the tenant, sounds good? There is a catch, the new tenancy agreement is not compulsory & no official legal change has been brought about, meaning landlords are still free to use other types of tenancy that still exclude tenants from keeping pets.
While the change is a welcome step in the right direction, it feels weak & lacks bite (Pardon the pun) while the Model Tenancy Agreement is free for landlords to download & use on the government’s website, our fear is that due to the voluntary nature of the change, it is unlikely to be adopted by the majority of landlords who seem determined to keep pet owners out.
Change, however, might be inevitable & this might simply be the first step with searches for pet-friendly rental more than doubling during lockdown & increasing numbers of people turning to pets for companionship in these difficult times, it’s hard to see how landlords can continue to exclude such a large chunk of the market.
Housing Minister Rt Hon Christopher Pincher MP said:
We are a nation of animal lovers and over the last year, more people than ever before have welcome pets into their lives and homes.
But it can’t be right that only a tiny fraction of landlords advertise pet-friendly properties and in some cases, people have had to give up their beloved pets in order to find somewhere to live.
Through the changes to the tenancy agreement we are making today, we are bringing an end to the unfair blanket ban on pets introduced by some landlords. This strikes the right balance between helping more people find a home that’s right for them and their pet while ensuring landlords’ properties are safeguarded against inappropriate or badly behaved pets.
We’ll follow this one closely and keep you updated! Until then, meet the Tenant Angels Pets!
Source: gov.uk
Disclaimer:
This article is provided as a guide. Any information should be used for research purposes and not as the base for taking legal action. Tenant Angels does not provide legal advice and our content does not constitute a client-solicitor relationship.
