Call to extend the right to keep a pet to social housing

Call to extend the right to keep a pet to social housing

0:02 AM, 20th January 2025, About 2 weeks ago 5

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The government is being urged to extend proposed pet-friendly rights to renters in social housing.

The call is being made by Dogs Trust which points to the Renters’ Rights Bill which will include greater rights for pet owners in the private rented sector.

When the Bill becomes law, private sector tenants will have the right to request permission to keep a pet, with landlords unable to unreasonably refuse these requests.

However, these new rights do not extend to tenants in social housing.

Benefits of pet ownership

Claire Calder, the head of public affairs at Dogs Trust, said: “We are pleased that the Renters’ Rights Bill will improve opportunities for tenants in the private rental sector to enjoy the companionship and benefits of pet ownership.

“However, we believe that there should be stronger rights for those renting from social housing providers too.

“While some social housing providers are already making positive strides towards being pet-friendly, finding suitable accommodation remains a lottery, with availability often dependent on your location and which provider you’re with.”

She adds: “This is unfair. We need a baseline in legislation that ensures all social housing tenants can request a pet without fear of unreasonable refusal.”

Request permission to keep a pet

Dogs Trust is calling on people to support its campaign by countersigning a letter to the Angela Rayner, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.

The letter requests that social housing tenants should also be given the right to request permission to keep a pet, with that request not being unreasonably denied.

The organisation is also encouraging the government to work closely with both private and social housing sectors to increase confidence in renting to pet owners.

It wants to ensure tenants are not at a disadvantage when seeking suitable accommodation.

Private landlords say they allow pets

Research by Dogs Trust and Cats Protection shows that while 46% of private landlords say they allow pets, only 30% of tenants report that their tenancy agreements permit dogs.

The same research revealed that in more than a third of cases where pets were not allowed, landlords had not decided based on individual circumstances but rather followed generic advice or used standard templates.

Dogs Trust says that allowing pets in rental properties not only benefits tenants but also offers advantages for landlords.

Studies show that 26% of tenants would be more likely to stay longer in a property if they were allowed to keep a pet, providing landlords with greater tenant stability.

To help increase the availability of pet-friendly rental properties, Dogs Trust has been offering guidance and resources for pet owners, landlords and letting agents through its Lets with Pets scheme.


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L Bennett

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10:18 AM, 20th January 2025, About 2 weeks ago

It needs to checking if the benefits of pet ownership actually benefit THE PET

Jo Westlake

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12:20 PM, 20th January 2025, About 2 weeks ago

What about the neighbours right to quiet enjoyment of their home?

How many tenants have the time to properly look after a dog? Leaving it home alone all day barking and howling in distress isn't good for the animal or the neighbours.

How many tenants have sufficient surplus income to pay for pet food, pet insurance and vets bills?

Surely lockdown should have taught us that many people massively underestimate the cost and time involved in pet ownership.

Stella

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12:53 PM, 20th January 2025, About 2 weeks ago

Reply to the comment left by Jo Westlake at 20/01/2025 - 12:20
Shelter and others are very quick to tell us that tenants are hard up because they have to pay their rent.
If that is the case how can they afford the cost of food, vets bills perhaps a dog walker etc.
One of my good and well paid tenants had difficulties because her dog insurance would only pay half the cost of the £8000 bill for an operation that her westie needed.

Suicide Jockey

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14:41 PM, 20th January 2025, About 2 weeks ago

A property next to mine has two alsatian dogs. Every time someone walks down my tenants path and knocks on there door they are greeted by next doors dogs launching themselves at the window barking like hell and scaring my tenants callers half to death. Also this neighbouring house has been on the market for sale for over a year and a half, what a surprise it hasn't sold. The landlord is trapped in moving the property and tenants on.

I think Angela Rayner should knock on my neighbours door and see what she thinks about the tenants keeping pets, I don't even think she would want to see the accumulated dog mess around the back of the property as well.

These politicians live in there own tick box world because they don't live in the real world like Landlords have to do, but then again I think Angela Rayner must have some previous experience in being a landlord!

Stella

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16:24 PM, 20th January 2025, About 2 weeks ago

Reply to the comment left by Suicide Jockey at 20/01/2025 - 14:41
I had one tenant who owned a westie who was a good owner with no problems.
However as I have posted on here before I also have experienced tenants that have allowed their dog to ruin both the inside and the outside of the property.
Dog poop all over the place, floorboards soaked with urine and the only way to get rid of the smell was to completely renovate and replace the floorboards, by the time we had finished rectifying the problems it had cost us £thousands.
These tenants were not short of money, they had good jobs.
The people making these rules live in cloud Cuckoo Land

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