Scottish Landlords and Tenants love their pets

Scottish Landlords and Tenants love their pets

8:48 AM, 14th May 2021, About 4 years ago 2

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According to Google Trends, searches for “pets” has increased by 60% over the last three years. As a nation of pet lovers, more than two in five bought a puppy to be their Covid-19 companion, and two-thirds agreed that their dog was a “lifeline in lockdown”.

Mashroom has researched the most pet-friendly cities in the UK, by calculating the percentages of rental properties that allow pets in cities across the UK and Glasgow has taken the number one spot, with over half (50.2%) of properties allowing a furry friend.

Another Scottish city takes second place, with almost half (49.7%) of properties in Edinburgh listed as pet friendly. Cambridge rounds up the top three, with 44.4% of properties.

The top 10 pet-loving cities can be found below:

City % of rental homes that allow pets
Glasgow 50.2
Edinburgh 49.7
Cambridge 44.4
Bristol 37.5
Brighton 19.1
York 18.8
Liverpool 16.9
Cardiff 16.2
Coventry 14.5
Sheffield 12.7

On the other end of the scale, we have Sheffield, with only 12.7% of rental properties currently listed as pet friendly.  Other cities on the list include Bristol, Cardiff and Liverpool.

The research comes as Parliament introduced the Animal Sentience Bill on Thursday, as the government recognises the importance of pets in people’s lives.

Stepan Dobrovolskiy, CEO of Mashroom said:“In a time where more and more people are owning pets, Landlords should be expecting the number of tenants with pets to increase. Whilst the majority of tenants and pet owners are responsible, some are not, which is why having a blanket acceptance may not be the answer.

However, landlords and tenants can work together, have an open conversation about it, discuss the level of training the pet has had, or perhaps increase the number of inspections on the property until everybody is happy that there are no issues.”

MP Christopher Pincher, housing minister, said: “We are a nation of animal lovers and, over the last year, more people than ever before have welcomed pets into their lives and homes.

“However, it can’t be right that only a tiny fraction of landlords advertise pet-friendly properties and that, 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, 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.”


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Ian Narbeth

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9:58 AM, 17th May 2021, About 4 years ago

Let's analyse Mr Pincher's statement:
“However, it can’t be right that only a tiny fraction of landlords advertise pet-friendly properties and that, in some cases, people have had to give up their beloved pets in order to find somewhere to live."
A: Yes, that is a consequence of the Government limiting security deposits and making it difficult to get tenants out within a reasonable time. If an animal is found to cause damage to a property, landlords will not be happy to wait for 12-18 months to stop the problem and then be faced with a bill for thousands of pounds and work that may take weeks to complete so that the property is ready for re-letting with little prospect of recovering compensation from the tenants.
“Through the changes to the tenancy agreement we are making, we are bringing an end to the unfair blanket ban on pets introduced by some landlords.”

A. Thankfully, they are not doing so unless landlords choose to restrict their freedom of contract. No landlord who cares about their property or their income should use the Government's revised tenancy wording. Period.
“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.”
A. What does? A few pious words from a Minister. How does that (a) prevent damage (b) make it easier for landlords to stop the problem worsening by getting the tenant out or (c) provide proper compensation to landlords? I doubt the courts will order tenants to re-home their pets.

Does the Minister not know that sometimes tenants are economical with the truth about their pets' behaviour or that some pets' behaviour changes over time, for example an older cat or dog may start using the carpets as a lavatory?
Minister, if you want to encourage landlords to accept pets, allow substantial pet deposits (and by substantial I mean at least 5 weeks' rent on top of a standard deposit) and give landlords the ability to get the animal (and if necessary the tenant out) promptly (i.e. within a month) if the problem persists and the tenant does not take action. If tenants knew that the law provided a proper remedy, more of them would take care to ensure that damage was minimised and repaired in good time.

Freda Blogs

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14:24 PM, 17th May 2021, About 4 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 17/05/2021 - 09:58
Spot on @Ian. Would be great if you could publish that reply somewhere where it would get exposure more broadly, especially to MPs and anti-landlord groups. For starters, how about 'The Article' that @Ros Beck frequently writes in?

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