Exasperated letting agents back ‘pet deposits’ amid insurance row
Propertymark amendment to renting reforms would see agents and landlords demand three weeks' rent as a pet deposit.
Letting agents are calling for ‘pet deposits’ to be made official after the Government dropped a requirement of insurance to keep pets within its Renters’ Rights Bill.
As the legislation nears its final stages in Parliament before becoming law, Propertymark is backing an amendment allowing agents and landlords to request deposits for pets.
This would give letting agents the power to require a deposit of three weeks’ rent from tenants who want to keep a pet.
Outrageous
A controversy over the amendment came as the House of Lords debated the bill again at report stage yesterday.
Ben Beadle, CEO at the NRLA, had earlier attacked the last-minute move to drop a pet insurance requirement as “a shoddy and outrageous way to make law”.
Propertymark says that before the Tenant Fees Act 2019, landlords often asked for pet deposits of around two weeks’ rent, but rents are now higher to compensate for potential damage caused by pets.
Landlords can face a bill for £305 for a three-stage flea treatment, with one district council in Essex charging landlords £276 for one visit, Propertymark says.
Undermining
Timothy Douglas, Head of Policy and Campaigns at Propertymark, says: “Without allowing pet deposits, the UK Government risk further undermining their efforts to support tenants to rent with pets.
“We know that the Tenant Fees Act 2019 is a barrier to renting with pets with one in five landlords who previously allowed pets no longer doing since the passing of the Act. Furthermore, 57% of landlords and agents said they were unable to recoup the cost of damage caused by pets,” he says.
“Lord Kinnoull’s amendment for an additional pet damage deposit offers a better opportunity to support renters and protect landlords.”
More on the Renters’ Rights Bill
