Landlords still reluctant to go pet-friendly as Renters’ Rights Act looms
New data reveals only a marginal rise in pet-friendly rental listings ahead of rule changes in May.
Just 8.2% of rental properties in England are currently advertised as pet-friendly, despite forthcoming reforms that will strengthen tenants’ rights to keep pets, according to Siân Hemming-Metcalfe (pictured), Operations Director at Inventory Base.
Analysis carried out by the inspection software firm shows the proportion of pet-friendly listings has increased by just 0.6% compared with January 2025 – only a marginal shift in landlord behaviour ahead of the introduction of the Renters’ Rights Act.
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The North East is the most pet-friendly part of the country, with 11.5% of listings welcoming pets, and it also has the largest annual increase at 2.6%.
The East Midlands is the least pet-friendly, with landlords allowing pets in just 5.6% of listings. It is also the only region where availability is falling, down 0.5% year on year.
From 1 May, private rented tenants will have a legal right to ask their landlord’s permission to keep a pet. This will become an implied term in all private tenancy agreements, even where contracts do not currently mention pets.
In addition, landlords will be prohibited from charging extra rent or fees specifically for having a pet, and it will be harder to evict tenants following the ban on Section 21 evictions.
Many are either taking a wait-and-see approach or haven’t fully prepared for the changes ahead.”
Commenting on the findings, Hemming-Metcalfe says: “Despite the Renters’ Rights Act significantly strengthening tenants’ ability to keep pets, this data shows that landlords are yet to meaningfully adapt, with pet-friendly listings increasing only marginally.
“This suggests many are either taking a wait-and-see approach or haven’t fully prepared for the changes ahead.
“As the Act makes it harder to refuse pet requests or regain possession where pets are kept, landlords now need to prepare for the fact that more and more tenants are going to be pet owners.”
She recommends landlords use inventories and regular inspections to protect themselves against potential pet-related damage.
How do inventories and regular inspections help? Tenants who live with pets are bound to have a higher tolerance than other tenants for dirt, animal hair, smells, scratched and torn soft furnishings, and all the other damage that animals do, yet they are under no obligation to take out pet damage insurance, or clean the property with the special deep-clean that is needed to remove animal residues and try and protect future residents who suffer from allergies and asthma, or provide extra damage deposit to protect landlords from the truly catastrophic damage that pets can do. The latter can require full replacement of carpets, curtains or sofas and chairs, and the landlord is being expected under the RRA to bear all the cost of this. He or she has virtually no rights of redress and extremely limited options as regards eviction.
HMO landlords are also going to face impossible situations when one housemate announces they want to add a pet, but the other ones firmly don’t want one, or quickly find that the animal is largely untrained – urinates or worse inside the house, barks or howls at all time of day and night, and so on. If they can’t reach some kind of agreement, there will be tenants fleeing the HMO, while the pet owner sits smugly in the middle of a melee of destruction.