Labour gives renters the right to have pets as it ends no-fault evictions

27 comments

1. >And it will [give tenants the right to request a pet](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/kings-speech-new-laws-labour-keir-starmer-b2581119.html), with landlords unable to “unreasonably refuse” and able to request insurance to cover potential damage from pets if needed.

   Knew that sounded too good to be true. Good luck enforcing it if your Landlord unreasonably refuses.

2. I own three cats and I know the damage they can cause to carpets, curtains and walls. But it’s ridiculous that most renters aren’t allowed to have pets. As long as the renter covers any damage caused by the pets (or uses the mentioned insurance) then I don’t see the issue.

3. It’s almost as if the past fifty years have taught us that the current model of subsidising the housing market with rental properties doesn’t actually work, because there are always going to be people who want to take advantage of the system.

   Anyone want to take a shot at why it’s taken fifty years of central government housing financiers performatively scratching their heads to come up with an answer?

4. An the renter has the right not to rent to you either. by saying someone has beat you to it.

   All this will do is put the rents up more as the insurance cost will be past on to everyone

5. The problem as always is that if every pet owner were reasonable and responsible, this wouldn’t be an issue and if every landlord was even handed and understanding, this wouldn’t be an issue.

6. I once (2012-ish) had a landlord deduct from my deposit for “damage caused to carpet on staircase by keeping a cat clearly against the terms of the lease” when I’d never had a cat. Just my housemate’s gigantic size 12 feet scraping on the stairs I assumed. 

   So there’s that.

7. Someone who’s just moved into a property with fleas from previous tennant with cats. Fuck your pets, I totally understand why they say no pets.

8. I love pets, but an issue is they can leave an odour that’s difficult to remove. I can see landlords holding back the deposit because of that.

9. If we’re going to expect much of the population to rent rather than own for their whole life then renters are going to need to be treated like adults.

10. Gross. I have a neighbour with a dog who is loud and her apartment absolutely stinks. She never takes it out on walks.

11. Finally something worth celebrating from the government. Any landlords scared off by these perfectly reasonable reforms will have to sell up and lose out. There will be more reasonable people willing to judge the risk rationally.

    Let’s have some more of these freebie reform bills to achieve good things

12. As somebody who used to rent with a cat, I am surprised at pro-landlordism when the subject of pets is discussed.

    Like, sure, I get it, you are concerned about the value of your property. That sounds cute in theory. In practice, there I was trying to find **anything** to rent, and the vast majority of landlords in Cambridge didn’t care to hear how much extra my offer was going to be if they considered pets. Naturally, the landlords who did consider pets were in a good position to take advantage of my lack of options.

    What can I say. I’d feel more sympathy for poor landlords if they bothered to at least consider my offers.

13. This is what happens when you normalise renting. People want to live more fulfilling lives. The number of lets has gone way up, especially when you control for age, and the mobility to own has been crippled substantially. If landlords really provide a service, then provide it. Stop stripping the service down to its bare essentials.

14. Bun landlords.

    We just need to eat one to send a message.

15. Better but still poor compared to Wales’ reforms which requires 6 months notice if you want tenants out, meaning they get 12 months in a property minimum.

16. Easy for labour to introduce no-fault evictions and pets. What will be harder will be trying to rent somewhere when all the landlords have sold their properties.

17. Most leasehold apartments have a no pet policy in the leasehold agreement, so even if the landlord wanted to allow pets, they couldn’t.

18. Everyone I know has a pet regardless of if the landlord allows it or not. At worst, they’ll have someone watch their dog when their landlord visits.

19. I love to have a pet. I also live in a HMO. The sheer amount of effort I have to put to get people to sweep the common areas and clean after themselves is mind boggling. These are adults with jobs, not students. I can therefore understand why landlords refuse to accept pets. Still, eff landlord.

20. You can always smell in a house if someone who has a cat, no matter how clean you think it is. And then there is the ones that piss everywhere on the carpets.

21. Has this actually passed yet or is it still just wishes and dreams?

    I’m not clicking, I already know I won’t be able to read it.

22. I don’t really mind either way, as long as there’s a way to know cats have lived there.

23. Such a massive issue we should be worrying about. Talk about non headline.

    If your renting ask permission, if landlord says no then deal with it. If not, buy your own house

24. I am am a leaseholder. In our lease, it forbids pets, so how does this work?

25. I wonder what would count as a reasonable refusal. I guess HMOs and furnished properties could reasonably refuse pets?

26. All fine except for noisy dogs. Yes most people are responsible with dogs, but you only need 1 in 10 who don’t care about their noisy dog to ruin everyone else’s lives in the block.

    The council won’t have the money or resources to deal with your noise complaint.

27. As most flat as lease hold, the lease holder can deny it. So it wouldn’t be up to the landlord to authorise?