For the landlord it is an uncalculated risk of potential damage, for the tenant this represents a member of their family and the thought of renting a property and having to give up Rover or Tigre is unthinkable, to counter this landlords have consistently taken addition deposits to cover any pet damage and will usually have a full pet clean obligation written into the tenancy agreement.
Since the introduction of the Tenant Fee Ban Act Landlords can no longer take an additional damage deposit for tenants with pets, nor can they impose a set cost for a full pet clean at the end of the tenancy.
However landlords are never ones to sit on their laurels and if the many industry reports are to be believed a number of landlords are countering this by increasing rent for tenants who have pets, in some cases by as much as £50 per pet per month, not great for the crazy cat ladies amongst us.
However, there could be some solace hidden in the depths of the Allotments Act 1950.
Section 12 of the Act abolishes the contractural restrictions on Hens and Rabbits, going on to state that any contriving clauses in the lease or tenancy will not be withstanding, making it lawful, without landlords permission to keep Hens and Rabbits in any part of the land or property, the Act doesn’t kindly consider the Hens and Rabbits welfare and states that the keeping god such animals such animals must not be in detriment to their health or cause a nuisance to others.
So… if your prospective tenant have a pet Rabbit or wishes to keep Hens, there is nothing that can be done.
