Oct

Minister rebuffs calls for legislative change to help landlords accept more pets

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The government has rebuffed calls for the law to be altered to make it easier for landlords to accept tenants with pets.

Housing minister Eddie Hughes at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, has told parliament that Ministers have no plans at this time to amend the law relating to pets in the private rented sector.

The MP for Walsall North once again referenced recent changes to the official but only ‘advisory’ Model Tenancy Agreement, which he told MPs make it easier for tenants with pets to find private landlords who will accept them.

“The revision aims to strike the balance between protecting private landlords from situations where their properties are damaged by badly behaved pets and ensuring responsible pet owning tenants are not unfairly penalised,” he told Labour MP and housing campaigner Zarah Sultana in response to her question on the subject.

The housing minister’s comments will be a disappointment to the considerable number of campaigners both within and outside parliament who have been lobbying for changes to the Tenant Fees Act.

Deposits

Its regulations, which became law in full last year, now make it difficult for landlords and letting agents to ask tenants for an additional ‘pet deposit’.

As the law stands, these are considered to be prohibited payments.

This was a point that David Amess MP, along with over 40 other MPs and Lords, had been pressing the government to consider before his tragic death last week.

Amess, who was the Conservative MP for Southend West was due to ask a question in parliament this week on behalf of the campaign about changing the legislation.

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