It is perfectly legal for a landlord or letting agent to charge an additional rent for a dog or cat on top of the rent charged for the humans in the house, and it’s not unusual to see online ads on Rightmove featuring an extra £40-50 a month charged for a pooch or moggy.
The only rule they must follow when charging 'pet rent' is that the tenancy agreement document everyone signs before moving in must be clear about the pet rent including how much it is and who pays it.
Pet rent
Charging pets rent has become a popular way to generate extra income from tenants since the Tenant Fees Bill became law on 1st June 2019.
Many landlords and tenants used to charge either a one-off fee of £150 or a higher deposit. This was designed to cover the extra cost of super-cleaning the property when the tenant moved out (to get rid of the pet smell and hair) and the extra wear and tear.
Tenant fees ban
But now this kind of fee along with most other fees charged to tenants have been banned by the Tenant Fees Bill, and also deposits have been capped at five weeks’ rent.
So to get around this, agents are now instead charging rent for ‘clawed’ pets. This isn’t included within the scope of the legislation, which does not restrict how much rent a tenant (or pet!) can be charged.
Pet references
And some landlords have been been asking for pet references, a national newspaper article revealed recently, although pet-friendly lobbying organisation Lets With Pets recommends landlords ask for a pet reference either from a tenant’s previous landlord or vet.
Lets With Pets also suggests the following questions are asked of a landlord or vet referee:
Does the referee consider the tenant to be a responsible pet owner?
Were the tenant's pets well behaved?
Did their pets cause any damage to the property?
Did their pets cause a nuisance to neighbours or visitors?
Finally, some tenants write a ‘CV’ for their pet to show that they are ‘responsible pet owners’ which includes the properties that they have lived in, vaccinations, age, gender, breed, details of most recent flea and worming treatments and a photo. An example pet CV can be found on the Lets With Pets website
Read more: why do so many landlords hate pets?
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Remember the information provided in this article is for information purposes only and should not be considered as advice.
