Cats Protection’s Purrfect Landlords campaign does not ask for increased deposits

Landlords are reluctant to take pets due to increased risk of damage and no ability to be able to increase a deposit amount to cover the extra risk involved. There is talk of landlords being able to insist on pet insurance being taken out but this is riddled with issues – what are the terms of the insurance, the landlord could not claim against a policy in the tenant’s name, what happens if tenant doesn’t renew – could a landlord legitimately issue a Section 21?

Maybe some of these articles could start to blame inflexible government legislation. What about insurers, they always charge more for increased risk, so why can’t landlords?

“Renters pay a huge proportion of their income on fees and rent, so they should be able to treat that property as a home.”

Errr no. Its a rental – owned by the person paying the mortgage, so the person named on the deeds decides the rules. That’s the deal with renting.

Tenants CHOOSE to live according to the rules/contract offered…or they look for a property that can facilitate in full their wish list.

A private LL is not obligated to rent to anyone.

I’d never explicitly allow cats without increasing the rent to cover the risk. I have (almost) no problem with dogs.

I accept that it is the tenants’ home. However, it is the owner that gets to pay for any clean up.

As a pet owner, I have sympathy for those wanting to keep a pet. However, the Government has chosen to interfere with freedom of contract and heavily penalises any landlord who, prudently and reasonably, asks for a higher deposit.

The courts and deposit adjudicators bend over backwards to reject landlords’ claims (Can you prove the furniture wasn’t covered in scratches and that the carpet and wallpaper didn’t smell of tom cat at the start of the tenancy? “Oh, your photo doesn’t show that. Claim rejected so, tough!”)

Even if “the vast majority of pets cause no damage”, so what? If a landlord is unfortunate enough to get one that does, it can take months to get the tenant out and the house restored and the landlord will lose out financially.

Message to MPs and Cats Protection: If you spend decades cultivating a general hatred and distrust of landlords, don’t expect any favours.

An unauthorised pet cat peed on every carpet in the house soaking the carpet, underlay and flooring.

Cost us loads which we were not able to get back from the Deposit.

“Renters pay a huge proportion of their income on fees and rent, so they should be able to treat that property as a home.”
It is worth noting that a huge proportion of the rent paid by tenants is spent on mortgage interest, repairs, unfair taxation, selective licensing and letting agent fees.
I could provide a ‘where does my rent go’ pie chart. It would show that for one property, there was no profit and a significant loss for another. Other properties make a very modest return because they are mortgage free; the return would be better if the money I invested was in a risk-free savings account.

Reply to the comment left by Cider Drinker at 16/05/2024 – 11:24
oooh a pie chart…you got me thinking….It might be good to provide one to tenant’s who complain about a rent increase when one is made. Please see attachment to Form 4!

Cats if they don’t go outside will claw at things, I’ve had various cats over a 20 year period and even those that go outside cause damage.
Dogs are less of an issue as long as they’re a sensible size.
Point is I’d love to be able to say yes but the costs of pets need to be covered by the tenant either by insurance or some statutory guarantee otherwise its an expensive mess to clean up

I have tenants with pets, and YES dogs (small ones) cause less internal damage than cats as cats claw at everything. Having said that a number of my tenants have cats.

“Tenants pay a huge proportion of their income on fees and rent”…..No they don’t tenants haven’t paid any fees since June 2019 when the Tenant Fees Act became law. They only pay rent.