Pets most commonly concealed from landlords
It is now the anniversary of the UK government New Model Tenancy Agreement to give pet owners more freedom to rent, and Quintain Living has released a new study focusing on renting with pets in the UK.
The study, based on 1,000 respondents who own pets, provides insights on the secret life of pet owners, the best and worst UK cities for pet owners, the pets most commonly concealed from landlords and even how owners hide pets from their landlords.
The study revealed that nearly one-third of pet owners in the UK have been hiding their pets for over three years. 38% of respondents said they do not feel comfortable asking their landlord for permission to keep a pet and almost one-third experienced difficulty finding a property to rent as a pet owner.
It was also revealed that 21% of men and 17% of women surveyed said that keeping their pets hidden has had a negative impact on their mental health. What’s more, almost one in five pet owners (17%) said that they have considered giving up their pet in order to find somewhere to live.
Birds were named as the most secretly kept pets in the UK – a staggering 50% of respondents who keep birds admitted hiding them from their landlord. Rabbits came in second place, cited by 43% of people who own them. A truly unexpected animal finds itself coming in third place – horses, according to 33% of respondents.
When it comes to hiding pets from landlords during inspections, the most common way is taking the pet for a walk (35%), asking a friend to look after it (32%), asking neighbours to watch it (19%) and hiding it in the wardrobe or cupboard (15%). Almost one in ten pet owners (9%) admitted they disguise their pets to conceal them from their landlords.
Other key findings from the survey:
- 27% of landlords do not know that their tenants keep pets
- 30% of Brits think they could rent a nicer property if they didn’t have a pet
- Brighton was voted the most pet-friendly city in the UK, followed by Edinburgh and Liverpool
- Belfast turned out to be the least pet-friendly city, with London and Glasgow rounding out the bottom three
The most pet-friendly landlords live in Norwich (96%), Leeds (95%) and Sheffield (93%) while Plymouth (82%), Cardiff (80%) and Edinburgh (73%) were voted as the cities with the fewest pet-friendly landlords
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Member Since January 2020 - Comments: 1102 - Articles: 1
12:45 PM, 8th February 2022, About 4 years ago
The government have not changed the law, they have changed the model tenancy agreement which as far as I can make out nobody uses.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
Member Since February 2011 - Comments: 3452 - Articles: 286
3:25 PM, 8th February 2022, About 4 years ago
Reply to the comment left by Seething Landlord at 08/02/2022 – 12:45
Correct and changed it is the new model tenancy agreement 🙂
Member Since May 2016 - Comments: 1570 - Articles: 16
4:17 PM, 8th February 2022, About 4 years ago
A tenancy agreement [sic] isn’t regarded as a 2-way contract, only something landlords are supposed to abide by !
Member Since June 2013 - Comments: 3237 - Articles: 81
6:42 PM, 8th February 2022, About 4 years ago
Here’s my recent escapades with good tenant lying to me about not having any dogs, then I see the dog & then admitted is 12 dogs.
It’s the 1min 14secs video & the 21 seconds video with sunglasses on.
TenantsLieJul20Feb22
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3z31ZGrHxzJdJRXv6
And this album here if u scroll to the oldest photo’s, u will see snakes & rats & dogs & birds & a whole lot of other caged animals taking up the whole living room.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/F4wPEF9Xyh3iV1FJ8
Member Since April 2020 - Comments: 29
6:45 PM, 8th February 2022, About 4 years ago
The best concealed pets I found whilst doing a 6 monthly inspection.
Two raccoons in a 10 x 12 foot cage in the dining room. She didn’t even know that she had to have a license to keep them. They were swiftly evicted!
Member Since September 2018 - Comments: 3504 - Articles: 5
9:11 AM, 9th February 2022, About 4 years ago
sometimes the pets are better kept than the tenant keeps themselves. If only well behaved pets were responsible for feral tenants….
Member Since March 2015 - Comments: 1969 - Articles: 1
12:25 PM, 9th February 2022, About 4 years ago
I’m fairly sure Section 12 of The Allotments Act (1950) supersedes any ‘no pets’ clause in an AST, allowing for the keeping rabbits and chickens. It’s a hold-over from (war?) times gone by IIRC.
EDIT: Actually, it’s even on here on P118…
https://www.property118.com/landlords-must-let-tenants-keep-chickens-and-rabbits/