Pets at home? Leases, leashes and rent reform

Britain is often said to be a nation of animal lovers.

It is a reputation borne out by research published recently by one of the country's leading veterinary charities, the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA).

More than half of UK adults now have pets, with an equal representation of both cats and dogs (11 million each). In addition, households also care for some 1.1 million rabbits.

Whilst animals clearly provide company for so many people, the fact that they contribute to friction cannot be avoided.

It would perhaps be more accurate to say that the issue of pets is occasionally something of a battleground. That is particularly true when it comes to living spaces which are shared by more than household.

It is arguably of increasing importance when we consider figures released in January by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which showed that there were half a million more flats, maisonettes and apartments recorded by the 2021 census than in the previous such national survey a decade before - the largest increase of any accommodation type (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/bulletins/housingenglandandwales/census2021#:~:text=In%202021%2C%2021.7%25%20(5.4,(4.9%20million)%20in%202011).

I should point out that there are, of course, regional variations in the different sorts of places which we all call home but in cities like London, where more than half (53 per cent) of households live in a flat, things which have the potential to create tension between neighbours are of acute and very immediate relevance.

News, therefore, that the Government has introduced a Bill heralded as making it easier for people living in apartments to own a pet is of obvious interest to tenants, landlords and real estate lawyers like myself.

The legislation - which has the formal title of the Renters (Reform) Bill and has been introduced by the Department for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities, which is currently headed up by the Secretary of State Michael Gove - has created rather a stir.

As things stand, standard long leases generally prohibit pets. If a tenant subsequently keeps one in the property, then that constitutes a very simple breach of a lease. Where pets are allowed, the permission is usually conditional.

It is, however, a terribly emotive situation and one which I have regularly been called upon to advise on over the years.

Under the new Bill's terms, landlords will not be able to "unreasonably refuse" a tenant's request to keep a pet (https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3462).

Pet owners also have responsibilities and will be required either to have or pay landlords' cost of putting in place requisite insurance to cover expenses incurred in the event of putting right any damage caused by misbehaving cats or dogs.

Needless to say, animal charities, such as the Battersea Cats & Dogs Home, have welcomed the move. The National Residential Landlords Association has asked for "more detail" about how the Bill is going to work as intended.

That this change is now proposed shouldn't really have come as a total surprise.

Two years ago, ministers unveiled a new Model Tenancy Agreement, which took the "default position" of there being consent for residents to have pets (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-standard-tenancy-agreement-to-help-renters-with-well-behaved-pets).

Furthermore, the House of Commons' Library published a guidance note on the topic in early May, perhaps preparing the ground for the First Reading in parliament of the Renters (Reform) Bill just a week later (https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/can-my-landlord-prevent-me-from-keeping-a-pet/).

The difficulty is not necessarily between a tenant and landlord. Fellow residents who sit on the management company or committees of apartment blocks have a key part to play. After all, many people choose where to live on the basis of there being no pets at all.

Although such themes are often resolved locally, they do sometimes end up in court.

In 2018, Florian and Gabrielle Kuehn lost their challenge against an objection to the presence of a Yorkshire/Maltese terrier named Vinnie in the flat which they leased in London (https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2018/132.html).

My experience is that pets are not necessarily the most common source of complaint or dispute between residents or landlords in apartment blocks but they are not infrequent.

Without wishing to take sides, I feel that I must note that most such disagreements involve dogs and not cats. Barking is the main irritation.

As the Bill's journey through parliament will illustrate, there are still questions about how exactly it will operate.

One, I would say, is in relation to the types of lease - long or short - to which it will apply. If it applies to long-term tenancies, for example, it will effectively rewrite many thousands of leases at a stroke.

Clarity - and not, I would suggest, the kind of fervour caused on both sides of the pet divide by newspaper headlines - is much needed before any definitive decisions about the Bill's merits are made.

At this juncture, maybe a pause (or 'paws') for thought is advisable before a final judgement is made.