Renters’ Rights Bill

Baroness Grender Excerpts

Tuesday 14th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord de Clifford (CB)]

My Lords, first, I thank the Minister for her opening remarks. Your Lordships should please note my interest in the register that I work for and am a shareholder in a veterinary business that cares for many pets. I also have the privilege of being a dog owner for many years.

My updated amendment seeks to provide protection and reassurance to landlords and give tenants much more opportunity to find a rentable property that allows pets. The Government quite rightly included in the Bill the right of tenants to request landlords to allow pets, as currently there is a limited number of properties available.

At the commencement of the Bill, the Government wished to support landlords with a change with regards to the financial risk that pets may cause damage to a property during a tenancy. This proposed solution was an insurance policy which provided a level of cover. The proposal was supported by many housing and pet charities. Due to the risk profile of this type of cover, the insurance market could not provide the appropriate policies. As a result, the Government withdrew the proposal from the Bill. That risk still exists. The tenant’s five-week deposit covers the risk that tenants may cause damage to a property. Housing a pet is an additional risk and therefore asking for an extra amount of deposit is surely not unreasonable.

One of the Government’s objections to the amendment, as already stated by the Minister, was the increase in the deposit, and I acknowledge that this is an issue that exists for some. We have considered this in updating and reducing the number of weeks’ deposit required to a minimum of one week and in an obligation on landlords to be reasonable when asking for the amount of deposit considered and the nature of the pet or number of pets.

The Government said that the five-week deposit will cover the damage of pets. They used figures from the University of Huddersfield survey provided to the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, which say 76% of landlords have no issue with pets. That leaves 24% of landlords with issues; that is not a small number and the summary does not define what those pet issues are. The report did quote that the average cost of pet-related damage was about £300 per tenancy. I believe the average weekly rent is about £300, as mentioned in the passage of the Bill, so one weeks’ rent would cover the damage.

It may be that if a pet damages a property, a good tenant will repair it. Sadly, not all tenants are the same, just like we have a range of good and bad landlords. If a tenant has a pet that causes some damage and it is not repaired, is it not likely that, if there are other damages, they will not be repaired? That is what the five-week deposit will cover, and an additional pet deposit could cover the pet damage.

There is good evidence that tenants with pets tend to stay longer, and many take care of their properties to a high standard. One conclusion would be that these tenants stay in certain properties for longer due to the lack of supply of alternative rental properties—which, happily, the Bill wishes to address—but we need to support landlords with this change. By supporting this amendment, we will be supporting landlords and making the process of more landlords accepting pets without objection a far greater reality, as they will have the protection of an additional deposit. It will, I hope, also encourage existing landlords to stay in the private rental sector market and potentially encourage new landlords to choose long-term tenancies over short-term holiday and Airbnb lets, so maintaining supply of rental properties.

A table in the University of Huddersfield report asks landlords whether different policies or incentives would encourage them to consider pet owners as tenants in the future. Some 53% asked said that having a tenant with insurance cover for pet damage would help. Sadly, this is not available. Some 51% said that allowing landlords to charge for a deep clean would help; this would be covered by a pet deposit. Some 43% said that allowing landlords to be allowed to hold a pet deposit would help them, and this is what this amendment does.

Pets provide so much to us human beings in companionship and health benefits and provide friendship and support at difficult times. When owning a pet, we have a responsibility to maintain their welfare and health. This is both a time commitment and a financial commitment for the owners. If someone is a potential tenant with a pet, an additional deposit for a property should be thought of as part of that financial commitment.

I hope my revised amendment will find some support with your Lordships today, and that we can find a balance between landlords and tenants to increase the supply of pet-friendly accommodation. I beg to move.

[Baroness Grender (LD)]

My Lords, I welcome Amendments 39B and 39C in particular—on my behalf and on behalf of our most able leader on this Bill team, my noble friend Lady Thornhill. We are absolutely delighted that military housing is going to be held to the same legal standard as the private rentals in the Bill. Putting this on a statutory footing fulfils the wishes of this Government and the campaigning work by some of my colleagues, particularly in the Commons: MPs Gideon Amos and Helen Morgan, to name but two. I thank Adam Bull in our Whips’ Office, who has been working very hard on this over the recess.

I thank the Minister, the noble Baroness, Lady Taylor of Stevenage, for her time and patience in discussing this issue and us getting to this very happy mutual agreement. I also thank Minister Pennycook for the time he spared, and the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, who has spent time on this. The noble Lord, Lord Best, and the noble and gallant Lord, Lord Stirrup, have provided wisdom, backing and advice, and I am grateful to them both as well.

At the heart of this issue are those in the military who give the ultimate sacrifice and the families who live with them and stand by them. Let us hope, as a result of this change, that the appalling conditions they have endured so far will change and will be a thing of the past. We are enormously grateful for this change and are looking forward to seeing it introduced.

With regard to the Motion in the name of the noble Lord, Lord de Clifford, we have consistently not supported this. We recognise the eloquence of his arguments in this area, but we continue to argue that this will place undue financial pressure on tenants and could be exploited by rogue landlords to impose excessive deposit charges. We believe that tenants, owner-occupiers and social tenants should be viewed on a much more equal footing. This speaks to some of the speeches that both I and my noble friend Lady Thornhill have made. Therefore, we feel we cannot support it, but we are absolutely delighted with the government amendment, and we look forward to its implementation.