Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent discussions he has had with animal welfare organisations on reforms to rules around renting to people with pets.

Further to the answer given in response to Question UIN 174324 on 3 April 2023, we will legislate to give tenants in the private rented sector a legal ‘right to request a pet’ that the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse. We know that some landlords are concerned about the potential damage caused by pets, so we will also allow landlords to require insurance covering pet damage. We will legislate in the Renters Reform Bill when parliamentary time allows.

We plan to publish guidance for tenants and landlords on what would constitute an unreasonable refusal of a pet before the new rules come into effect and we will provide detail on how tenants can challenge decisions in due course.

Ministerial meetings with external organisations are published on GOV.UK. Officials in the department continue to engage with external stakeholders whilst developing policies for pets in the private rented sector and have discussed the proposals with animal welfare organisations.