Three-quarters of landlords want to raise rents in the face of the new Renters Reform Bill, which is set to change landlords’ abilities to refuse pets.
When specialist BTL broker, Mortgages for Business, polled landlords about their response to the legislation, a sixth (17%) said they would make no changes to their business model but would increase rents.
A further 60% would take out insurance to cover pet damage — which would also need to be paid for with higher rents.
When asked about deposit sizes, half of landlords said they would increase the size of tenants’ deposit to help to cover the costs of any potential damage caused.
A 2022 report by Propertymark found that 85% of landlords and letting agents have incurred pet damage to their properties — with 57% unable to recoup the costs of damage caused by pets.
If a landlord does not want to allow the tenant to keep pets, they must now object in writing within 28 days of a written request from the tenant and provide a good reason for the refusal.
Jeni Browne, director at Mortgages for Business, commented: “Government statistics suggest only 7% of landlords currently market their properties as ‘pet-friendly’.
“It’s expensive to be a landlord to tenants with pets, as they can damage properties and lower the market value of a property.
“An important unintended consequence of the ill-conceived Renters Reform Bill is that some landlords are going to be forced to jack-up rents for all tenants in case some of them have a pet.
“This legislation will be fabulous for the minority of tenants who are actually pet-owners — but it’s not a great look for a government that’s supposed to be helping tenants in the face of a cost of living crisis.”
