At Battersea, we know that pets truly are part of the family. But issues relating to housing represent the second most common reason that animals are relinquished to us. Through our Pet Friendly Properties campaign, Battersea has sought to work collaboratively with landlord and tenant groups alike in trying to find solutions to this challenge.  

Every day at our centres we see loving owners forced to give up a beloved pet, because they’ve either been told that they can no longer keep them by a landlord, or are finding it impossible to secure a new home to rent that will allow the animal.

Polo the dog was eight years old when he arrived at Battersea. His owners were forced to surrender Polo when they were unable to find a rental property that allowed pets. Sadly this is just one example of many heartbreaking stories where cats and dogs are unnecessarily relinquished to rescue centres like Battersea.

The UK is left lagging behind many other countries in both Europe and beyond on this issue. In many American cities, it’s a given that pets will be permitted. In Dallas, Texas, for example, 80 per cent of rental listings are pet friendly.

Change is on the horizon, however. The Government has introduced the Renters’ Rights Bill, which includes measures designed to address pets and housing issues in England. The Bill sets out that landlords will not be able to ‘unreasonably refuse’ a tenants request to keep a pet, and provides landlords with the ability to insist on insurance against potential pet damage being taken out by the tenant – which helps offer landlords assurances that their property will be protected. Similar measures are also expected to be introduced in Scotland and Wales.

It’s a significant and welcome step forwards and marks a shift away from the expectation that a landlord can simply say no to a pet, with no grounds for recourse from a tenant.

This matters because more people than ever are renting. With many struggling to make a first step onto the home ownership ladder, people are renting for longer and later in their lives. We’ve also seen an increased demand for pet ownership as we better understand the benefits of having a pet. Pet ownership saves the NHS £2.45bn each year resulting from reduced visits to doctors by owners. That speaks to both the physical and mental health benefits  that our dogs and cats provide through their companionship and loyalty.

Research commissioned by Battersea has also underlined that there are significant financial benefits to landlords of supporting pets – the total monetary benefits to landlords of letting to tenants with pets exceed the costs, and that the perceptions of the risk of damage to a property are often not borne out by the evidence.

The Renters’ Rights Bill is not perfect, and Battersea is working to improve it in several key areas; developing guiding principles for what would constitute unreasonable grounds for refusal, ensuring that permission once granted should last for the lifetime of the tenancy, and providing prospective tenants who already own a pet with protections as they seek a new place to rent.

The Bill is just the first step in us moving towards a more pet friendly approach. It alone will not herald an immediate culture shift for renting with pets in the UK and it will take time to understand its impact – but things are certainly looking much brighter for dog and cat loving renters in the UK in the months and years ahead.