Charity wants law changed to help pet-owning renters
The charity first launched the campaign in 2021.
A charity that helps renters find pet-friendly accommodation is asking MPs and supporters to join its campaign for rental reform.
As part of its Heads for Tails! campaign, AdvoCATS wants to see the law changed to allow landlords to request pet damage insurance. The charity says that this would help increase the number of pet-friendly rentals.
Currently, around seven per cent of available rental properties are listed as pet-friendly, according to government and industry statistics.
A plan to introduce the changes as an amendment to the Tenant Fees Act’s List of Permitted Payments had been part of the previous government's Renters Reform Bill. However, it failed to make it onto the statute books before the general election.
The charity is asking supporters of its campaign to contact their local MP to ask them to back the change.
AdvoCATS will also be contacting Matthew Pennycock, the newly appointed minister of state in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, to put forward its case.
Jennifer Berezai, co-founder of the charity, said: “Our campaign is not unknown to the minister, who sat on the bill select committee that I gave evidence to last November, and so we hope that he will want to meet with us.
“Meanwhile we are encouraging as many tenants as possible, who either have or want pets, animal focused organisations, animal rescue volunteers, landlords, letting agents - and, in fact, anyone concerned with renting and animal welfare - to contact their MPs to raise awareness of our campaign to introduce pet damage insurance in law for both renters and landlords so that more people can rent with pets without landlords feeling their property is at risk.”
Image © AdvoCATS
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