What Are the Rules Around Pets in Rental Properties in London?

Few questions land in a London landlord's inbox more often than the one about pets. A prospective tenant has a small dog, or a cat, or a rabbit, and they would like to know whether they can bring it along. For years the standard answer was a polite no, written into the tenancy agreement and rarely revisited. That position has now shifted, and it helps to understand both the new rules and the practical good sense behind them before you reply.

The starting point has changed

Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, which came into force on 1 May 2026, a tenant may make a request to keep a pet and the landlord must not unreasonably refuse it. This does not mean every pet in every property must be accepted, but it does reverse the old default. The burden now sits with the landlord to consider each request properly and to give a fair reason if the answer is no, rather than relying on a blanket ban tucked into the contract.

It is worth treating this as one of several connected changes rather than an isolated rule. The same Act replaced fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies with periodic tenancies that roll month to month, and reshaped how rent increases and possession work. If you would like the wider picture, our overview of what the Renters' Rights Act 2025 means for London landlords sets the pet rules in their proper context.

What counts as a reasonable refusal

The Act does not publish a tick-box list of acceptable reasons, which understandably makes some landlords nervous. The sensible approach is to judge each request on its own facts. A request to keep a large, active dog in a small upper-floor flat with no outdoor space is a very different proposition from a single house cat in a garden maisonette, and your reasoning can reflect that.

Other genuine constraints can also be relevant. If the head lease on a leasehold flat prohibits animals, or a freeholder's rules forbid them, that is a real limitation rather than a personal preference. The key is to respond promptly, in writing, and with a reason you could comfortably explain to a third party. A refusal that simply says no, with nothing behind it, is exactly the kind the new rules are designed to discourage.

Pet insurance and protecting the property

The Act gives landlords a specific tool to manage risk: where you agree to a pet, you may require the tenant to hold pet insurance, or you may take out a policy yourself and recover the reasonable cost. This is intended to cover potential damage caused by the animal, and it offers a middle path between an outright refusal and an unprotected acceptance.

What you cannot do is reach for the deposit to plug every gap. Deposits remain capped at five weeks' rent where the annual rent is under £50,000, or six weeks' rent where it is £50,000 or more, and they must be protected in a government-approved scheme with the prescribed information given to the tenant. A pet does not unlock a larger deposit, so pet insurance is the proper mechanism for the extra risk.

Keep it separate from other tenant protections

It is easy to conflate the pet rules with other parts of a landlord's duties, so it is worth drawing a clear line. Your repairing and safety obligations apply regardless of whether a pet is present: a valid EPC to market and let the property, an annual gas safety record, an EICR at least every five years, and working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms are all required either way. A pet request changes none of that, and you can read more in our guide to a landlord's core legal obligations in London.

Equally, the anti-discrimination provisions that now sit alongside the pet rules deserve attention. Landlords and agents cannot discriminate against families with children or against tenants receiving benefits, and tenants must be treated equally and fairly throughout. A pet policy should be applied consistently to everyone, never as a quiet way of filtering applicants.

A practical way to handle a request

When a request arrives, a calm and consistent process protects everyone. In practice this tends to involve a few simple steps:

• Acknowledge the request in writing and ask for basic details of the animal
• Check the head lease or freeholder rules where the property is leasehold
• Consider the property and the specific pet honestly, then respond within a reasonable time
• If you agree, set out the pet insurance arrangement clearly before it moves in
• If you refuse, give a genuine, property-specific reason in writing

Handled this way, a pet request rarely becomes a flashpoint. A tenant with a pet may well be settled and keen to stay for the long term, which is no small thing in a competitive London market where good tenants are worth keeping.

Pet rules are only one strand of a tenancy that now demands more care than it once did, and the right support makes the difference between a smooth let and a tangle of avoidable risk. At JSLA we help landlords across London weigh these requests sensibly and stay on the right side of the rules. If you are unsure how the new framework applies to your property, or you would simply like a second pair of eyes, we are always happy to talk it through.

This article is general information and not legal advice. Rules can change and individual circumstances vary, so please take advice on your specific situation before acting.