A Dog’s Dinner: Late Renters’ Rights amendment a new blow for landlords

Landlords will need to foot the bill for damage caused by pets under a new government amendment to the Renters’ Rights Bill tabled at the eleventh hour.

The amendment, announced today, will reverse an earlier pledge that would allow landlords to require tenants to have insurance to cover pet damage – less than a week before the Bill returns to the House of Lords for Report stage.

Landlords will still be expected to accept tenants with pets, unless there is a good reason not to, but removing the insurance requirement could leave them seriously out of pocket.

The late change could also make it even harder for tenants with pets to find homes, as landlords become more risk averse.

The annoucement also comes despite the Housing Secretary having previously argued that enabling landlords to request insurance would mean ‘no one is left unfairly out of pocket’.

Ultimately, it will now be for the courts, and the planned Ombudsman for the private rented sector, to rule on these matters.

Ben Beadle, NRLA chief executive, said: “This is a shoddy and outrageous way to make law.

“Ministers keep talking about how the Bill works for responsible landlords and yet they seem incapable of speaking to those representing them.

“Yet again the Government simply expects responsible landlords to shoulder even greater risks without any consultation about the likely impact.

“It comes on top of plans which allow tenants to build higher levels of rent arrears, expect landlords to shoulder the cost of delays to an already sclerotic courts system, and make it harder for tenants with poor or no credit ratings to demonstrate their ability to sustain a tenancy.

“Whilst the Government might say that they are fighting their corner it is tenants who will lose out as landlords become more risk averse.”