Tenancy agreement breach

[Gooner100]

Hi I am a landlord of a property. In early January our tenants notified our letting agent that someone had given them a puppy for xmas. Despite the rental contract not allowing pets. Our letting agent is now asking what do we want to do. I dont want to make a big issue of the topic. But feel like the tenants are taking advantage and have obviously breached their contract. Has anyone advice about what we should or could do other than adding a clause to the contract to allow a pet? Thankd in advance..

[atticus]

Does your letting agent not give you advice?

You may tell your tenant (in writing) that you agree to make an exception for this one dog, and also remind them of their obligations to make good all damage including any caused by this pet.

[PallasAthena]

From the 1st May this year the Renters' Rights Act will make it illegal to ban pets under a tenanacy agreement unless the Landlord has reasonable grounds to do so. A automatic ban on pets in your tenancy agreement will no longer be enforceable and the terms of section 11 Renters' Rights Act 2025 will apply.

There is government guidance to Landlords here:

Renting out your property: guidance for landlords and letting agents - If a tenant wants a pet to live with them - Guidance - GOV.UK

So unless you think that after 1st May you could legally refuse the request then as a practical matter you might as well respond to the request now as if the new law were already in force. If you refused now and the tenant resubmitted the request on 1st May you may have to agree to it. If they are a "good" tenant now then making them wait until 1st May could risk turning them into a "bad" tenant.

You might have hoped that your letting agent would draw your attention to the change in the law taking place in about 12 weeks time!

The government guidance suggests things a landlord could ask before giving permission. What breed of dog is a question to ask and how big it will grow, especially if the premises are small and there is no garden. Puppies start little and cute but what is it going to grow into over the next year or so?

[sandfordboy]

Just thinking on to future weeks & months - as a Landlord ... what arrangements do you have in place to control/prevent a new "Pet" being introduced to the property every day or week or month ?? Do you have control over tenents setting up a "Kennel" in the garden ?? Very worrying. You should go back over your rental agreement ASAP. What can you actually rely upon in law ?? I think you will find that many Landlords are worriied over the situation.

[sandfordboy]

Tenants.