A Landlord's Pet Policy Checklist for 2026

If you let property in England, you need a landlord pet policy checklist that reflects the law as it stands in 2026, not the blanket “no pets” thinking that used to be the default. Since the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 came into force on 1 May 2026, tenants have a statutory right to request to keep a pet, and you can no longer refuse one out of hand. The Act inserts new sections 16A and 16B into the Housing Act 1988, and getting your process wrong leaves you exposed to a complaint you will struggle to defend.

This guide turns the new rules into a repeatable workflow you can run every time a tenant asks. It is built for assured periodic tenancies in England, the only kind that exist now that fixed-term assured shorthold tenancies have gone. By the end you will have a step-by-step checklist, a worked example, a reasonable-versus-unreasonable comparison table, and answers to the questions landlords ask most.

Why a pet policy is no longer optional

For decades, “no pets” was a single line in a tenancy agreement and the conversation ended there. That world is over. The Renters’ Rights Act gives every tenant on an assured tenancy the right to request consent to keep a pet, and it obliges you to consider that request properly and respond in writing. A blanket prohibition baked into your tenancy agreement is now unenforceable, and ignoring a request is itself a misstep.

Crucially, this is not the same as saying you must accept every pet. The law gives the tenant a right to ask and gives you a duty not to unreasonably refuse. The whole battleground is the word “reasonable,” judged on the facts of each request. That is exactly why a documented, consistent process matters: a well-evidenced decision is defensible, while a knee-jerk “no” is the kind most likely to be challenged. It is also a commercial decision, pet-friendly homes attract a wider pool of tenants, let faster, and tend to retain tenants for longer.

What the law actually requires in 2026

Before the checklist itself, here are the rules your pet policy must respect:

• Tenants have a right to request a pet in writing. A flat “no pets” clause is no longer enforceable.
• You must respond in writing to a written request, either granting consent or refusing it.
• You have 28 days from the date of the request to give your decision. If you reasonably need further information from the tenant before you can decide, the window can extend by a further 7 days measured from when you receive that information.
• You can only refuse on reasonable grounds. A refusal must be justified on the facts; you cannot simply say no.
• There is no deemed or automatic consent. Missing the deadline does not magically grant permission, but it does leave you exposed, weakens any later refusal, and invites a complaint, so treat the window as a hard deadline.
• You cannot require the tenant to take out pet insurance as a condition of consent. The Act (s.16A–16B) removed that power. You can still agree other reasonable conditions (see below).

These obligations sit alongside the rest of the regime. For the bigger picture of when a refusal is lawful, read Can a Landlord Refuse a Pet in England in 2026? For the question tenants type into search, see Can a Landlord Say No Pets in the UK? What Changed on 1 May 2026.

What counts as a “pet”?

The legislation does not give an exhaustive species list, and you should not try to invent one. The right-to-request regime is intended to cover the ordinary domestic animals tenants keep, cats, dogs, small caged animals, fish, and so on. The test is always whether refusing this animal in this property is reasonable, not whether the species appears on some approved register.

Two categories sit outside the ordinary pet logic entirely:

• Assistance dogs and other assistance animals are not “pets” in the everyday sense. Refusing one can amount to disability discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, so never run an assistance animal through your standard pet-refusal process. Treat any such request as a reasonable-adjustment matter.
• Animals you could never reasonably accommodate, dangerous wild animals requiring a licence, for example, are a different conversation, but they are rare and should be handled on their specific facts rather than by reflex.

The landlord pet policy checklist

Work through these steps in order every time you receive a pet request. This landlord pet policy checklist is your audit trail if a dispute ever arises. Print it, save it as a template, or build it into your workflow, the point is that every request gets the same treatment.

1. Acknowledge the request and date it

• [ ] Record the date the written request was received, this starts your 28-day clock.
• [ ] Confirm receipt to the tenant in writing (email is fine) so there is no argument later about when the clock started.
• [ ] Capture what the tenant actually asked for: species, breed, number, age, whether the home is a flat or a house, and any assistance-animal status.

A verbal “can I get a cat?” is not a formal request, but treat it courteously: ask the tenant to put it in writing so your timeline is clean and the request is unambiguous.

2. Check your own constraints

• [ ] Re-read your head lease or freehold restrictions, if a superior lease genuinely prohibits pets, that may be a reasonable ground to refuse, or to refuse a specific type of animal.
• [ ] Check insurance and building/management rules for blocks of flats and shared buildings.
• [ ] Note the property type and size, relevant to whether a particular animal is reasonable (a large, high-energy dog in a top-floor studio with no outside space, say), though never a blanket excuse.
• [ ] Check whether the property is an HMO or has shared communal areas, where other occupiers’ interests are legitimately part of the picture.

3. Decide whether you need more information

• [ ] If you genuinely cannot decide without more detail (exact breed, whether the animal is house-trained, a reference for the pet from a previous landlord), request it in writing promptly.
• [ ] Remember: a reasonable request for information can extend your deadline by 7 days from when you receive the answer, but only if the request is genuinely necessary. Do not use it as a stalling tactic, because an artificial information request will not buy you time and may itself look unreasonable.

4. Assess reasonableness, ground by ground

• [ ] Consider each potential ground for refusal on its own merits, against this specific animal and this specific property.
• [ ] Document why a refusal would be reasonable, with evidence, the superior-lease clause, the dimensions of the property against the breed, a specific and evidenced welfare or nuisance concern.
• [ ] Reject grounds that are not defensible: “I just don’t like pets,” “the agreement says no pets,” or a generic policy applied without thought will not survive scrutiny.
• [ ] If consent looks reasonable, move to granting it with conditions rather than searching for a reason to refuse.

5. Issue a written decision inside 28 days

• [ ] Put the decision in writing, dated, and send it before the deadline.
• [ ] If granting, state any reasonable conditions clearly (see step 6).
• [ ] If refusing, give your specific reasons in the same document. For the exact wording, see How to Refuse a Pet Request in Writing Without Breaking the Law.
• [ ] Keep a copy with the date sent and proof of delivery.

6. Set lawful conditions (if granting)

You can attach reasonable conditions to consent, but stay inside the rules:

• [ ] You may require the property to be returned in the same condition, allowing for fair wear and tear (reasonable end-of-tenancy cleaning, for example).
• [ ] You may agree that the tenant is responsible for damage caused by the pet, this is normal and can be reflected in your tenancy paperwork.
• [ ] You must not require the tenant to buy pet insurance as a condition of consent, the Act specifically removed that ability.
• [ ] Keep conditions proportionate. A condition so onerous it amounts to a refusal in disguise risks being treated as an unreasonable refusal.
• [ ] Record agreed conditions in writing so both sides are clear.

7. Update the tenancy paperwork and log everything

• [ ] Reflect the agreed pet and conditions in a pet clause or addendum, see How to Word a Pet Clause in a Tenancy Agreement After the RRA. If you are drafting a tenancy from scratch, build this in from the start with How to Write a Tenancy Agreement in England.
• [ ] Store the request, your decision, and any conditions together as a single record.
• [ ] Diarise any review points (for example, if the tenant said the pet was temporary, or if consent was tied to a specific animal rather than “any pet”).

Reasonable vs unreasonable refusals at a glance

Reasonableness is judged case by case. When in doubt, document your reasoning, a vague refusal is the one most likely to be challenged.

A worked example: the 28-day clock in practice

Consider a realistic scenario so the timeline is concrete.

Day 0, Tuesday 5 May 2026. Your tenant, Priya, emails: “I’d like to get a small house cat. Is that OK?” That email is a written request. Your 28-day window starts today and ends on 2 June 2026. You reply the same day acknowledging receipt and noting the date.

Day 2. You check the freehold. The flat is leasehold and the head lease says “no animals without the freeholder’s written consent.” That is a genuine constraint, not a personal preference, so you email the managing agent to ask whether the freeholder will consent to a single indoor cat. You also ask Priya one reasonable question: is the cat house-trained and microchipped? She confirms the same day.

Day 18, Friday 22 May. The freeholder confirms it will consent to a single indoor cat. You now have everything you need.

Day 19. You issue a written decision granting consent to one indoor cat, with proportionate conditions: the cat is kept indoors, the property is professionally cleaned at the end of the tenancy, and Priya is responsible for any pet-related damage beyond fair wear and tear. You do not demand pet insurance, because you cannot. You record the decision in a short addendum and file the whole exchange, request, freeholder correspondence, decision, conditions, as one record.

You decided well inside 28 days, your reasons and conditions are evidenced, and if Priya ever complains there is a clean paper trail. Contrast this with the landlord who reads “can I get a cat?”, thinks “the agreement says no pets,” and never replies, missing the deadline, with no written decision, and no defensible position if challenged.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Treating the 28 days as flexible. It is a hard window. Build the deadline into your process the day the request lands.
• Relying on an old tenancy clause. Any pre-existing blanket ban is unenforceable now; quoting it will not help you.
• Demanding pet insurance. This is specifically not allowed as a condition of consent.
• Refusing verbally or with no reasons. Every decision should be in writing and, if a refusal, reasoned and evidenced.
• Forgetting assistance animals. These are not “pets” in the ordinary sense and engage equality law, do not run them through your standard refusal logic.
• Loading consent with impossible conditions. Conditions that effectively make keeping the pet unworkable can be treated as an unreasonable refusal.
• Not keeping records. If you cannot show what was asked, when, and how you decided, you cannot defend the decision.

How pets interact with deposits and damage

A frequent worry is damage. The right-to-request regime does not strip away your existing protections, it simply removes the blanket ban and the pet-insurance condition. Your deposit, protected in a government-backed scheme, still covers tenant-caused damage beyond fair wear and tear, including damage caused by a pet, subject to the usual evidence requirements. The deposit cap is unchanged: up to five weeks’ rent (or six weeks where the annual rent is £50,000 or more). You cannot top up the deposit simply because a pet is present.

That makes your inventory and check-in/check-out evidence more important than ever, because it is the proof you will rely on if you need to make a pet-related deduction. For how protection works and why it matters, see Tenancy Deposit Protection in England Explained.

Always check the current position on GOV.UK and the Housing Act 1988 (as amended) on legislation.gov.uk before issuing a decision, as guidance and prescribed detail continue to be published.

Frequently asked questions

Can I still put “no pets” in my tenancy agreement in 2026?

No. A blanket “no pets” clause is unenforceable under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. You can include a clause that reflects the right-to-request process, that pets require written consent, which will not be unreasonably withheld, and that any consent may carry reasonable conditions, but you cannot impose an outright ban.

How long do I have to respond to a pet request?

You have 28 days from the written request to give a written decision. If you reasonably need further information from the tenant to decide, the deadline can extend by a further 7 days from when you receive that information. There is no automatic consent if you miss the deadline, but missing it leaves you exposed and undermines any later refusal, so always treat it as a firm cut-off.

Can I charge extra rent or a higher deposit for a pet?

You cannot increase the deposit above the statutory cap (five weeks’ rent, or six weeks where annual rent is £50,000 or more) because a pet is present, and you cannot require pet insurance. Any rent increase must go through the proper Section 13 route once a year, it cannot be a back-door “pet surcharge.” You can, however, agree reasonable conditions about end-of-tenancy cleaning and responsibility for pet-related damage.

What counts as a reasonable ground to refuse a pet?

Grounds that are specific and evidenced: a superior lease that genuinely bans pets, building or management rules in a shared block, an animal plainly unsuited to the property, or a concrete welfare or nuisance concern. Personal dislike of animals, a generic policy applied without thought, or unevidenced “it might cause damage” claims are not reasonable. Document your reasoning either way.

Do these rules apply to assistance dogs?

Assistance dogs and other assistance animals are not treated as “pets.” Refusing one can amount to disability discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, so never run such a request through your standard pet-refusal logic. Treat it as a reasonable-adjustment matter and grant access unless you have a genuinely exceptional and lawful reason not to.

What happens if I just ignore a pet request?

Ignoring a request is one of the worst options. There is no deemed consent, so the tenant does not automatically get the pet, but you will have failed to respond as the Act requires, you will have no defensible decision on record, and you weaken your position if the matter is ever challenged or, in future, raised with the forthcoming PRS Landlord Ombudsman once that scheme is operating. Always respond in writing within the window.

Coming soon

Running this checklist by hand on every request is exactly the kind of deadline-driven admin that goes wrong under pressure. Tenancy Pilot’s pet permission generator will turn this checklist into action: log the request and start the 28-day clock automatically, surface the deadline on your dashboard with reminders, then produce a clean, dated decision document, granted with conditions, or refused with your written reasons, that holds up if challenged. Tenancy Pilot is launching soon. Join the waitlist to be ready the first time a tenant asks.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Pet rules under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 are new and detail is still being published, check GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk and consult a solicitor before acting on a specific pet request.