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More than half of landlords unable to recoup pet damage costs: Propertymark

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Pet damage poses more of a risk than the damage inflicted by adult tenants, with 85.3% of landlords and agents saying they have experienced pet-related damage, according to the latest data from Propertymark.

The survey was undertaken by Propertymark and the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) along with LandlordZone and pets charity AdvoCATS and had 463 landlord responses and 74 agents.

While pets posed more of a risk, the research found that 84.7% of property damage was caused by adults and 54.9% by children.

Damage incurred by children was revealed as the cheapest of the three types of damage to repair.

However, reports of damage amounting to over £1,000 were the most common answer to both the value of pet and adult damage.

Landlords and agents said that dogs and cats were the most likely pets to have caused damage to properties over other types of pets.

While the majority of landlords and agents said that they let out their property unfurnished, data showed that neither type of let was more likely to be damaged by pets.

Propertymark says this suggests that landlords hoping to avoid expensive pet damage bills by letting property unfurnished are likely to be disappointed.

Of those that had damage caused by pets, 57% of landlords and agents said they were unable to recoup the cost.

Meanwhile, 29.7% recovered costs from the standard rental deposit and 11.8% recovered costs through a special pet deposit. However, only 0.5% were able to reclaim through an insurance policy.

While only a small percentage of respondents had previously been able to recoup the costs of pet damage through an insurance policy, 65.5% revealed that this is the preferred solution to the problem of pet damage that would encourage more pet-friendly rentals.

Elsewhere, 45.9% would like tenants to pay through the landlord for this insurance, while 19.6% trust the tenant to hold this and claim themselves.

A further 30.5% of landlords and agents said that they would prefer a separate pet deposit is included as standard for lettings with pets while 4.0% said that an additional element added to the standard deposit would encourage them to rent to people with pets.

Propertymark, NRLA and AdvoCATS suggest that the information presented shows that the UK government has limited the protection of landlords and therefore access to housing for those with pets.

This comes after the UK government published the Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper last month.

The whitepaper aims to redress the balance between landlords and 4.4m tenants in the private rented sector (PRS).

The measures will form part of the Renters Reform Bill that was announced in the Queen’s Speech and will be introduced into Parliament later in 2022.

Alongside other plans, the government committed to giving tenants ‘the right to request a pet in their property, which the landlord must consider and cannot unreasonably refuse’.

It also confirmed it will amend the Tenant Fees Act so that landlords can request that their tenants buy pet insurance.

Commenting on the findings, NRLA policy manager James Wood says: “With many landlords unable to recover damage caused by pets, it is no surprise that landlords generally prefer to let to tenants without pets. Particularly those with smaller portfolios who are not able to absorb the losses caused by damage.”

“If the UK government is to increase the supply of pet-friendly homes then it is vital that landlords and agents have confidence they can recover the cost of repairs. Amending the Tenant Fees Act to permit pet insurance or pet deposits would provide this confidence and give tenants with pets more options in the private rented sector.”

Propertymark head of policy and campaigns Timothy Douglas adds: “The data from this research backs up what Propertymark and others have been warning for some time, that the unintended consequences of the Tenant Fees Act have reduced the appetite for many landlords to take on the greater risk of damage.”

“With the demand for pet-friendly homes continuing to increase, the UK government must now understand the costs involved for landlords and implement rules that support the sector to take on greater risk in order to support more people to rent with pets.”

Finopulse

Disclaimer: This story is auto-aggregated by a computer program and has not been created or edited by Finopulse.
Publisher: Becky Bellamy

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