Member

Amendment 123 seeks to clarify that a tenant cannot keep an inappropriately sized animal or disproportionate number of animals in a property without the landlord’s express written consent. In our view, this amendment is unnecessary as the Bill already expressly requires tenants to gain written permission from their landlord to have a pet in their home. Landlords can refuse permission for such requests when it is reasonable, and decisions are best made on a case-by-case basis. There are too many variables for the Government to set them out in detail within the legislation. However, in our view, landlords are likely to be able to refuse a tenant’s request to keep a pet in situations where a pet could not be kept safely in a property. That would include where the animal was too big or there were too many of them. I would therefore ask the noble Lord not to press Amendment 123.