Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the revised Model Tenancy Agreement in supporting more tenants in privately-rented homes to own a pet dog or cat.

The Government recognises the importance of pet ownership to many renting in the private rented sector. We have therefore taken steps to make it easier for responsible tenants to keep pets in the private rented sector.

We have revised the national Model Tenancy Agreement, the government’s recommended contract for assured shorthold tenancies in the private rented sector, in order to make it easier for tenants with pets to find private landlords who will accept them. The revision aims to strike the balance between protecting private landlords from situations where their properties are damaged by badly behaved pets and ensuring responsible pet owning tenants are not unfairly penalised.

The Government has not made an assessment of the effectiveness of the revised Model Tenancy Agreement in supporting pet ownership in the private rented sector.