Meet the renters and pets spending their first Christmas together: ‘I definitely took it for granted’

Daisy Lindlar knows she’s very lucky. The 32-year-old and her partner are looking forward to spending their first Christmas in their private rented home with labradoodle Gizmo, who is eight months old. 

A Christmas Day dog walk, a few presents and maybe even some festive drinks in the pub are on the cards for Gizmo and family. 

Lindlar will not spend Christmas worrying whether her landlord will let her have a pet or if the property owner will spot the dog bowl or any moulted fur on an inspection. 

She was able to pick her Wiltshire home because it was pet friendly and when the couple asked the landlord if they could get a dog, they were relieved they said yes. 

“Me and my partner had always really wanted to get a pet together and so we were looking for a place with a view that we want somewhere that’s open to having a pet,” Lindlar tells Big Issue. 

“And that did make it a lot harder. It narrowed down much more where we could look. There were lots of houses that looked great but they wouldn’t let us have a pet.  

“But I know we’re really fortunate. So we got this place knowing that they were open to pets. When the time came and we were ready to get one, I said to my landlord we would like to get a pet, we’d thought about it and this is what we would like to get. We’re lucky that they were really open to it.” 

The private rented sector in England is now second to owner-occupiers as the most popular housing tenure, having long since overtaken social housing. 

But renting regulations haven’t kept up. Until now. 

“I definitely took it for granted growing up: the fact I was living in houses that my parents owned so obviously we had pets. Now I think times are just completely different,” says Lindlar. 

“People are renting for longer. People can’t afford places. People are living in unstable housing, moving year on year and it’s just not an environment you can have a pet in.” 

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This is the first Christmas when renters could feasibly get a dog and it wouldn’t just be for Christmas or come down to the whims of the landlord. 

The Renters’ Rights Act finally received royal assent recently, promising renters in England will get more rights and protections and tipping the balance of power between tenant and landlord. 

The legislation, and its Tory forerunner the Renters (Reform) Bill, has promised to give private rented tenants the right to keep a pet since the start. Landlords must consider a tenant’s request to keep a pet and “cannot unreasonably refuse”. They have 28 days to respond. 

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Renters in Scotland are getting identical rights through the Housing (Scotland) Bill, albeit landlords will have 30 days to respond. 

Measures from both laws will come into force next year, promising to give renters who may look to get a pet this Christmas a better chance of keeping them at home. 

Leading pet charity Battersea Dogs and Cats Home has been campaigning for change since 2018, initially working with social housing associations and local authorities to make 250,000 homes more pet friendly. 

That campaign turned to the private rented sector as then-prime minister Theresa May announced rent reforms in 2019. That would be the starting point for a six-year journey that only just ended in time for Christmas 2025. 

“Housing is the second most common reason that animals are given up to us,” Ben Parker, Battersea’s public affairs manager, tells Big Issue. “It’s always been a challenge for us because we have people, on a daily basis, arriving at our three centres and taking the really heartbreaking decision to give up a dog or a cat to us because of challenges relating to their housing situation. 

“Obviously, as things have got more pressurised with the rental market and the cost of living crisis, I think we’ve only seen that in a more pronounced way.” 

The Covid pandemic, too, put the spotlight on housing and pets. 

In the lonely lockdown days, pet ownership surged with animals offering “a lifeline” against isolation. 

There are well-documented benefits to mental and physical health put down to canine and cat companionship, potentially saving the NHS around £2.45 billion per year. 

Between April and June 2020, Battersea received 40,392 applications to rehome dogs, an increase of 53% compared to the previous three months. The charity found an estimated 31% of people who acquired a dog or cat in this period had not been considering becoming pet owners before lockdown.  Meanwhile, 35% of applicants to Battersea to rehome a dog or cat were from people who rented their home. But an estimated 40% of rented flats don’t allow dogs and 37% don’t allow cats. 

Traditionally, damage to properties has been one of the key stumbling blocks when it comes to convincing landlords to open their doors to dogs, cats and other pets.  

Research from Battersea, Brunel University London and Sheffield Hallam University found in 2024 that the monetary benefits of landlords letting tenants with pets exceed the costs by £3,800. 

That’s down to more stability among tenants who are more likely to stay in a home for longer. 

“Dogs are part of the family,” says Parker. 

“If you own a dog, you’re getting out and about in the community to walk the dog. You’re meeting other people. You’re forming those kinds of connections in your local area too. That’s a really significant thing. And obviously during the pandemic in particular, I think it really shone a spotlight on that.” 

The Renters (Reform) Bill was revealed in 2023 and, although it failed to pass into law under the Tories, the right to request a pet was a key part of the legislation. 

When Labour picked up the mantle with the Renters’ Rights Bill last year, measures remained in the bill, although the time a landlord can take over a request was cut from 42 days to 28. 

But that didn’t stop the pro-pet parts of the bill coming under-fire in recent months. 

Peers in the House of Lords amended the bill to require tenants to take out pet insurance and for pet owners to pay an additional three weeks’ rent as a deposit. 

Both were overruled when the bill returned to the Commons. Parker said there are mixed feelings about pet insurance, pointing out that it could act as a “mediating device” to convince nervous landlords. 

But the idea that renters could face an additional £900 in deposit was more clear cut. 

“Absolutely, for us, it was a no-go because we cannot have a significant extra upfront cost at a time where a lot of people are obviously already struggling in terms of rental market and costs as well,” says Parker. 

“Along similar lines, historically, we’ve pushed back against extra pet rent as well, because it’s just been a bit of a wild west situation where some landlords are charging significant extra amounts that aren’t consistent across the board.” 

Now the Renters’ Rights Act has become law, it remains to be seen how it works in practice. Guidance on what is meant when a landlord “cannot unreasonably refuse” a request is the first priority. The new laws also only apply to in-situ tenants and campaigners are looking to make it easier for people looking for a new rented home to get a pet. 

The government has said it will release further guidance before the new rules come into force on 1 May next year. 

Despite the gaps, Owen Sharp, chief executive of Dogs Trust, says the laws are a “massive step forward”.  

“These new pet-friendly renters’ rights mean that the benefits of pet ownership are no longer exclusive to homeowners, something we have been campaigning on for many years. It is a game-changer for pet-loving tenants,” says Sharp. 

There are also hopes that the laws can reduce the number of homeless dogs too. 

“I think also, from an operational side, it will just mean that, practically, we will be able to re-home more animals to a wider range of homes,” says Parker. 

But it will also mean millions more renters can have an experience like Lindlar rather than facing the reality of giving up their pet to get a home. 

“It would be devastating,” says copywriter Lindlar when asked about the prospect of parting with Gizmo. 

“The pet becomes part of the family. It is something that I worry about a bit because renting can be so insecure. You can feel like somewhere is your home but then that can change. My last place I had to leave after three years there because the landlord decided to sell, which is well within their rights. But then suddenly you’ve not got your home.” 

She believes that the Renters’ Rights Act can be a “good step forward” and “open up the conversation” on renting with pets. 

But, for now, Lindlar is just looking forward to festive fun with Gizmo. 

“Having a pet has just completely changed my life. The benefits are massive with your mental health and your happiness,” she says. “I work from home a lot of the time and having the dog around and having that company is just really lovely. I feel much more of a sense of community in my local area. 

“My kind of family unit with me, my partner, my dog, is just complete.” 

Before asking your landlord to allow a pet, here’s what you need to know

Landlords won’t be able to “unreasonably refuse” a request to keep a pet. But there are still steps tenants can take to make a landlord more comfortable with the idea. “I think we put quite a lot of thought into it before kind of making the ask,” says Daisy Lindlar. “We did a lot of research and we looked into breeds and we were like: what breed fits the kind of home we have? We thought about getting something that doesn’t shed and is not massive.”

Pre-empting what questions a landlord may ask is good advice and tenants may consider outlining where they plan on keeping the dog. For example, keeping the dog downstairs or mainly in the kitchen rather than the bedrooms. Lindlar adds: “I think maybe that is possibly an important thing for renters to think about: getting a pet that suits the kind of home that you live in.”

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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