Three-quarters of landlords want to raise rents in the face of the new Renter’s Reform Bill, which is set to change landlords’ abilities to refuse pets.

When buy-to-let broker Mortgages for Business polled landlords about their response to the legislation, 17% said they would make no changes to their business-model but would increase rents. A further 60% would take out insurance to cover pet damage — the price of which would also need to be paid for with higher rents.

When asked about deposit sizes, 50% of landlords said they would increase the size of tenants’ deposit to help to cover the costs of any potential damage caused.

Under the new bill, landlords will not be able to ‘unreasonably’ refuse requests for keeping pets. If a landlord does not want to allow the tenant to keep pets, they must now object in writing within 28 days of a written request from the tenant and provide a ‘good reason’ for the refusal. 

Jeni Browne, director at Mortgages for Business, said: “Government statistics suggest only 7% of landlords currently market their properties as ‘pet-friendly’. This is not an accident. It’s expensive to be a landlord to tenants with pets: they can damage properties and lower the market value of a property.”