Pet Consent Letter — RRA 2025-Compliant Template

Under Section 11 of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, blanket "no pets" clauses in English tenancy agreements are gone. Tenants have the right to make a written pet request, and landlords must respond within 28 days. If the landlord requests additional information from the tenant, the deadline extends to 7 days after the tenant provides it (or the original 28 days, whichever is later). A parallel extension applies when the landlord needs superior landlord consent.

Refusals must be on reasonable grounds. The Act doesn’t enumerate reasonable grounds, but Government guidance and the Sections 16A/16B framework make clear that the property’s genuine unsuitability for the size or type of pet, allergies of other building occupants, illegal pets, freeholder restrictions, and HMO licence conditions all qualify. "I don’t allow pets" is not a reason. "Your property is a top-floor one-bedroom flat with no outdoor space" is.

This template handles all three outcomes — consent, consent with conditions, refusal — in one document, with the correct legal wording for each. It also explicitly excludes the unenforceable pet insurance demand and the prohibited "pet rent" / additional deposit, both of which the Act removed before enactment or are blocked by the Tenant Fees Act 2019.

RRA 2025 — the pet consent framework. Section 11 of the Act inserts Sections 16A and 16B into the Housing Act 1988. Headline rules:

• 28 days to respond to a written pet request (Section 16A(1)(c))
• 7-day extension if landlord requests further information (Section 16A(2))
• Parallel extension if landlord needs superior landlord consent (Section 16A(3))
• Reasonable grounds required for refusal (Section 16A(1)(d))
• Pet insurance demand prohibited — provision removed at Lords Report Stage; pet insurance is a prohibited payment under the Tenant Fees Act 2019
• No "deemed consent" — missing the deadline is a breach of an implied term; the tenant’s remedy is specific performance (Section 16B(5)) or escalation to the Private Rented Sector Ombudsman

The 5-week deposit cap remains the only landlord protection against pet damage. Both the pet damage insurance provision and a separate pet damage deposit amendment were rejected.