Report Reveals Landlords Can’t Recoup Repair Costs After Damage
Research from an industry supplier has revealed that despite often spending hundreds of pounds repairing pet damage, landlords can’t recoup their costs.
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The Lettings Hub says more than three-quarters of landlord’s report damage caused by pets but more than 50 percent of these can’t recover their costs.
A new report, ‘What’s the Damage?’, has been commissioned by pro-pet group AdvoCATS.
It comes on the back of the government’s Rental Reform White Paper which gives tenants the right to request a pet and to allow pet insurance as a permitted tenant payment.
According to The Lettings Hub, many landlords are sceptical about how they can ensure that a tenant takes out and maintains premiums on a pet damage insurance policy.
Jen Berezai, co-founder of AdvoCATS, says almost a third of landlords and letting agents surveyed state that pet damage costs them more than £1,000, so it is clear that more detail is needed on how pet insurance as a permitted tenant payment will work.
Our stats show that half of landlords and letting agents would prefer the option for a tenant to pay the landlord for pet damage insurance, so they have assurance that the policy is in place should anything go wrong.
What is also needed is more information at the outset of the tenancy; some tenants feel they cannot disclose that they have pets, but this can lead to problems further down the line.
Heidi Shackell, Lettings Hub chief executive, added: “The White Paper proposals mean pet ‘fees’ are likely to be the first amendment to the Tenant Fees Act 2019. The options to protect letting agents and landlords, for example, taking an additional rent amount, an extra week’s deposit, or tenant-controlled pet damage insurance, all have weaknesses.
“The only sensible way forward is pet damage insurance that a landlord or letting agent holds, and that the tenant pays for.”
We have covered what insurances you need as a landlord in more detail here.
