Pet Requests: The 28-Day Rule Every Landlord Must Know

The right to request a pet

The Renters' Rights Act gives tenants the right to request permission to keep a pet in their rented property. This is not an absolute right to keep a pet — it is a right to make a request, and a requirement for the landlord to respond.

The 28-day rule

When a tenant makes a written pet request, the landlord has exactly 28 days to respond. The response must be either:

What happens if you do not respond?

This is the critical point. If the landlord does not respond within 28 days, **the tenant gains the right to apply to court for consent**. In practice, non-response gives the tenant grounds to seek a court order granting permission.

This means that if a pet request sits in your inbox for 29 days without a response, the tenant can apply to court for an order granting consent to keep the pet.

What counts as a reasonable refusal?

The Act does not define "reasonable" exhaustively, but guidance suggests the following may be reasonable:

The following are unlikely to be reasonable:

Pet damage insurance

The requirement for tenants to take out pet damage insurance was removed from the Renters' Rights Act during the House of Lords stage. The Government stated that such insurance products may not come to market sufficiently and that the existing five-week deposit cap under the Tenant Fees Act 2019 provides protection against pet damage. Landlords may choose to take out their own pet damage insurance, but they cannot require tenants to do so as a condition of consent.

Managing pet requests with RightHold

RightHold's Pet Request Management feature tracks the 28-day response window from the moment a request is logged. You receive reminders at 21 days, 7 days and 2 days before the deadline. Template responses are available for consent, conditional consent and refusal — each drafted to comply with the Act's requirements.

Never accidentally consent to a pet request by missing a deadline. Let RightHold track it for you.