Allowing tenants to keep pets in the property could be a useful contributor to rental income certainty as there is a lot of demand for properties which allow pets and tenants with a pet are more likely to stay longer.
An assured shorthold tenancy agreement (also known as an AST) allows a landlord to let a property to a tenant. The term of an assured shorthold tenancy agreement is usually 6 or 12 months and will usually convert to a rolling periodic tenancy at the end of the initial term.
A sole occupancy tenancy agreement is when a tenant rents the entire property and has exclusive possession of the property. This means that the landlord needs to seek permission to enter and can only repossess the property from the tenant by serving a notice under certain conditions. The conditions for serving a notice will depend on the status of the tenancy (within the initial term, at a break point or rolling) and whether the tenant has breached the terms of the tenancy agreement or not.
Whilst a landlord can't ban pets from a property, they have no obligation to accept pets. A landlord can't increase the deposit beyond the 5 week's worth of rent cap but can increase the rent and therefore deposit in exchange for accepting a pet.
When permitting a tenant's pet to stay in a property, it is important to specify details about the authorised pet in the tenancy agreement. For example, the number, size and breed of the authroised pet(s) should be detailed to protect both the landlord and the tenant.
Legislate's assured shorthold tenancy agreement can be easily tailored to permit pets. Appropriate wording will be included to specify which pet is permitted to live in the property with the tenant.