A joint online survey by some of the most prominent industry companies will be released in April, asking landlords and letting agents to report on their experience on the true cost of rental damages by tenants.
This in turn, will be given to the Government in a report proposing amendments to the Tenant Fees Act.
The ‘What’s the Damage’ Survey was created by Propertymark, NRLA, LandlordZone and the East Midlands charity group AdvoCats.
The purpose of the survey is to help gauge the actual damage caused by tenants and, most significantly, pets and children and the method of recovery.
The survey’s findings will be given alongside a wider-reaching report called the ‘Heads for Tails’ report, which seeks to amend the Tenant Fees legislation, making it easier for both landlords and tenants to have pets in the property.
This, in turn, it is hoped by the group, will reduce the damaging impact of ‘no pets clauses’ that can be found in tenancy agreements, which limits many potential renters’ options.
The Campaign is calling for landlords to either be able to request a financially capped deposit or stipulate that pet damage insurance must be held by any tenant wanting to keep pets. This will give landlords security and confidence that any damages caused by pets to the property will be financially compensated.
AdvoCATS co-founder Jennifer Berezai said:
We know that fear and cost of pet damage is one of the main barriers to landlords accepting pets, and this survey will give a better understanding of the reality of those fears, and how they compare to other causes and costs of damage. These questions haven’t been asked before, and the answers will give us a unique insight into landlords’ experiences’.
The Survey can be found here. We encourage all our landlords and agents who read the blog to fill in the report and detail their experiences with pets.
