Tenancy Tribunal Pet Consent Ruling
Late last year the rules around pets in rental properties were changed (check out our blog article).
The first Tenancy Tribunal result has recently emerged from a dispute between a tenant and landlord whereby the tenant had requested to keep a dog at the property.
The full article covering the story can be found in the link below however in summary the property was a mutli-unit dwelling with the only assigned outdoor space being a deck, with a garden area that was shared with the other residents in the building.
The owner of the property had concerns around disruption to other tenants as well as whether the tenants would be able to keep the dog secured properly as the section was not fenced.
The tenants proposed a range of measures to counter these concerns but ultimately the landlord declined the request and the tenants applied for a Tenancy Tribunal hearing to determine an outcome on the dispute.
The adjudicator ruled in favour of the tenants and gave consent for the dog to be kept at the property. In the ruling the adjudicator advises:
"The pet consent rules are an intentional move away from blanket 'no pet' policies and are intended to enable tenants to have pets, while enabling a landlord to decline consent, but only where it is reasonable to do so."
Ultimately the adjudicator decided that the reasons for declining the requests could all be addressed by the tenants proposed measures and so consent was given.
Given this is the first of the rulings since the pet consent rules changed, there may be quite a bit of weight given to this outcome as this may set a precedent for future hearings and dispute outcomes.
Here at Just Property Management we have adopted a robust approach to tenant pet consent requests which includes capturing a large level of detail around any proposed pets and inserting various clauses to any agreement when a pet is approved to protect the owner of the property. We will be keeping a close eye on future dispute outcomes as they arise.