Pet Damage Insurance

Pet damage insurance is an insurance policy intended to cover accidental damage caused by a tenant’s pets to a rented property and its contents. For example scratched floors and doors, chewed fixtures, soiled carpets or damaged furniture. It sits alongside, not instead of, buildings insurance and where relevant landlord’s contents insurance, which may exclude or tightly limit cover for pet-related damage.

Pet damage insurance can be arranged in two main ways:

• You take out a specific add-on or policy in your own name or

• You consent to pets on condition that the tenant obtains and maintains a suitable policy, naming you or the property as an interested party.

Under the Tenant Fees Act, carried forward and tightened in the Renters’ Rights Act, you cannot simply add arbitrary “pet fees” or extra deposits beyond the statutory caps. Requiring proportionate pet damage insurance, transparently linked to genuine risk, is more likely to be acceptable than one-off “pet charges”, but you must avoid unfair or discriminatory terms.

Even where pet damage insurance exists, landlords remain responsible for dealing promptly with disrepair and cannot rely on the policy to justify excessive deductions or “betterment” at the tenant’s expense. Also see Tenant Content Insurance.

Also read our landlord blog articles on:

• What landlord insurance do you need?