Pets In Rental Properties

What you need to know and why?

Doesn’t matter if you’re a currently renting or soon-to-be renting in Queensland, there are new laws that concern both tenants and owners that came into effect on 1st of October.

The RTRA Act has been amended and there are significant changes making it harder for landlords to ban pets in rental properties.

 Where previously landlords could advertise their property as not pet-friendly or refuse applications including pets with no specific reason. Now tenants will still need to seek approval from the landlord to allow a furry family member to move into the rental property, however every single request will need to be considered in its individual circumstances and only denied on reasonable grounds.

At BlueChip Rentals we have always encouraged our prospective tenants to complete a detailed pet application form upon applying for a rental, so the new pet application will be no surprise to our existing tenants.

All pet applications or requests will need to be submitted in writing to your owner / property manager, all owners are required to respond to a tenant’s pet request within 14 days and where there is no response, approval is implied.

If the owner approves the pet request, they could specify reasonable conditions in their response for the approval of the pet.

Examples of a reasonable conditions could be:

• The pet must remain outside or be restricted to a particular part of the property

• A provision that the tenants must arrange professional fumigation of the property at the end of your tenancy if the pet is capable of carrying parasites

• A provision that the tenants must arrange professional carpet cleaning at the end of the tenancy for relevant pets allowed inside the premises

Owners will still be allowed to refuse tenants applications / requests with pets under specific circumstances such as: existing body corporate by-laws, inappropriate building size, council restriction and regulations, security or if the pet is “dangerous”, such as a venomous snake.

The new laws also state clearly the following:

• Fair wear and tear does not include pet damage

• Any breach of the conditions of approval for a pet breaches the tenancy agreement

 
Want to know more about pets and rental properties or have a general question regarding tenancies.

The team at BlueChip Rentals are always here to help steer you on the right path by protecting your investment. Call us for more advise.