Pet Requests: The 42-Day Rule Every Landlord Must Know
Under the Renters' Rights Act, tenants can request to keep a pet and landlords must respond within 42 days.
The right to request a pet
The Renters' Rights Act gives tenants the right to request permission to keep a pet in their rented property. This is not an absolute right to keep a pet — it is a right to make a request, and a requirement for the landlord to respond.
The 42-day rule
When a tenant makes a written pet request, the landlord has exactly 42 days to respond. The response must be either:
What happens if you do not respond?
This is the critical point. If the landlord does not respond within 42 days, **the tenant's request is treated as having been consented to**. Silence equals yes.
This means that if a pet request sits in your inbox for 43 days without a response, the tenant is legally permitted to keep the pet. No further permission is needed.
What counts as a reasonable refusal?
The Act does not define "reasonable" exhaustively, but guidance suggests the following may be reasonable:
The following are unlikely to be reasonable:
Pet damage insurance
Landlords can require tenants to take out pet damage insurance as a condition of consent. This is a reasonable condition. The tenant pays for the insurance, not the landlord.
If the tenant refuses to take out insurance when reasonably required, the landlord may be able to refuse the pet request on that basis.
Managing pet requests with RightHold
RightHold's Pet Request Management feature tracks the 42-day response window from the moment a request is logged. You receive reminders at 35 days, 7 days and 2 days before the deadline. Template responses are available for consent, conditional consent and refusal — each drafted to comply with the Act's requirements.
Never accidentally consent to a pet request by missing a deadline. Let RightHold track it for you.