• (1) In the 1988 Act, after section 16 insert—

    • “16A Requesting consent to keep a pet
      • (1) It is an implied term of every assured tenancy to which this section applies that—
        • (a) a tenant may keep a pet at the dwelling-house if the tenant asks to do so in accordance with this section and the landlord consents;
        • (b) such consent is not to be unreasonably refused by the landlord;
        • (c) the landlord is to give or refuse consent in writing on or before the 28th day after the date of the request, except as provided by subsections (2) to (5).
      • (2) Where the landlord reasonably requests further information from the tenant about the pet on or before the 28th day after the date of the
        tenant’s request—

        • (a) if the tenant provides that information, the landlord may delay giving or refusing consent until the 7th day after the date on which the tenant provides any further information that the landlord requests;
        • (b) if the tenant does not provide that information, the landlord is not required to give or refuse consent.
      • (3) Where—
        • (a) the keeping of the pet at the dwelling-house would require the landlord to obtain the consent of a superior landlord under
          the terms of a superior tenancy, and
        • (b) the landlord seeks the consent of the superior landlord on or before the 28th day after the date of the tenant’s request, the landlord may delay giving or refusing consent until the 7th day after the date on which the landlord receives consent or refusal from the superior landlord.
      • (4) Where the landlord and the tenant agree that the landlord may delay giving or refusing consent, the landlord may delay until whatever date is agreed between the landlord and the tenant.
      • (5) Where more than one of subsections (2) to (4) apply, the landlord may delay until the latest date to which the landlord may delay giving or refusing consent under any of the subsections.
      • (6) This section applies to every assured tenancy other than a tenancy of social housing, within the meaning of Part 2 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008.
    • 16B Requests for consent to keep a pet: further provision
      • (1) For the purposes of section 16A, a tenant keeps a pet at a dwelling-house if the tenant permits the pet to live at the dwelling-house (whether or not the tenant is the owner of the pet).
      • (2) Section 16A does not limit the terms that may be agreed in relation to the presence at the dwelling-house of pets which do not live there.
      • (3) The tenant’s request under section 16A must—
        • (a) be in writing;
        • (b) include a description of the pet for which consent is sought.
      • (4) The circumstances in which it is reasonable for a landlord to refuse consent include those in which—
        • (a) the pet being kept at the dwelling-house would cause the landlord to be in breach of an agreement with a superior landlord;
        • (b) an agreement between the landlord and a superior landlord prohibits the keeping of a pet at the dwelling-house without consent of the superior landlord, and the landlord has taken reasonable steps to obtain that consent but the superior landlord has not given it.
      • (5) In proceedings in which a tenant alleges that the landlord has breached the implied term created by section 16A, the court may order specific performance of the obligation.
    • 16C Indemnity and insurance for pets
      • (1) It is an implied term of every assured tenancy to which section 16A applies that if, at the time of consenting to the tenant keeping a pet, the landlord informs the tenant in writing that one of the following is a condition of the consent—
        • (a) that, in respect of the time the pet is at the dwelling-house, the tenant has insurance that covers the risk of pet damage to a level that is reasonable having regard to the pet and the dwelling-house in question, or
        • (b) that the tenant pay the landlord’s reasonable costs of having insurance that covers the risk of pet damage in respect of the time the pet is at the dwelling-house to a level that is reasonable having regard to the pet and the dwelling-house in question, then the tenant must comply with that condition.
      • (2) The reasonable costs referred to in subsection (1)(b)—

        • (a) may be the amount of—

          • (i) the premium for an insurance policy that covers only pet damage, or
          • (ii) an additional premium attributable to the pet damage element of an insurance policy that covers other risks as well;
        • (b) if the premium under the insurance policy relates to a fixed period and it was reasonable for the landlord to choose that policy, may include any such premium payable by the landlord in respect of a time when the pet has not yet arrived at the dwelling-house or is no longer at the dwelling-house;
        • (c) may include any such premium payable by the landlord in respect of a time when the pet is no longer at the dwelling-house, if the tenant had not informed the landlord that the pet is no longer at the dwelling-house;
        • (d) may include any excess payable by the landlord under the insurance policy.”
  • (2) In section 45(1) of the 1988 Act, in the appropriate place insert—
    • ““pet” means an animal kept by a person mainly for—

      • (a) personal interest,
      • (b) companionship,
      • (c) ornamental purposes, or
      • (d) any combination of paragraphs (a) to (c);
    • “pet damage”, in relation to an assured tenancy of a dwelling-house, means any damage that the tenant’s pet causes to—
      • (a) the dwelling-house or any of the common parts, where “common parts” has the same meaning as in Ground 13 in Part 2 of Schedule 2, or
      • (b) any of the landlord’s property that is in those places;”