The NSW government is weighing up changes to residential tenancy laws that would give renters greater rights to pet ownership, as animal welfare advocates say the housing crisis is forcing people to surrender animals.
Fair Trading Minister Victor Dominello plans to open consultation in late October on “how laws can better cater for tenants with pets in rental properties”.
“With pet ownership on the rise in NSW, we must ensure our residential tenancy laws remain relevant, modern and fit for purpose,” Dominello said.
He said most pet-related problems could be resolved between a tenant and landlord, but some cases were more difficult, such as people escaping domestic violence.
Katrina Hitchcock has a pet cat, Zeus, which made it more difficult to find a rental home.Credit: Peter Rae
Animal Justice Party MP Emma Hurst said she has met Dominello about the matter and wants NSW to adopt laws in line with Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory.
“With the lack of rental accommodation and rising rental prices, people are getting kicked out of their homes if they’ve got a companion animal, and it’s making it more and more difficult for them to be able to secure accommodation,” Hurst said.
“Because of the rental crisis, a lot of shelters and pounds are filling up really quickly.”
The standard form for a tenancy agreement was updated in 2020 to include an optional, negotiable term that allows a tenant to keep an animal, but a landlord retains the right to cross out the term and prohibit a pet.
Last year, Hurst championed amendments to strata legislation that prevented owners’ corporations from placing blanket bans on pets. Tenants in strata properties still need permission from landlords.
Hurst said she hoped for a strong recommendation from the consultation so she could keep the pressure on both the Coalition and the Labor Party ahead of the March state election.
Tenants Union chief executive Leo Patterson Ross backed the call for reform, given that most Australians own pets and an increasing number of people are renting for longer.
“It’s not feasible to continue to tell one section of the population that they’re not allowed to enjoy something that so many people do,” he said.
Yet, Patterson Ross said there would be no real improvement until the state ended the right of landlords to evict tenants for no reason. He claimed that landlords in Victoria were circumventing pet ownership laws by using no-grounds evictions.
The NSW Greens gave notice last week that they would introduce a stand-alone bill to end no-grounds evictions, and they have the backing of key independent Alex Greenwich. Labor took a policy to end no-grounds evictions to the last election but is now non-committal since it has yet to see the bill.
Animal Welfare League shelter manager Sam March said about one in three people surrendering dogs at his shelter near Penrith blame the rental market for their decision.
“We have seen a dramatic increase in people having to give dogs away or surrender them due to the rental crisis,” March said. “Our waiting list has gone from about three months to 18 months this year.”
Meanwhile, RSPCA NSW reports a steady decline in surrenders at its shelters since 2019. RSPCA figures suggest the number of people who blame the surrender on moving house hovers between 8 and 10 per cent.
Real Estate Institute of NSW chief executive Tim McKibbin said any proposals that removed landlords rights would inevitably make the rental crisis worse by driving investors out of the market.
“The landlord should be able to make a decision about whether or not they’re prepared to have pets on their property,” McKibbin said.
“There are also issues that arise: if you’re allowed to have a dog in your one-bedroom studio, then what’s the definition of a dog? Is it a Chihuahua or a Great Dane? We’ve heard of people keeping chickens in the house for the eggs, and even one individual who kept a horse in a flat.”
Hurst said the suitability of different animals to accommodation types should be addressed in the bill.
Katrina Hitchcock, of Ashfield, the owner of 10-month-old cat Zeus, said pet owners should not be discriminated against.
“When you have a pet, you’re not the ideal renter; they’ll probably choose someone who doesn’t have a pet over you,” she said. “It’s stressful.”
Hitchcock was denied permission to have a cat at her previous home, in Glebe, despite offering to pay an additional bond and extend her lease; she wound up concealing the cat’s existence.
In her recent house move, she was honest about the cat to prospective landlords and was knocked back three times before finding her current home.
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