Off the leash: Changes to the laws around pet ownership in Scottish rental property give more freedom to tenants

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 recently received Royal Assent. It will make several significant changes to tenancy law in Scotland, among them new rules allowing tenants to make certain changes to let property (see our other article on this issue for more on this) and regarding pet ownership in rented properties. Those provisions are not yet in force, and will require consultation and then secondary legislation before they come into full effect.

While the full and final details are not yet clear, we do know that the ‘balance of power’ between landlord and tenant will change subtly but significantly.

In the following article, when we talk about ‘pets’ we mean the word as it is generally understood. Not, for example, guide dogs or – for very different but equally valid reasons – wild and dangerous animals.

The current position

Under the law at present in Scotland, the parties to a private residential tenancy agreement generally have contractual freedom on pet ownership in rented properties. Some landlords have leases in place which include a blanket prohibition on pets; others state that a decision is within their sole discretion; others may make no provision at all.

The Model Private Residential Tenancy Agreement, supplied by the Scottish Government, is a starting point for such agreements, parts of which can be removed or changed. One of its clauses states:

“The Tenant will not keep any animals or pets in the Let Property without the prior written consent of the Landlord. Any pet (where permitted) will be kept under supervision and control to ensure that it does not cause deterioration in the condition of the Let Property or common areas, nuisance either to neighbours or in the locality of the Let Property.”

As you can see, there is no requirement that refusal must be reasonable or that the landlord must impose only reasonable conditions. Scottish Government statistics suggest that most landlords have adopted this clause.

What is changing?

The new Act will make significant changes to the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016. When the rules come into force, the tenant will have a right to seek permission to keep a pet – and this cannot be unreasonably refused by the landlord, or unreasonable conditions imposed.

Although we do not yet know what the consultation process will bring up, or what the secondary legislation will contain, this is a fundamental shift in the landlord-tenant relationship, because the landlord will no longer have complete discretion to prohibit pets in the property.

If a tenant feels that their landlord’s refusal was indeed unreasonable, or that unreasonable conditions have been attached to consent, they will have a right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal. The new act sets out the appeals process at high level, although the finer detail will again require further secondary legislation following a consultation process. It is also likely that further detailed procedural rules will be made by the First-tier Tribunal in due course.

Reasonable refusal or conditions

So what, exactly, is an unreasonable refusal, or an unreasonable condition attached to consent? The new Act leaves this to Scottish Ministers, by providing for them to make regulations specifying circumstances in which it would be reasonable or unreasonable for a landlord to refuse consent, as well as factors that would tend to show that refusal is or is not reasonable.

Similarly, there is also provision for Scottish Ministers to make regulations specifying conditions or type of condition which would or would not be reasonable, as well as factors that tend to show that a condition is or is not reasonable.

When these are eventually defined, they are unlikely to be exhaustive lists, but nevertheless will probably provide helpful guidance to landlords and tenants alike.

What if the tenant breaches the conditions?

Landlords will understandably be concerned about possible pet-related damage, noise or other nuisance, as well as hygiene standards within rented property.

The new Act states:

“Where a landlord has consented to the keeping of a pet by the tenant at the let property, the tenant may keep the pet at the let property until the end of the tenancy subject to any reasonable conditions imposed by the landlord in connection with the consent to keep the pet.”

A breach of a consent condition is likely to also constitute a breach of the tenancy agreement. However, the rules at present are silent on what steps a landlord will have to follow in this situation. It is likely that further rules will be provided for in secondary legislation.

What might happen next?

A mandatory consultation process will take place before any regulations come into force, and Scottish Ministers are obliged to consult persons who appear to them to represent the interests of both tenants and landlords as part of this. The process is likely to take some time.

However, in England and Wales similar rules are set to come into force on 1 May 2026, under the Renters Rights Act 2025. It is likely that the Scottish Government will be under pressure to ensure that tenants in Scotland have similar rights to tenants south of the border without significant delay.

What should landlords do now?

The new rules are not yet in force, and the consultation process is likely to take a considerable amount of time. Even so, landlords should nevertheless keep a close watch on the situation, to ensure that they comply with the changes when they do come into effect.

Landlords who do not already have a process in place to deal with tenant requests to keep pets may wish to start considering what one could look like.

We can help

We frequently advise clients on all form of tenancy-related disputes and have considerable experience in resolving disputes via correspondence, the First-tier Tribunal, or alternative methods of dispute resolution such as mediation.

For enquiries in relation to tenancy disputes, or indeed other residential property disputes, please contact Gina Johnston, a Senior Associate in our Dispute Resolution team.

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