The Renters Rights Act 2025 gives tenants of private landlords the right to request to have a pet in their home.  Requests cannot be unreasonably refused and tenants can challenge unfair decisions.  Although the Government did not see it as necessary to impose the same duty on council landlords, it did commit to write to councils and other social landlords to reaffirm the importance of ensuring that tenant requests to keep pets are considered fairly, and, where appropriate, tenants are allowed to keep pets.  Baroness Taylor, the MHCLG Minister responsible, has now written to all social landlords on this point.  Her letter is here: Letter to Social Housing Landlords Feb 2026