To think that the renters reform bill is going to kill people with allergies?

[Petallergysufferer]

Just that really. I know many people will see this as a good thing. I know too that the severity of allergy to pets which means they can kill you is rare. But it does happen. I am that severely allergic. So if landlords can't give a blanket ban then there are no pet-free properties for me to move into.

For those who don't know - antihistamines make no difference and the only way to get all allergens out of the place is to remove all soft furnishings including carpets and underlay. Deep cleaning things does not work. So unless the landlords change all carpets, curtains, sofas etc. in between tenants, then it still has enough allergens to trigger a life-threatening reaction. For me that reaction is asthma and I already see a hospital specialist so there is no further treatment that can be offered. Avoiding allergens is the key advice. I'm really worried that the full implications have not been thought through.

Yeah it’s weird how people don’t tend to give much of a shit when it’s not their own property... It’s hardly an extreme thing - that’s why it’s not a good idea to have a high maintenance garden in a rental property because it’s unlikely that the tenant will be out there come rain and shine making it look nice. If you really care, employ a gardener and add it to the rent 🤷‍♀️
Your gardening woes are not a good example of how terrible tenants are, nor what a generous landlord you are. If it pisses you off, get an agent to manage it. Clearly you’re too tight to do so so then you have to expect that not everything goes smoothly.

It’s a very standard clause that if you rent a property with a lawn you will take care of it. I agree that the LL should provide a mower but they shouldn’t need to get a gardener in, if a tenant wants the garden they also need to be prepared to mow the lawn on occasion

As a landlord, I would definitely choose non pet owners.

rental properties round here are very hard to get by. So the demand is there so i would opt for the no pet people.

my house.

Good- we need professional landlords. We need the amateurs to leave the market and allow families to buy their properties

I'm a professional LL, as it happens - but that's irrelevant. If LL sell up, there's no guarantee at all that they will sell to other professional landlords. They may well sell to unscrupulous amateurs who tick the various boxes but find ways round the law. Section 8 will become the new Section 21. So if the OP were a LL, she could quite reasonably argue under Section 8 that any tenant introducing a pet into the house could be evicted on the grounds that it would make her severely ill if she needed to visit the property for any reason. This is obviously a hyperbolised example, but this sort of thing will be exploited all the same.

LL could sell to investors who want to use the property as a Furnished Holiday Let - thereby taking it out of circulation for 'normal' people. They could choose to do this themself. They could start to let to students instead of families, in the pretty certain knowledge that students will stay for a maximum of two years - and if they get jobs and can carry on paying the rent after that, a LL will be delighted.

The more LL sell up, the more the supply of rental accommodation will reduce. So the prices will go up, and it will become more difficult to find/afford what's available. The supply of accommodation available to be rented by individuals/families (as opposed to holiday lets) went down 50% between 2019 and 2022.

It's also worth bearing in mind that 88% of tenancies end because the tenants want to move on, not because the LL kicks them out. Most evictions are the result of antisocial behaviour on the part of tenants (or, equally, because the LL wants to sell up). People like to act as if LL were the Devil and all tenants are whiter than white; neither of these things is true. There are good and bad LL and good and bad tenants. So, as is so often the case, we're talking about a marginal number of people. The overwhelming majority of tenants will remain completely unaffected by changes to the law, other than having to pay higher rents as there being a reduced supply of rental property availabler.

As for the idea that families would be able to buy the properties that LL sell: if they could afford to buy property, and were able to obtain a mortgage, don't you think they would have done that already? Nothing is stopping them. There are plenty of houses available already.

As for the idea that families would be able to buy the properties that LL sell: if they could afford to buy property, and were able to obtain a mortgage, don't you think they would have done that already? Nothing is stopping them. There are plenty of houses available already

There are no houses available though. My ds is trying to buy his first home. Very very few are coming up. He’s been beaten 5 times by cash buyers, aka landlords or investors. I wish they’d all leave the market then Generstion are t could become Generation Buy.

Generation Rent

You could well rent a home today that was ‘pet free’ as far as the landlord knows but the tenant lied about it and had a pet there anyway. To those saying it will still be possible for landlords to choose non-pet owners - nobody will disclose it if it disadvantages them even if it’s not an official clause. And they shouldn’t have to. Sorry you have an allergy but everything in the world can’t pander to you.

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow That is rubbish for your son. It may well be that investors are the problem. However, it's also the case that there is generally a massive shortage of properties coming on the market, and each property has 20+ people viewing it, most of whom are cash buyers - partly as a result of having sold up pre-lockdown and then sat tight in rented until things returned to normal. So a lot of the cash buyers are couples/families. Not that this helps your son at all (one of my DC is in a similar position) - and I hope he finds something soon.

The houses are all first time buyer houses though. Small little terraced ones.

It’s a very standard clause that if you rent a property with a lawn you will take care of it. I agree that the LL should provide a mower but they shouldn’t need to get a gardener in, if a tenant wants the garden they also need to be prepared to mow the lawn on occasion

yeah but it depends on what the LL’s standards are. Mowing the lawn is fine but my mum’s garden for instance needs about a full day of work a week to keep nice. If she rented her house out, it would not be reasonable to expect the tenant to do all that work. I think it’s okay to expect lawn mowing (if lawn mower is supplied) but in reality, it’s extremely common for tenants to neglect the garden. Most landlords would choose a low maintenance one for a long term rental but if it’s something that’s really important to the LL, having a gardener can reduce that stress.

Plenty of people who own houses mow their lawn sometimes and not much else. That is reasonable.

@Petallergysufferer
I am chronic brittle asthmatic. Just putting that out there before i ask...

Are you anaphylaxis sufferer?

How many occasions have you been intubated? In ITU as a result of dog allergies?

Given how easy it is to transfer dander etc, how do you ever manage to travel in public transport, mix 2ith others in public locations etc?

I have severe allergies. Can only use limited chemicals etc. And in workplaces have had to have my areas cleaned with specialist cleaners as a result which limited my ability to work in other areas. But I could walk through etc.

And it is incredibly rare for passing contact with such an allergen to have that level of asthmatic response if on daily antihistamines, montelkukast, and other protocols as a basic starting point.

I've been hospitalised (inpatient and countless times outpatient) but never intubated. Montelukast did not help sadly. I'm on lamas. I'm not sureblbwhatvyour question means though as living in animal contaminated house or spending couple of hours in a friends house is not fleeting. What I have reactions to actual fleeting contact (e.g. being next to someone whose clothing is heavily contaminated)
I can get it under control by coming home qnd washing all dander off (shower, change clothes) and often get things back under control. My asthma is also brittle. I don't think I've ever said I can't walk through an area?

Anaphylaxis to nuts (not airborne, have yo ingest) but animal reaction is clearly asthma.

I take symbicort and antihistamines too and carry a rescue pack of steroids. As a child we had a nebuliser at home. I think for severe allergic brittle asthma, my response is not unusual.

Would you use the term pander to talk about other adjustments for disabled people?

But they usually have carpet so not really.

So would you not be able to go to a friends house if they had pets previously? Or a shop / office that allowed pets or somebody had a support dog

Fucks sake you really have no idea.

Thr answer is a definite no to all of these. I’d be struggling to breathe within 5 minutes. I used to work in a school that had VI pupils. There was always talk of them having guide dogs. I used to be really worried about this. And just like on here nobody took it seriously.

It's amazing how little people know about allergies isn't it? So many people here think they're coming up with gotchas and they really don't want to hear what it's really like. Perhaps it's just too inconvenient to them.

It's amazing how little people know about allergies isn't it? So many people here think they're coming up with gotchas and they really don't want to hear what it's really like. Perhaps it's just too inconvenient to them.

*Yeah it’s weird how people don’t tend to give much of a shit when it’s not their own property... It’s hardly an extreme thing - that’s why it’s not a good idea to have a high maintenance garden in a rental property because it’s unlikely that the tenant will be out there come rain and shine making it look nice. If you really care, employ a gardener and add it to the rent 🤷‍♀️

Your gardening woes are not a good example of how terrible tenants are, nor what a generous landlord you are. If it pisses you off, get an agent to manage it. Clearly you’re too tight to do so so then you have to expect that not everything goes smoothly*

ODFOD - it’s a 20 foot square garden with an outdoor plug and no beds. I took all the shrubs and turfed them. God forbid I cause inconvenience to a 30 year old able bodied tenant who agreed to mow the garden by signing a contract to that effect, but was too much of a slovenly cunt to bother.

And fwiw I didn’t supply a vacuum cleaner either but I did expect aforementioned slovenly cunt to clean the carpet occasionally.

We’ve a retired couple in there now and they taken really good care of the garden and want to end their days there. They pay below market rent - because I want them to stay. We are LL’s because I want a livelihood to hand over to my disabled DS who in all likelihood won’t be able to hold down a job. But apart from that, I’m just too tight to
pay a gardener and expecting too much of someone who chose to rent a house with a small garden…

I am very severely allergic to dander, not that I would die but it would make my life a real misery. I did live in a flat once where the previous owners had had kittens. I was so ill the whole time i lived there and moved out as soon as I could.

Interesting idea but I don't think there is enough social housing for that to work as it's not just me who will be impacted if there become no pet free rentals. It's really unpleasant to say I expect the world to revolve around me and I don't know why people feel entitled to sling such mud when a person is asking for reasonable adjustments for a disability. What is needed IMO is some rental housing which is and which remain animal free. It is not a human right to be able to take your animals into every single rental property and to think that keeping some animal free is an infringement of your rights and more important than someone's ability to breath is massively narcissistic.

I genuinly think it would be better if there was a ban on carpeted rentals (and ideally with a lot of rules in place about how well insulated the flat/house is etc]. It would make such a big difference to asthma/allergy problems which are so numerous here.

That, I think, is an interesting idea. The flats near me are victorian house conversations often with leasehold clauses of no hard floors due to poor quality sound insulation but it would be good to explore whether that could work. People can then use rugs and take them, dander and all, away when they leave. Then to move in, an allergy sufferer 'just' needs wiping down of all surfaces including walls and multiple moppings of the floor. I guess there should be some fund to pay for that as clearly allergy sufferers can't do it themselves and the cost would actually be pretty high as for a, say 1 bedroom flat, it's going to be most of a day's work. May be some mileage in this idea though.

That's kind of the point though isn't it? I have chosen a job which fits with my allergies, I can't visit friends who have animals, I can't stay in holiday accommodation which allows animals, I move away in cafes if people bring their dogs near to where I am. I obviously can't have animals myself despite really really wishing I could and despite thinking that this would be good for my wellbeing. This is just life with a serious allergy. However, I don't know how I can take personal responsibility for finding a home which is dander free when now landlords can't say 'no animals' any more. How do you suggest I take responsibility here? Don't suggest the hard floor thing as that is not the current housing stock. Don't suggest social housing because there is none and this would not at the current time get me onto a priority list. Don't say buy because - well, really if I have to tell you, there's really no helping you. Don't say deep clean because that will just show you've not RTFT. Don't say take meds because I already take loads and my hospital consultant tells me to avoid allergens as the best treatment on top of what I already take to cope with the minimal exposure of which there is no avoiding. Basically I'm really happy to take personal responsibility but how? How can I avoid triggers if rentals are increasingly full of them? Why can't there be some middle line which tries to make things work as best they can for everyone rather than pushing allergy sufferers under a bus?

Fab, shall I send you the bill for re-flooring?