Two months after the Renters' Rights Act, 7 in 10 rental listings still say no to pets.

The finding: the barrier to renting with a pet is not cost. It is that the properties do not exist.

Background

On 1 May 2026, the Renters' Rights Act came into force in England. Among its provisions, tenants gained the statutory right to request to keep a pet in their rental home. Landlords can no longer impose blanket "no pets" clauses and cannot unreasonably refuse a request. The change affects approximately 11 million private renters in England.

The legislation arrives as pet ownership in the UK has reached its highest recorded level. According to the PDSA's 2025 PAW Report, 54% of UK households now own a pet, up sharply since before the pandemic. The UK dog population hit a record 11.1 million in 2025. At the same time, private renting has shifted from a transitional phase to a long-term reality for millions of households, meaning more people are looking to keep pets in rental properties for longer periods than at any point in modern history.

The collision between these trends is the context for this analysis. We examined 15,522 live rental listings across 41 UK cities to measure what pet-friendly supply actually looks like, and what happens to rent when landlords say yes.

Pet-friendly availability by city

Across our sample, 30.0% of OpenRent listings accept pets, but this varies from 14.8% in Derby to 43.3% in Luton. OpenRent is a direct landlord-to-tenant platform, which skews more pet-friendly than the agent-listed market; Inventory Base estimates just 5.9% of all English rentals are advertised as pet-friendly. Either way, the supply is thin, and about to face a demand surge.

Fewer than one in three listings accept pets in most cities

Share of OpenRent listings flagged "Pets allowed", 41 UK cities, lowest to highest.

• Lowest city (Derby)
• England
• Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland

Show the data table (41 cities)

City	Pet-friendly %	Pet-friendly	Total listings
Derby	14.8%	37	250
Plymouth	15.1%	14	93
Exeter	17.4%	12	69
Birmingham	18.5%	133	717
Swansea (Wales)	19.6%	33	168
York	20.0%	13	65
Bournemouth	20.2%	54	267
Leeds	20.4%	78	382
Dundee (Scotland)	22.7%	22	97
Leicester	23.2%	81	349
Liverpool	23.6%	106	450
Stoke-on-Trent	25.1%	65	259
Wolverhampton	25.2%	34	135
Nottingham	25.4%	107	422
Coventry	26.4%	88	333
Bristol	26.7%	123	460
Ipswich	26.9%	21	78
Edinburgh (Scotland)	27.3%	56	205
Reading	27.4%	61	223
Peterborough	27.7%	44	159
Cardiff (Wales)	27.9%	51	183
Portsmouth	28.4%	64	225
Manchester	28.6%	221	772
Northampton	28.6%	56	196
Norwich	29.5%	43	146
Blackpool	29.8%	28	94
Southampton	29.9%	69	231
Glasgow (Scotland)	30.1%	116	386
Cambridge	30.2%	79	262
Huddersfield	31.1%	33	106
Oxford	32.1%	75	234
Sheffield	32.7%	86	263
Belfast (NI)	34.0%	18	53
London	34.3%	2,030	5,923
Milton Keynes	35.0%	42	120
Newcastle upon Tyne	36.4%	87	239
Aberdeen (Scotland)	40.6%	80	197
Brighton	40.7%	92	226
Sunderland	42.7%	44	103
Middlesbrough	43.0%	61	142
Luton	43.3%	104	240

Source: Ranking Atlas analysis of 15,522 OpenRent listings, 24 June 2026.

The sticker shock: why pet-friendly looks expensive

At first glance, the data looks alarming: pet-friendly listings carry a national median rent of £1,500/mo versus £1,050 for no-pets listings. But this is a selection effect, not a pet tax.

Listings	Median rent	Listings (n)
Pet-friendly listings	£1,500	4,661
No-pets listings	£1,050	10,861

Source: Ranking Atlas analysis of 15,522 OpenRent listings, 24 June 2026.

The real premium: almost nothing

When we control for city, property type, and bedroom count, the pet premium shrinks to near zero.

Method	Premium	Detail
OLS regression controlling for city, property type, bedrooms, and all features	+£76/mo	R² = 53.7%, n = 13,298
Controlled pair matching: same city, same type, same beds	−£7/mo	228 matched groups, 3,277 pairs

Source: Ranking Atlas analysis of 13,298 OpenRent listings with complete property type and bedroom data.

Raw rent gap by city

The uncontrolled median gap by city. These figures reflect the mix of property types available with and without pets, not a like-for-like premium. English cities with a minimum of 30 listings on each side are shown.

Pet-friendly listings post higher raw medians in every city shown

Median monthly rent, pet-friendly (gold) against no-pets (navy). Gap labels at the right of each pair.

• Pet-friendly
• No pets

Source: Ranking Atlas analysis of OpenRent listings, 24 June 2026. The full table follows.

City	With pets	Without	Raw gap	n (with)	n (without)
Milton Keynes	£1,925	£1,113	+£813	42	78
Northampton	£1,525	£862	+£663	56	140
Brighton	£1,950	£1,350	+£600	92	134
London	£2,250	£1,700	+£550	2,030	3,893
Bristol	£1,800	£1,275	+£525	123	337
Oxford	£1,650	£1,200	+£450	75	159
Portsmouth	£1,200	£758	+£441	64	161
Norwich	£1,350	£930	+£420	43	103
Coventry	£992	£680	+£312	88	245
Birmingham	£1,100	£795	+£305	133	584
Leicester	£1,100	£795	+£305	81	268
Sheffield	£997	£695	+£302	86	177
Derby	£995	£695	+£300	37	213
Cambridge	£1,750	£1,450	+£300	79	183
Manchester	£1,395	£1,100	+£295	221	551
Stoke-on-Trent	£895	£600	+£295	65	194
Bournemouth	£1,225	£950	+£275	54	213
Peterborough	£1,075	£823	+£252	44	115
Reading	£1,500	£1,275	+£225	61	162
Wolverhampton	£950	£735	+£215	34	101
Nottingham	£995	£795	+£200	107	315
Luton	£1,050	£850	+£200	104	136
Leeds	£1,117	£943	+£174	78	304
Middlesbrough	£695	£542	+£153	61	81
Newcastle upon Tyne	£900	£780	+£120	87	152
Southampton	£1,050	£935	+£115	69	162
Liverpool	£900	£789	+£112	106	344
Huddersfield	£750	£646	+£104	33	73
Sunderland	£700	£600	+£100	44	59

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Source: England only. Minimum 30 listings per side. Gap is raw median difference reflecting property mix, not a controlled premium. Welsh cities (Cardiff, Swansea) are excluded. The Renters' Rights Act applies to England only; Wales has separate renting legislation.

The human cost

Behind the numbers are real people forced to choose between their home and their pet, or unable to get one at all.

The human cost in figures

• 40% of renters have been unable to get a pet due to housing restrictions YouGov / Battersea Dogs & Cats Home
• 19% of those refused by a landlord were forced to give up their pet YouGov / Battersea Dogs & Cats Home
• 1,000+ cats taken in by Cats Protection in 2024 because landlords refused them Cats Protection
• 15% of Dogs Trust handover enquiries cite accommodation issues Dogs Trust
• 45% of renters say they are likely to get a pet now the Act has passed YouGov / Battersea
• 26% of tenants would stay longer if their landlord allowed pets Cats Protection

Scotland: a natural comparison

Scotland operates under different tenancy law. Private residential tenancies have had stronger tenant protections since 2017. In Scotland, the raw pet premium barely exists.

City	Raw gap	Pet-friendly vs no-pets	n	Reading
Glasgow	−£195	£1,200 vs £1,395	116/270	Pet-friendly is cheaper
Edinburgh	+£38	£1,533 vs £1,495	56/149	Negligible gap
Aberdeen	+£12	£712 vs £700	80/117	Negligible gap

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Source: Ranking Atlas analysis of OpenRent listings, 24 June 2026.

Download the data

Full city-level dataset: availability rates, median rents, sample sizes, and raw gaps for all 41 cities.