John and Michelle have just come back from a week away in Brixham. As they were telling me about their trip, something struck me – and that was how they had to pay considerably more to find a pet-friendly property when compared to properties that stated no pets. Pet-friendly holiday lets are in short supply.
It made me think about rental properties in Lancaster and Morecambe. Enquiries for pet-friendly properties have really shot up, not just in Lancaster and Morecambe but around the UK. We’ve even had tenants offering to pay more than the asking price if they can have their furry friend with them. Our research team decided to look into this further. Here is what they found….
- While tenant demand has risen 13% over the past year, demand for pet-friendly rental properties has more than doubled, enquiries to letting agents for pet-friendly rentals up 120% (Rightmove).
- Over half of UK adults are now thought to own a pet, the majority dog (26%) or cat (24%) owners (PDSA).
- Research has found 31% of renters are prepared to pay a premium (£40 per month outside of London, £50 in London) for a pet-friendly property (Dataloft, Property Academy, 2020).
If you could get an extra £480 per year for your property by renting to a tenant with a well-behaved pet, would you consider it? It would more than cover the cost of any carpet cleaning, plus tenants with pets tend to stop longer!
If you are thinking of letting your property and would like to chat about ways you can maximise your rental income, please call us on 01524 843322
Thanks for reading
Josh