Pets and rentals
Pets in rentals: what a landlord can (and can’t) restrict
A tenant asks to bring a dog. Whether the lease can say no depends on three things, in this order: whether the animal is a pet at all, where the property is, and what the lease actually says. The chart shows the path; the rest of the page covers each country Dardaris has researched, and the clause that makes a yes safe to give.
Rules differ by jurisdiction. See below for what is actually researched.
Question 1: Is it an assistance or service animal?
Treat it apart from your pets policy
In the United States, the Fair Housing Act can require an exception to a no-pets policy. Elsewhere, check what applies locally.
Question 2: Does local law let a lease refuse pets outright?
A flat no is usually void
As in France, or in Brussels for newer leases. Narrower limits, such as on dangerous dogs or the number of animals, can still hold.
Question 3: Then the policy is yours to set, in writing
- YesName the animal in the lease.
- Yes, with conditionsA deposit, a size, a number.
- NoOnly where local law lets it hold.
By country
Same question, different answer depending on where the property is
A no-pets clause that is void in one country is ordinary and enforceable in another. Pick the country the property actually sits in.
France
Room to refuse Little
A blanket ban is usually void
For a companion animal kept in a home, outside furnished holiday lets. A first-category dog can still be refused.
Belgium, Brussels-Capital
Room to refuse Little
A flat ban no longer holds
For leases signed or renewed since 1 November 2024. Reasonable conditions can still be set.
Belgium, Flanders
Room to refuse It depends
Decided lease by lease
The decree is silent on pets, so the lease and the courts decide.
Belgium, Wallonia
Room to refuse It depends
Decided lease by lease
The decree is silent on pets, and judges often set a blanket ban aside.
Netherlands
Room to refuse It depends
A ban can be written, and challenged
Dutch courts have found some blanket bans unreasonable.
United Kingdom, England
Room to refuse Little
A request cannot be unreasonably refused
Since 1 May 2026, for private assured tenancies.
Germany
Room to refuse It depends
A blanket ban in a standard lease fails
Dogs and cats are weighed case by case.
Spain
Room to refuse A lot
The lease can say no
The tenancy law is silent on pets, so a clear clause generally decides.
United States
Room to refuse A lot
A ban is generally allowed, with one exception
Pet deposits and pet rent follow the lease and state law. Assistance animals are the exception.
Elsewhere
Room to refuse Not researched
Check local law
Pet policy is one of the most locally variable lease terms there is.
A simplification of the panel below. The panel, the lease and local law are what decide.
Elsewhere
General guidance- Pet policy is one of the most locally variable lease terms there is.
- Whether a no-pets clause holds, and what a landlord may charge for a pet, both depend entirely on local law.
Check your lease and your local tenancy law before writing or relying on a pets policy.
Pet or assistance animal
Not every animal is a pet in the eyes of the law
An assistance or service animal is often handled apart from a pets policy. Mixing the two up is an easy way for a no-pets clause to go wrong.
A pet
- Falls under the lease’s pets policy
- A deposit, pet rent or a limit on size and number can apply, where local law allows
- A no-pets clause may hold, depending on the country
An assistance or service animal
- Often treated apart from the pets policy
- In the United States, the Fair Housing Act can require an exception to a no-pets policy for one
- Elsewhere, check whether a similar exception applies before refusing
This page does not cover what a request must include or what may be asked of a tenant with an assistance animal. Check the rules where the property is.
Yes, no, or yes with conditions
What a yes can bring, and what the conditions are for
Where the choice is yours, a no narrows who can apply, and a yes with nothing written leaves the wear to chance. Conditions are how an owner says yes and keeps each risk named in the lease.
What a yes can bring
- More applicants, since tenants with a pet can apply at all
- Tenants who may stay longer once their animal has a home
- Less reason for a pet to be kept without telling you
What it can cost
The condition that answers it
What it can costExtra wear on floors, doors and gardens
The condition that answers itA pet deposit or pet rent, where local law allows one
What it can costMore animals, or a bigger one, than the home suits
The condition that answers itA limit on the number, size or type of animal
What it can costA building whose own rules restrict animals
The condition that answers itA clause that follows the building’s rules
The pet clause
What a pet clause says, part by part
Whatever the policy, it belongs in the lease itself. These are the parts most clauses cover, wherever the property is, even where the law behind each one differs.
9. Animals
Example wording- 9.1 The tenant may keep one cat, as named in the schedule.
- 9.2 Part of the security deposit, as set out in the schedule, answers for damage the animal causes, within any limit local law sets.
- 9.3 Damage the animal causes beyond ordinary wear is put right at the tenant’s cost.
- 9.4 The tenant holds liability insurance that covers the animal.
- 9.5 The animal is kept in line with the building’s rules.
The animal: type, size and number
Many landlords who otherwise allow pets still restrict by size, breed or number, often echoing what the building’s own insurance or co-ownership rules require rather than a personal preference.
Pet deposit or pet rent
An amount set aside for pet-related wear. Where local law caps deposits, the cap generally covers everything held as security, so the pet share sits inside it, and some places ban a separate pet charge outright.
Damage beyond ordinary wear
Say who puts right what the animal damages, so the question is settled before the move-out inspection rather than argued at it.
Insurance
Some owners ask for liability cover that includes the animal. Whether you can require it is set locally, so check before writing it in.
The building’s rules
Co-ownership or building rules can add their own restrictions. A lease that allows what the building forbids leaves you caught between the two.
Write it down
Whatever the policy, put it in the lease itself, including any deposit, restriction or condition, rather than leaving it as something agreed verbally at viewing. A written term is what actually holds up if it is later disputed.
Where Dardaris fits
The policy is yours to set. The paperwork is Dardaris’s job.
Whichever policy you settle on, it still has to be written down and tracked like any other lease term.
A lease in Dardaris
Kortrijksesteenweg 88, 2A
L. Peeters
- Rent€1.150Page 2
- Security deposit€1.150Received
- Of which, for the animal€290Page 4Inside the deposit
- AnimalsOne cat, clause 9Page 4
- Local rulesChecked against where the property is
The pet clause, read and filed
Upload the lease and Dardaris reads it page by page, filing any pet deposit, restriction or condition alongside the rest of the terms.
Rent and deposits, reconciled automatically
Every payment matched against your bank feed, including a separate pet deposit if the lease sets one.
What your jurisdiction actually says
Dardaris surfaces what the property’s own jurisdiction pack says about pets and deposits, rather than a generic answer that ignores where the building actually is.
Questions owners ask
Pets in rentals
Can a landlord ban pets?
It depends entirely on where the property is. In some places a blanket no-pets clause is simply void; in others a landlord can set one freely. Check the jurisdiction panel above for the property’s own country, and read the lease itself for what it actually says.
Can a landlord charge a pet deposit?
Where one is allowed, it generally has to fit inside the cap local law sets on deposits, rather than come on top of it, and some places ban a separate pet charge outright. Check the panel above for the property’s own place.
Can a landlord charge pet rent?
It depends on where the property is. Some places cap or ban extra charges beyond the rent and the deposit, while others leave it to the lease, so check the rules for the property’s own place before you write one in.
Can a landlord restrict the breed, size or number of pets?
Many landlords who allow pets still restrict by size, breed or number, often because the building’s insurance or co-ownership rules require it. In France, a dangerous-dog category can still be restricted even where a blanket ban is void. Write any restriction into the lease.
What should a pet clause include?
Usually the animal itself (type and number), any pet deposit or pet rent, who pays for damage beyond ordinary wear, any insurance asked for, and a reference to the building’s rules. Each part has to fit local law, so adapt the wording to where the property is.
What about assistance animals?
Assistance and service animals are frequently carved out from an ordinary pets policy and protected separately. In the United States, the Fair Housing Act can require a landlord to make an exception to a no-pets clause for one. Elsewhere, check whether a similar exception applies locally before assuming a blanket policy covers this case.
Is a verbal agreement about a pet enough?
It is risky. A term agreed at a viewing and never written down is hard to rely on if it is later disputed. Put the policy, and any deposit, restriction or condition, in the lease itself.
Whatever the pet policy, Dardaris still tracks the lease
Hand over the lease, and see the dates, the rent, the deposits and the filing it opens on.
14 days before the first charge · Nothing is switched on until you say so