Becoming a pet friendly social landlord: what you need to know

Work for a social landlord? Find out about our pet friendly housing accreditation scheme.

We want social landlords to feel confident and supported in welcoming pet owners. Welcoming pets shows that you’re an inclusive landlord who understands the many benefits of pet ownership.

We’ve developed our pet friendly housing accreditation scheme for social landlords, to stop pet owners facing unnecessary barriers to accessing a home. Using our Pet Friendly Housing Toolkit, we can work with you so you have everything you need to promote responsible pet ownership, support staff and tenants, and become accredited as a pet friendly landlord.

Since 2023, we've helped social landlords across the UK welcome pet owners with confidence.

Benefits of accreditation

Develop pet policies that work for your organisation with our tailored expert advice.
Give your staff the confidence to effectively manage pet related matters.
Encourage responsible pet ownership and improve tenant experience.
Receive ongoing support to help you manage pet friendly housing successfully.
Demonstrate your commitment to creating an inclusive environment, recognising the importance of the human-animal bond.
Access these benefits at no cost to your organisation.

Interested in accreditation?

Email us if you’re interested in your organisation becoming accredited. We’d be delighted to hear from you, whatever your current approach to pets.

Email our pet friendly housing team

Hear from Kingdom Housing Association

Kingdom Housing Association were accredited as pet friendly in 2025:

"Dogs Trust supported us through the entire accreditation process, which made it smooth and straightforward. Between us, we agreed manageable timescales for providing the information they needed, and we found it really helpful when they recommended areas for improvement and suggested changes we could make.

An example of the accreditation in action - our Neighbourhood Officer was receiving lots of complaints about a dog barking. He hadn’t managed to resolve it, but after the Dogs Trust training, he directed the owner to the Behaviour Support Line. The customer contacted the service and got loads of advice on how to deal with the barking. It worked! The dog is more content and there have been no more complaints. We've made sure to share this story with our wider teams to encourage staff to recommend the Dogs Trust’s Behaviour Support Line to all our customers."

Dogs Trust supported us through the entire accreditation process, which made it smooth and straightforward.

Kingdom Housing Association, Accredited as pet friendly in 2025

For more info or to start the accreditation process, drop us an email.

How long does the accreditation process take?

The estimated time for accreditation is eight weeks, but we can be flexible with timescales to suit your organisational needs and priorities.

What is expected of my organisation to become accredited?

We’ll work with you to take the steps in the toolkit, with a nominated lead from your organisation. This should take a maximum of one hour of their time per week.

My organisation is already pet friendly, can we be accredited?

Yes, we’d be delighted to recognise your good practice through accreditation.

Can tenants of a pet friendly accredited landlord keep as many pets as they like?

We encourage landlords to set limits on numbers of pets, and generally recommend two pets per household, with discretion.

Can permission to keep a pet be revoked by a pet friendly social landlord?

Yes, if no other solution can be found. A pet friendly approach includes having a clear pet policy in place, allowing expectations to be set. A pet friendly environment encompasses responsible practice and promotes responsible pet ownership, rather than entitling all tenants to keep a pet regardless of circumstance.

Will accreditation help manage pet related complaints?

Yes, we’ll assist you to put a robust complaints procedure in place, ensure pet owners are aware of their responsibilities and where they can get support if needed.

Can I give permission for an XL Bully type dog?

Yes, it’s not illegal to own an exempted banned breed (like an XL Bully type dog), if the owner meets the requirements of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. The requirements ca be found on the UK Government's website.

Read our XL Bully resource to find out more.