Rental pressures have encouraged some Aussies to live without pets.
A surge in tenants surrendering their right to keep pets is sparking alarm as renters, under pressure from a brutally competitive housing market, increasingly see pet ownership as a liability they can’t afford.
As vacancy rates plunge and recent tenancy reforms in NW shake investor confidence, a disturbing trend has emerged: renters offering to forgo pets altogether just to improve their chances of securing a lease.
Industry leaders are warning that so-called “pet bidding” — tenants voluntarily giving up their legal right to keep animals — is accelerating a silent but devastating decline in pet ownership among renters, especially in NSW.
“With extremely tight rental vacancies at the moment, tenants continue to offer to pay over-and-above the advertised rent, and the so-called ban on rent bidding has had no impact,” said Tim McKibbin, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of NSW.
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Pet bidding is where tenants give up their rights to have pets in the hope it will make their tenancy application more competitive.
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“Now, we’re seeing tenants offer to give up their right to have pets — even though the law entitles them to up to four.”
The law, introduced as part of a raft of reforms to improve tenant protections, was meant to mirror changes made in Victoria.
Under the legislation, landlords must accept up to four pets per tenancy unless they obtain formal approval to refuse.
But as demand continues to outstrip supply, tenants are pre-emptively waiving these rights, hoping that the promise of a pet-free tenancy will sway landlords in their favour, Mr McKibbin reported.
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REINSW CEO Tim McKibbin.
According to REINSW, while lease agreements cannot legally strip away pet rights, tenants are now submitting written statements with their applications saying, “I will not apply to have pets, as is my right”.
“This would presumably occur in two ways,” Mr McKibbin said. “By foregoing the right to have four pets, and reducing that to three or less. Or by foregoing their right to have a pet entirely.”
There are now growing concerns that housing insecurity is making it nearly impossible for would-be pet owners to adopt, while existing pet owners are increasingly being forced to choose between housing and their animals.
Critics say the problem is worsened by landlord regulations that, while well-intentioned, have pushed investors out of the market.
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Long lines at rental inspection are still common in some areas: pressuring tenants to resort to extremes to secure rentals. Picture: Sam Ruttyn
This has reduced the supply of rentals, pressuring many tenants to extreme measures like giving up pets to compete for the scant supply of available homes.
Mr McKibbin pointed to Victoria as an example of how increased regulations were driving out landlords.
The state has had a raft of “anti-landlord” laws in place since 2020 that, while intended to support tenants, have made it more difficult for investors to keep their properties, Mr McKibbin said.
Victorian government data showed that the top reason for no-fault evictions across the state in 2023–24 was property sales — in 53 per cent of cases — as landlords exited a more regulated market.
“We are already seeing tenants going to extra lengths as they are faced with fewer options. Who knows what other new and desperate measures tenants will be forced to take?”
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