Andrew Nicholl

So that's my hard and fast rule.

But after the law changed, the default has flipped.

The starting answer is now yes.

And if the landlord doesn't want to have a pet there, they have to give reasonable reason as to why the answer would be no.

So just come back to this Labrador for a second, because I want to understand what really happened.

So the landlord said, and in my mind, and I'm just reading this, so I can't see the place, but it sounds like the property isn't really suitable for a big dog like this.

And that's what the landlord said.

Now, that's because, you know, it was a small upstairs flat with no outdoor access.

Labradors, they're big dogs.

But the tenancy tribunal said, well, yeah, those are fair concerns, but they can actually be mitigated.

So in this instance, the property that we're talking about that's being rented is a two-bedroom townhouse with a small garden, like 20 square metres.

Now, the pet being requested is a large breed dog.

Now, the landlord wants to say no because in their mind, the dog is too big for the property and they're worried about noise and damage and disruption to the neighbours.

Now, it's going to the tribunal next week and we'll possibly report back on what happens.

But judging by the one that we've just used as an example, I'm wondering whether or not this is going to be approved.

I was just about to say that.

I guarantee you might start to see a lot of landlords who sit on body corporates saying, well, why don't we actually put some restrictions in here?

Because maybe it's not them necessarily that it's affecting, but they might have dogs barking next door and they might not want to put off tenants.

But that will probably be something we see more of.

I wonder what happens if that's done retrospectively, right?