How to deal with pets

In Canada, the USA, Greece and France, elderly people living in sheltered accommodation have a legal right to keep a furry friend. And here in the UK, pet clauses are increasingly a feature of housing association tenancy agreements. But animals mean noise, fouling of footpaths and conflict as well as companionship.

In guidance published last month, the RSPCA recommended that tenants be allowed to keep pets only if strict and specific rules are included in their tenancy agreement. Clauses should clarify that owners are responsible for their pets and must ensure they don't cause inconvenience to neighbours. If pets are allowed, the agreement should also detail what species are acceptable and how many.

Local authority animal welfare officers, environmental health staff or vets can help to get the details right.

The RSPCA advises referring overly noisy animals to a behaviour specialist. It also says the breeding of animals should be prohibited in social housing.

Braintree council decided to update its pet policy after the local cat population rose. "We asked people what they disliked about their area and they highlighted rubbish bags ripped open by cats and strewn across the road," says Maureen Lodge, area housing manager.

To control tomcats, Braintree launched a pilot neutering scheme with the RSPCA.

The council's tenant participation unit subsidised the cost of neutering, which was offered to owners on low incomes.

"With a clinic providing low-cost neutering, owners were hard pushed to find an excuse not to get their cats neutered," says Hodge. "The pilot was fully subscribed and we also visited two other estates with high numbers of cats."

Cat numbers have since fallen, she says, although Braintree continues to host two RSPCA neutering clinics every year.

The London Borough of Wandsworth used to restrict pet ownership but its system didn't really work. Roy Evans, deputy director of housing, explains: "Few people would come and ask to be allowed to keep an animal. If they did, they were often refused. The agreement was confusing and some people ended up being taken to court for contravening it."

So residents and the council got together to produce clear regulations. Now they set out prohibitions on keeping dangerous animals, letting animals foul communal areas and feeding pigeons.

Meanwhile, existing by-laws decree that dogs must be kept on leads in public areas, not enter dog-free zones and may not be brought onto estates by non-tenants. Dog control officers enforce these rules.

But the RSPCA's David Bowles says there are still too many places where tenants are confused about the rules and break them as a result. It's a shame, he says, because "animal ownership, where rules are clearly defined, is good for the community".