How to write a Pet CV a landlord will actually read

A pet request letter asks. A Pet CV answers the questions the landlord was going to ask next, before they have to ask them. Sent together, they turn a favour into a decision that is easy to make.

The idea is borrowed from the thing letting agents already understand: a one-page summary with headings, in the order they think in. It is not a scrapbook, and it is not a character reference written by you about your own dog. It is a fact sheet.

Why one page

Agents file things. A letter goes in the file; a fact sheet goes in the file next to it; a folder of photographs does not go anywhere. Keep it to one side of A4, with headings a person can scan in twenty seconds, and it will still be in that file when the landlord rings to ask about the tenant with the dog.

The six headings

1. The basics. Name, species, breed or type, age, and size. For a dog, an honest weight; for a cat, whether they are an indoor cat; for a rabbit or a bird, where they live in the flat. Landlords picture the animal, and a wrong picture is the most common reason a reasonable request goes wrong.

2. Health and care. Neutered, microchipped, vaccinations up to date, flea and worm treatment. Say when the last vaccination was and offer to send the record. These are yes-or-no answers, and a page of yeses reads as a person who looks after an animal.

3. Training and temperament. For a dog, any formal training, and two plain sentences about how they behave indoors and when left. For a cat, litter habits and scratching. Resist adjectives. Calm, house-trained, does not bark when left tells a landlord more than the sweetest boy in the world.

4. Daily routine. Who is home during the working day, how long the animal is alone, who walks them, and where. A dog walker or a daycare place, named, is worth a paragraph of reassurance.

5. Renting history. Whether the animal has lived in rented accommodation before, for how long, and whether there were complaints. If a previous landlord or agent will confirm it, say so and give their details. This is the single strongest section on the page, because it is evidence rather than promise.

6. References. One or two people who can speak to the animal: a previous landlord, a vet, a dog walker, a neighbour. Name, relationship, how to contact them, and confirmation that they are happy to be contacted.

What to leave out

• Anything about your own health. A pet request in England is made under a right that belongs to every assured tenant. It does not depend on a diagnosis, and a landlord has no business asking for one. Leave it out, and be wary of any product that asks you to put it in.
• Photographs, beyond one. A single clear photograph of the animal, small, is useful. A gallery is not.
• Offers of insurance or a bigger deposit. Neither can be required of you under the Act, and offering them hands back what Parliament removed. If you already hold insurance, state it as a fact under health and care; do not offer it as a term. Here is why that matters.
• Anything you cannot back up. A landlord who checks one claim and finds it padded will discount the rest.

How it goes with the letter

The letter does the legal work: it makes the request under section 16A of the Housing Act 1988, starts the 28-day clock, and tells the landlord what the Act requires of them. Our free template does that on its own. The Pet CV goes with it as an attachment, and the letter should say so in one line, so the agent knows to file both.

If you would rather not build the page yourself, the Landlord Pet Request Kit produces the letter and the Pet CV together, with the same six headings, from what you tell us. It costs £49. The headings above are free, and they are the same ones.