Pet Policy for Council Housing

4.1 If you want to keep a pet in your home, you must:

4.2 Make an application to the council. This must be received before you house any animal, including, but not limited to, cats, dogs, livestock, and reptiles in your property or garden.

4.3 This request can be sent to neighbourhoods@welhat.gov.uk or Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council, Campus East, Welwyn Garden City AL8 6AE.

4.4 Only once this application has been received, and all conditions met to the satisfaction of the council, written permission from us will be granted for a pet to be kept.

4.5 We may need to review your request if you move to another WHBC home via transfer or mutual exchange, please also be aware that other housing providers may have different views on keeping pets in their homes.

4.6 If you already have a pet in your home, and did not seek our permission, you should apply for this retrospectively to comply with the terms of your tenancy agreement.

4.7 We do not require tenants to ask permission to look after someone else’s pet temporarily, for a short period of two weeks or less, in their home. However, if the pet causes any problems or complaints which constitute a tenancy breach it could put your tenancy at risk, you will be asked to remove the pet from your home, and may be asked to provide proof of the pet’s ownership to satisfy us it does not belong to you.