Tasmania's new rental pet laws tested: Landlord wins case over rescue kitten

Tasmania's new rental pet laws have been tested for the first time, with the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT) ruling a landlord acted reasonably in refusing a tenant permission to keep a rescue kitten.

The laws, introduced in March, presume tenants are allowed to keep pets in rental properties unless a landlord can show reasonable grounds for refusing consent.

In this case — centred around a tenant's request to keep their 6-month-old rescue kitten Periwinkle in a unit — the tribunal found the landlord was entitled to refuse the request because the unit complex's strata by-laws required body corporate approval for pets, which was denied.

A strata title is a type of property ownership commonly used for apartments or units, where individuals own their own unit, but share ownership of common areas through a body corporate.

The tribunal said that while the new laws establish a presumption that tenants have a right to keep pets, that presumption is subject to other laws that prevent the keeping of a pet, including strata by-laws.

The case

The one-bedroom unit at the centre of the case is part of a four-unit strata complex.

The complex's strata by-laws state that an animal cannot be brought onto or kept in a unit without the written approval of the body corporate.

The tenant applied for permission to keep Periwinkle, but the request was refused by the strata manager acting on behalf of the body corporate.

The landlord then refused to provide written consent, and referred the case to the tribunal to determine if the refusal was reasonable.

The ruling

The ruling said the landlord did not want a kitten kept in the unit, and that they would have refused consent even if by-laws didn't restrict the keeping of pets.

The landlord cited concerns about the kitten's safety, saying the unit was close to nearby traffic and had no outdoor area.

But TASCAT deputy president Richard Grueber said those concerns were not supported by evidence, describing them as "entirely speculative."

He also noted the tenant intended to keep Periwinkle indoors.

Instead, the decisive issue was the body corporate's decision to refuse the tenant's request under the strata by-laws.

The tribunal found that even if the landlord approved the request to keep an animal on the premises, it would have "no practical effect" because the body corporate had denied permission.

"The refusal by the applicant is consistent with the lawful position of the body corporate," Mr Grueber wrote.

"I am satisfied that the refusal by the applicant on that basis was a reasonable refusal."

Union says it warned government about this outcome

Acting principal solicitor at the Tenants' Union of Tasmania, Alex Bomford, said he wasn't surprised by the tribunal's ruling.

He said the union warned the government about the potential of this outcome when it was consulting with the public about the new laws.

"We think that the Strata Titles Act needs to be amended to provide that strata rules cannot uniformly or blanketly oppose consent for pets.

"There needs to be a similar process to what there is under the tenancy act, where if an owner occupier of a strata title unit or a tenant … wants to get a pet, they can ask for it, and then TASCAT or some other decision maker needs to have oversight of whether the refusal is reasonable."

Aside from the strata issue, Mr Bomford said the other findings in the decision were promising.

"It establishes that showing that there's a reasonable reason (to refuse consent) is quite a high bar for a landlord, and that the starting point is that a tenant is permitted to have a pet," he said.

When the new laws came into effect, Deputy Premier and Attorney General Guy Barnett said the government had "got the balance right" between the rights of tenants and landlords.

Mr Barnett has been contacted for comment.