Why Canadian landlord groups say push to void ‘no pet’ clauses is ‘unfair’

As a petition is being pushed to end pet restrictions in rental housing, some organizations representing landlords in Canada are cautioning voiding such clauses in the proposed federal renters’ bill of rights could create conflicts.

Last month, Humane Canada started a parliamentary petition asking the House of Commons to include a specific provision for tenants with pets in the proposed bill of rights, calling for “no pet” clauses to be voided “so that tenants with pets are no longer excluded from rental housing.”

Cameron Choquette, the CEO of the Saskatchewan Landlord Association, said in an interview with Global News that landlords recognize that pets are growing in the rental space and can be important for people, but said there needs to be flexibility for rental housing providers.

“If buildings that have current tenants in them, perhaps with allergies or maybe it’s a small building, that flexibility would allow a rental housing provider to have a no pet building or no pet clause in their tenancy agreement,” he said.

He notes things like tenants’ allergies or the potential damage a pet could cause could be why landlords don’t want pets.

Kevin Russell, the executive director of the Investment Property Owners Association of Nova Scotia (IPOANS), said in a statement that renters want the choice of pet-free buildings for their own safety and have “as much right to have housing without pets as those who have pets.”

He said voiding “no pet” clauses nationally would be an “unfair” move by the government.

“Imposing a ban on pet-free buildings would worsen the housing crisis by increasing more disputes between tenants that own pets and tenants that don’t,” he said. “Sadly, rental housing providers would be caught in the middle of