Great news for pet owners
We are welcoming in 2020 with a new customer-led policy that will please animal-loving renters across the region.
We will now be allowing pets into most of our affordable homes, providing they are well-looked after and do not cause a nuisance to others.
One Silva Homes customer has said:
“I think it’s a great improvement. This is a much more humanitarian approach, and it’s good of this landlord to allow pets, because not all do. Having a pet is very important to a lot of people and a great asset, especially for those who live on their own. I think this is really great news.”
Dasos Christou, our Executive Director for Customer Relations explains:
“We are committed to listening to our tenants and responding to their needs. The decision to update our pet policy was instigated after a survey of our customers saw the majority favoring a more flexible approach to pet ownership.
“Our Customer Partnership Board, which in made up of tenants from across our different types of properties, were involved to ensure that all customer voices were heard.”
Only customers from our independent living schemes voted to reject this new policy, so they will continue to live pet-free.
The news comes as Housing Secretary, Robert Jenrick MP, has called on landlords to make it easier for responsible tenants to have well behaved pets in their homes.
Dasos continues:
"When people are looking for a new home the thought of not being able to have a pet, or even bring their current pet to their new home, can be extremely traumatic.
“We have reshaped our pet policy so that it works with, rather than against, the needs of our customers. As soon as it became clear that there was majority demand for a new pet policy, we began to plan how we could go about implementing the change.
“Now, every application for a pet will be looked at on its own merit and so long as there are no major issues which would impact on the animal or surrounding residents, we will happily give the go-ahead.”
Enjoyed this article? You can read Dasos Christou's full comment in Inside Housing here: https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/why-silva-homes-changed-our-pet-policy-64699