Can a Tenant Keep Reptiles

20 February 2010, filed under Tenancy Agreements

Keeping reptiles has become very popular in recent years across a wide variety of individuals. Reptiles can make excellent pets. They are generally easy to maintain and are generally fascinating to many people. There has been a recent increase in online reptile supplies stores which has made it even easier for people to care for a reptile as a pet. Most tenancy agreements contain a restriction on the tenant keeping pets at the property. Our own shorthold tenancy agreement contains a clause that gives the option of allowing or disallowing a pet. This can be amended to cover specific types of pets that are unlikely to cause any damage to the property, such as a pet reptile or a cages bird.

As long as your tenant keeps the reptile in an appropriate habitat it will live a comfortable life and should not in any way interfere with the property. Your tenant will probably buy their reptile supplies online or from a local pet store as many traditional pet shops are starting to add reptiles and reptile supplies and accessories to their stock.

It is perfectly legal to by all of your pet reptile supplies online with the exception of live foods for your reptile. There are certain laws that apply to live foods which state that live reptile food supplies cannot be sent across a border. The same rules apply to any live material including plants for your reptile vivarium or reptile tank. There are also laws that relate to the importing of replies for pets. We will follow up this news post with a post next month where we want to highlight a few of the basic legal considerations that a would be reptile owner should consider.