How Many London Rental Ads Say “No Pets”?
Published 11 October 2026. Based on 53,211 London rental ads with at least 300 characters of text that RentReboot first saw between 27 August and 10 October 2026.
Answer first: 10.1% of those ads (5,391 of 53,211) say “no pets”. 3.4% (1,802) say the home is not suitable for families or children. 5 ads say “no DSS” or no benefits, 5 ads use offers wording such as “offers over”, and 80 ads (0.15%) say a tenant may have to pay more than 1 month's rent in advance. The 53,211 ads are the 24.9% of all 213,598 London ads in the window that had enough text to read. Rooms are thin in this sample: 2,140 of the 31,434 room ads had enough text.
Most of the “no pets” and “not suitable for families” wording sits in one standard tick-box list. Of the 5,391 ads that say “no pets”, 5,250 (97.4%) carry that list, and so do 1,788 of the 1,802 ads (99.2%) that say “not suitable for families”.
This report counts what ads say. It does not say whether any ad broke the law. The rules below cover lets that can become assured tenancies, so a room in the landlord's own home is outside them, and some rules have exceptions that an ad cannot show. For what changed for renters on 1 May 2026, read our Renters' Rights Act guide for London.
General information, not legal advice. Sources were checked on 11 October 2026.
What the rules say since 1 May 2026
The Renters' Rights Act 2025 started these rules in England on 1 May 2026, under the Commencement No. 2 Regulations (SI 2026/421).
| Topic | What the law says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Stating the rent and bidding | A landlord or anyone acting for them must not advertise a let in writing unless the advert states the proposed rent as a specific amount. They must not invite or encourage offers above that rent, or accept one. The council can impose a penalty of up to £7,000. | Act s.56 and s.57; GOV.UK: rental bidding |
| Rent in advance | No rent may be asked for or taken before the tenancy is signed. A term that makes rent due in advance has no effect, apart from rent for the first rent period, which can be paid between signing and the start date. GOV.UK says that after signing you can be asked for a maximum of 1 month's rent in advance. | Act s.8 (new s.4B Housing Act 1988) and s.9 (Tenant Fees Act 2019); GOV.UK overview for tenants |
| Children | A landlord or agent must not, because a child would live with or visit a person, stop that person from enquiring, getting information, viewing or taking the tenancy. They must not apply a “provision, criterion or practice” that makes people with children less likely to rent. This does not apply where they can show the conduct is “a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”, or where some insurance terms require it. Penalty up to £7,000. | Act s.33 and s.40 |
| Benefits | The same rule applies to a person who is or may be a benefits claimant. The Act does not stop a landlord from checking whether a person can afford the rent. The government's guide says the rule will address overt practices “such as ‘No DSS’ adverts”. | Act s.34 and s.41; GOV.UK: Guide to the Renters' Rights Act |
| Pets | A tenant can ask in writing to keep a pet. The landlord must not unreasonably refuse and must reply within 28 days. It is reasonable to refuse if a superior landlord's lease forbids pets. The Act says nothing about adverts that say “no pets”. | Act s.11 (new ss.16A and 16B Housing Act 1988); GOV.UK: pets |
All five rules apply to lets that can give rise to an assured tenancy. A tenancy where the landlord lives in the same house is usually not an assured tenancy (Housing Act 1988, Schedule 1), and a lodger usually has a licence, not a tenancy. A let with annual rent over £100,000 is also not an assured tenancy. The children and benefits rules do not cover someone who only publishes adverts.
What the ads say
What London rental ads say
Share of 53,211 London ads with at least 300 characters of text, first seen 27 August to 10 October 2026.
| Wording | All ads (n=53,211) | Whole homes (n=51,071) | Rooms (n=2,140) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Say “no pets” | 10.1% (5,391) | 8.7% (4,440) | 44.4% (951) |
| Say pets considered or welcome | 11.7% (6,240) | 11.8% (6,034) | 9.6% (206) |
| Say not for families or children | 3.4% (1,802) | 2.0% (1,039) | 35.7% (763) |
| Say benefits accepted | 0.62% (328) | 0.60% (304) | 1.1% (24) |
| Say “no DSS” or no benefits | 0.01% (5) | 0.01% (5) | 0% (0) |
| Say no offers above the rent | 2.9% (1,529) | 3.0% (1,529) | 0% (0) |
| Mention over 1 month’s rent upfront | 0.15% (80) | 0.16% (80) | 0% (0) |
| Invite offers (“offers over”) | 0.01% (5) | 0.01% (5) | 0% (0) |
An "advert" counts an ad once when the same text, rent and bedroom count appear more than once, for example on two sites. Hover or tap a bar for the count. Small shares are labelled even when the bar is too short to see.
Use the buttons to switch between whole homes and rooms, and between counting every ad and counting each advert once. “Per advert” merges ads with the same text, rent and bedroom count, such as one flat posted on two sites. It changes some shares a lot: the 1,529 ads that say they will not take offers above the advertised rent are only 258 distinct adverts.
The positive wording is about as common as the negative wording for pets: 11.7% of ads (6,240) say pets are considered, welcome or that the building is pet friendly. For benefits, 328 ads (0.6%) say benefit claimants or “DSS” are welcome or accepted, against 5 ads that say no.
One tick-box list carries most of the wording
8,540 of the 53,211 ads (16.0%) carry a standard “Summary & Exclusions” list. It always has the line “Maximum number of tenants is”, then one choice for pets (“No Pets, sorry” or “Pets considered / by arrangement”) and one for families (“Not Suitable for Families / Children” or “Family Friendly”).
Ads with the tick-box summary block
8,540 ads carry a standard “Summary & Exclusions” list where the advertiser picks one option for pets and one for families.
| Group | Ads | “No pets” / “Not suitable” | “Pets considered” / “Family friendly” | Neither |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole homes: pets | 7,374 | 58.3% (4,302) | 40.6% (2,995) | 1.0% (77) |
| Rooms: pets | 1,166 | 81.1% (946) | 17.4% (203) | 1.5% (17) |
| Whole homes: families | 7,374 | 13.9% (1,027) | 84.6% (6,236) | 1.5% (111) |
| Rooms: families | 1,166 | 65.1% (759) | 30.4% (355) | 4.5% (52) |
"Neither" means the block shows no pets or families line, for example in student-only ads.
In that list, 58.3% of whole-home ads (4,302 of 7,374) pick “No Pets, sorry” and 13.9% (1,027) pick “Not Suitable for Families / Children”. For rooms the shares are 81.1% (946 of 1,166) and 65.1% (759 of 1,166).
Outside that list, “no pets” is rare: 141 of the 44,671 ads without the list (0.3%) say it.
Rooms and whole homes
Room ads use this wording far more often than whole-home ads: 44.4% of room ads (951 of 2,140) say “no pets” and 35.7% (763) say not suitable for families or children. For whole homes the shares are 8.7% (4,440 of 51,071) and 2.0% (1,039).
Two cautions sit next to these room numbers. First, the room sample is small and skewed: only 2,140 of 31,434 room ads in the window (6.8%) had enough text, and none came from flatshare sites. Second, an ad does not show whether the room is in the landlord's own home. If it is, the rules above do not apply to it.
Bidding and stating the rent
5 ads (0.01%) use offers wording: “offers over £1,700pcm”, “offers in excess of £1,900”, “offers invited” and twice “offers in excess of £10,000” a month. Those last two are above £100,000 a year, so they are not assured tenancies, and one of them offers a lease to accommodation operators.
Far more ads say the opposite. 1,529 ads (2.9%) say the landlord or agent will not invite or accept offers above the advertised rent. 1,461 of those use one identical sentence, and the 1,529 ads are 258 distinct adverts.
We did not test whether each written advert states a specific rent, so this report makes no finding on the duty to state the rent.
Rent in advance
80 ads (0.15%, 75 distinct adverts) say a tenant may or must pay more than 1 month's rent in advance:
- 60 say tenants “may be required to pay more than a month's rent in advance, depending on your circumstances”;
- 18 say some students, for example those who do not meet an income test, would pay 6 months up front; and
- 2 mention 2 or 3 months in advance, one as “preferable”.
3 of the 80 ads ask more than £100,000 a year in rent, so those lets are not assured tenancies. We did not count 76 more ads that limit a similar sentence to “tenancies with annual rents exceeding £100,000”.
By kind of advertiser
By kind of advertiser
Share of ads with each wording, by the kind of site the ad came from.
| Group | Ads | No pets | Pets considered or welcome | Not for families or children |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portals | 34,737 | 6.3% (2,184) | 11.2% (3,880) | 2.2% (754) |
| Letting agents | 10,582 | 0.2% (17) | 3.4% (361) | 0.0% (0) |
| Classified boards | 7,668 | 41.6% (3,189) | 25.2% (1,931) | 13.7% (1,048) |
Not charted because fewer than 500 ads had enough text: Landlord-direct sites (224 ads with text), and flatshare sites (0 of 26,160 ads had 300+ characters of text in our data).
How much text each kind of site gives us differs a lot, and that limits this chart:
| Kind of advertiser | Ads | 300+ characters | Kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portals | 148,593 | 34,737 | 23.4% |
| Letting agents | 21,087 | 10,582 | 50.2% |
| Classified boards | 8,202 | 7,668 | 93.5% |
| Landlord-direct sites | 9,556 | 224 | 2.3% |
| Flatshare sites | 26,160 | 0 | 0% |
| All | 213,598 | 53,211 | 24.9% |
On classified boards, 41.6% of ads (3,189 of 7,668) say “no pets” and 65.4% (5,018) carry the tick-box list. On portals the shares are 6.3% (2,184 of 34,737) and 10.1% (3,507). On letting agents' own sites, 0.2% (17 of 10,582) say “no pets” and none carry the list.
By asking rent
By asking rent
Whole homes by monthly asking rent (pcm), with rooms shown as one group.
| Group | Ads | No pets | Pets considered or welcome | Not for families or children |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rooms (any rent) | 2,140 | 44.4% (951) | 9.6% (206) | 35.7% (763) |
| Under £1,500 | 4,779 | 10.4% (497) | 4.4% (209) | 4.7% (227) |
| £1,500-1,999 | 10,056 | 12.3% (1,238) | 11.3% (1,140) | 3.4% (343) |
| £2,000-2,499 | 10,593 | 10.6% (1,120) | 13.5% (1,434) | 2.1% (227) |
| £2,500-2,999 | 8,343 | 8.5% (711) | 16.1% (1,342) | 1.7% (139) |
| £3,000-3,999 | 8,071 | 6.6% (534) | 14.1% (1,139) | 1.0% (77) |
| £4,000+ | 9,229 | 3.7% (340) | 8.3% (770) | 0.3% (26) |
Rent is the advertised monthly rent stored with each ad. Each whole-home band has at least 4,000 ads.
For whole homes, the share of ads that say “no pets” falls from 12.3% at £1,500 to £1,999 pcm (1,238 of 10,056) to 3.7% at £4,000 pcm or more (340 of 9,229). The share with the tick-box list falls in the same bands, from 18.6% to 7.0%. Under £1,500 pcm, 10.4% say “no pets” (497 of 4,779).
By borough
Whole-home ads by London borough
29 boroughs with at least 500 whole-home ads with text. Rooms are left out because no borough reaches that number.
| Borough | Ads | No pets | Pets considered or welcome | Not for families or children | Tick-box block |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barking and Dagenham | 536 | 16.4% | 14.4% | 0.9% | 25.9% |
| Barnet | 2,482 | 7.2% | 18.3% | 1.4% | 13.3% |
| Brent | 2,298 | 7.6% | 23.7% | 1.2% | 12.6% |
| Bromley | 705 | 10.5% | 12.9% | 1.3% | 23.3% |
| Camden | 2,612 | 6.1% | 8.0% | 1.8% | 9.9% |
| Croydon | 1,640 | 9.5% | 16.9% | 2.6% | 16.5% |
| Ealing | 2,243 | 7.7% | 6.9% | 1.9% | 12.7% |
| Enfield | 648 | 12.3% | 9.3% | 3.4% | 20.7% |
| Greenwich | 1,208 | 14.7% | 12.7% | 3.2% | 23.7% |
| Hackney | 1,173 | 12.0% | 9.6% | 4.3% | 19.1% |
| Hammersmith and Fulham | 1,968 | 7.1% | 5.9% | 2.7% | 11.2% |
| Haringey | 1,448 | 9.6% | 22.4% | 3.8% | 16.6% |
| Harrow | 1,064 | 10.4% | 7.9% | 0.5% | 13.7% |
| Hillingdon | 903 | 13.3% | 15.8% | 1.6% | 20.2% |
| Hounslow | 1,624 | 10.8% | 8.5% | 1.9% | 17.6% |
| Islington | 1,574 | 8.9% | 4.4% | 2.4% | 12.9% |
| Kensington and Chelsea | 3,161 | 3.2% | 3.7% | 0.9% | 5.1% |
| Kingston upon Thames | 725 | 10.6% | 6.2% | 1.2% | 16.1% |
| Lambeth | 1,902 | 15.5% | 11.6% | 5.6% | 23.9% |
| Lewisham | 1,090 | 12.6% | 13.6% | 3.4% | 21.7% |
| Merton | 1,101 | 9.9% | 7.2% | 2.8% | 16.2% |
| Newham | 1,560 | 11.3% | 21.2% | 1.2% | 19.6% |
| Redbridge | 808 | 13.6% | 10.8% | 0.6% | 22.5% |
| Richmond upon Thames | 744 | 6.0% | 6.3% | 0.8% | 11.4% |
| Southwark | 2,416 | 6.8% | 20.8% | 1.3% | 13.1% |
| Tower Hamlets | 3,372 | 8.5% | 13.2% | 1.9% | 13.8% |
| Waltham Forest | 1,219 | 5.8% | 23.7% | 1.0% | 11.3% |
| Wandsworth | 3,074 | 7.2% | 11.2% | 2.5% | 12.6% |
| Westminster | 4,497 | 4.5% | 5.2% | 1.5% | 7.7% |
Boroughs come from the ward each ad was mapped to. Pick "Have the tick-box block" to see how many ads in each borough carry the standard summary list, because most "no pets" and "not suitable for families" wording sits in that list.
For whole homes, “no pets” ranges from 16.4% of ads in Barking and Dagenham (88 of 536) to 3.2% in Kensington and Chelsea (102 of 3,161). We show a borough only if it has at least 500 whole-home ads with text, which leaves out Bexley, the City of London, Havering and Sutton. Choose “Have the tick-box block” in the chart to compare each borough's share of ads with the standard list.
How we measured this
Ads. London ads that RentReboot first saw from 27 August 2026 00:00 UTC to 11 October 2026 00:00 UTC: 213,598 ads. We kept the 53,211 ads (24.9%) with at least 300 characters of description. Some sources store only a short teaser, so a shorter text cannot tell us what the full advert said. Our property records do not join the same London home across sites (the 213,598 ads map to almost as many property records), so instead of a per-property count we count each advert once when the text, rent and bedroom description match: 45,824 adverts.
Wording. We turned curly apostrophes into straight ones, joined white space, removed exception phrases (for example “no pets unless agreed”, “no pets deposit”, “no children's play area”) and then matched the phrases for each category. “Not suitable for families” counts in the children category because the tick-box list puts families and children on one line.
Precision. We read random hits in each category and counted the ones that really say what the category says. We kept a category only at 90% precision or more.
| Category | Hits | Hits read | Correct |
|---|---|---|---|
| Says “no pets” | 5,391 | 90 (45 with the tick-box list, 45 without) | 90 (100%) |
| Pets considered or welcome | 6,240 | 85 (40 with the list, 45 without) | 85 (100%) |
| Not suitable for families or children | 1,802 | 74 (60 with the list, all 14 without) | 74 (100%) |
| Benefits accepted or welcome | 328 | 45 | 45 (100%) |
| Says “no DSS” or no benefits | 5 | all 5 | 5 (100%) |
| No offers above the advertised rent | 1,529 | 45 | 45 (100%) |
| More than 1 month's rent in advance | 80 | all 80 | 80 (100%) |
| Offers wording | 5 | all 5 | 5 (100%) for the wording; 2 of the 5 are not assured-tenancy lets |
We dropped two categories. A first, broad bidding pattern (“offers over”, “offers above”, “sealed bids”) matched 1,639 ads, but none of 60 we read invited higher offers: most said the opposite, and many described floor space (“offers over 1,000 sq ft”). A “price on application” category had 3 hits and none was about the rent for the home.
Limits. Phrase matching misses wording we did not think of, so the shares are a floor for each wording, not a full count. The sample leans toward the kinds of site that keep full text. Many ads repeat text from one advertiser, which is why we show the per-advert count. A share for a borough or a rent band describes the ads we saw, not every home to let there.
We keep the queries, the full list of patterns and the results file, so every number on this page can be rerun.
Questions renters ask
Is it illegal for a London ad to say “no pets”?
The Act does not mention adverts that say “no pets”. It gives a tenant with an assured tenancy the right to ask in writing to keep a pet, and the landlord must not unreasonably refuse and must reply within 28 days. A “no pets” ad does not take that right away.
Can a landlord's ad say “not suitable for children”?
Since 1 May 2026, a landlord or agent in England must not stop someone from enquiring, viewing or renting because a child would live with or visit them, or apply a criterion that makes families less likely to rent. There is an exception where they can show the restriction is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, and the rule does not cover a room in the landlord's own home. 3.4% of the ads we read (1,802 of 53,211) say “not suitable for families” or similar.
Can a London landlord still ask for 6 months' rent upfront?
For an assured tenancy, no rent may be taken before signing, and GOV.UK says the most you can be asked for after signing is 1 month's rent in advance. We found 80 of 53,211 ads (0.15%) that mention more than 1 month in advance. If you are asked for more, GOV.UK says you can contact your local council.
What should I do if an ad invites offers above the rent?
Keep a copy of the advert and any messages. GOV.UK says you can report rental bidding to your local council, which can impose a penalty of up to £7,000. We found 5 ads with offers wording among 53,211.
Find a London flat
RentReboot watches London portals, letting agents' sites, landlord-direct listings and flatshare sites, and emails you the listings that match your budget and neighbourhoods. Set up London flat alerts, then use our Renters' Rights Act guide before you make an offer or pay anything.
Sources
Checked on 11 October 2026.
- Renters' Rights Act 2025, section 56: stating the proposed rent; no inviting, encouraging or accepting higher offers.
- Renters' Rights Act 2025, section 57: penalties of up to £7,000 for rental bidding.
- Renters' Rights Act 2025, section 8: rent in advance during an assured tenancy (new section 4B of the Housing Act 1988).
- Renters' Rights Act 2025, section 9: rent before the tenancy is a prohibited payment under the Tenant Fees Act 2019.
- Renters' Rights Act 2025, section 11: requests to keep a pet (new sections 16A and 16B of the Housing Act 1988).
- Renters' Rights Act 2025, section 33 and section 34: discrimination relating to children and to benefits status.
- Renters' Rights Act 2025, section 40: penalties of up to £7,000 for the children and benefits rules.
- The Renters' Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026: commencement on 1 May 2026.
- Housing Act 1988, Schedule 1: tenancies that cannot be assured tenancies, including resident landlords and rents over £100,000.
- GOV.UK: Renters' Rights Act overview for tenants: 1 month's rent in advance at most, pets, benefits and children.
- GOV.UK: Rental bidding: one asking rent and reporting to the council.
- GOV.UK: Rent in advance and deposits: what you can be asked to pay and when.
- GOV.UK: If you want a pet to live with you: written request and 28-day reply.
- GOV.UK: Guide to the Renters' Rights Act: the aim of addressing “No DSS” adverts.