New research has revealed that Southampton is officially the pet-friendliest city in the UK for those wishing to ret with pets.
The study, conducted by UK-based insurance broker Towergate Insurance, analysed 25 major UK cities against 10 various criteria points to determine the most ‘pet-friendly’ locations for renters and their furry friends.
These factors included pets per capita, as well as various aspects to determine the locations with pet-friendly rentals, such as: rentals with a private garden; rentals listed as ‘pets allowed’; affordable rent prices and lack of neighbour complaints regarding pets.
Overall, the top ten most pet-friendly major cities were revealed as:
1 Southampton
2 Nottingham
3 Manchester
4 Derby
5 Birmingham
6 Plymouth
7 Coventry
8 Stoke-on-Trent
9 Bristol
10 Leeds
Southampton performed well across all 10 categories, laying claim to the top spot in the UK overall. The southern city performed especially well for lack of rent price ‘penalties’ for pet owners (pet owners in the city can expect to pay just 71% of the average monthly Southampton rental price), as well as having low estimated number of neighbour complaints regarding pets.
Nottingham and Manchester made up the rest of the top 3 ‘pet friendly’ major cities in the UK for renters, coming in second and third place respectively in the overall index ranking. Derby and Birmingham followed close behind, ranking fourth and fifth respectively.
When broken down into winner per category, the research revealed that Leeds performs best on various points, including for number of rentals on the market with gardens, for not having a rent price ‘penalty’ for pet owners, and for having the lowest estimated monthly search volumes for pet complaint terms for all cities analysed.
Bradford has the highest number of affordable pet rentals, with an average monthly rent of just £417.50. On the other hand, Derby has the highest percentage of rentals which included a garden (56% of live listings).
Manchester has the most available rentals that were listed as ‘pets allowed’ (119 liv listings), whereas Newport in Wales has the highest percentage of rentals that were listed as ‘pets allowed’ (13%), a huge 10% more than the average across all 25 cities analysed.
Looking at Scotland specifically, Edinburgh narrowly missed out on the top 10, ranking at number 11 overall, tying with Preston. The Scottish city was found to have the second biggest lack of rent price ‘penalties’ for pet owners of all cities analysed – pet owners in the city can expect to pay just 68% of the average monthly Edinburgh rental price.
London came last in the list overall, performing poorly across all 10 criteria points. As well as London, the worst performing cities included Swansea, Glasgow, Cardiff and Leicester.
More information on the study can be found here https://www.towergateinsurance.co.uk/commercial-property-insurance/the-uk-s-top-cities-for-those-wishing-to-rent-with-pets.
