CAT CHARITY TO SPEAK AT CONFERENCE

AdvoCATS, a Long Eaton-based cat charity has been invited to participate in a Zoom conference, hosted by Romford MP Andrew Rosindell, on February 26th. The event will discuss legislation the MP is proposing that would place strict limits on the ability of landlords to include “no pets” policies in rented accommodation.  His Bill, called “Jasmine’s Law”, had its first reading in Parliament last October. Co-founder of AdvoCATS, Jennifer Berezai, will provide a presentation on pet damage insurance options for landlords and tenants, and, additionally, describe how the charity’s free practical support and advice service to tenants and landlords has, in many instances, resolved the problem of a ban on pets in rented properties.  Only around 7% of landlords currently advertise their properties as being suitable for pets, and many of them charge a monthly “pet rent” top up.  

 The deposit cap imposed by the Tenant Fees Act 2019 wiped out the scope for a landlord to request a pet deposit from animal owning tenants, and with that, most landlords opted for blanket “no pets” clauses in their rental contracts. Now real change is likely - with last month’s new Model Tenancy Agreement and the #JasminesLaw campaign – however, landlords have concerns about being able to recoup any damage costs caused by pets they were reluctant to allow in the first place. Pet damage insurance could be an acceptable solution, believes Jennifer Berezai. “For far less than the extra "pet rent" charged by some landlords, tenants could obtain more cover for damage to a landlord's property by a pet or pets than the pet deposit ever provided. While currently there are few such policies, and there is a significant lack of publicity around them, greater awareness and a change in the law would lead to more being developed.

 

“We see this as an absolute game changer for the landlord/tenant/pet relationship, and if a landlord's right to request that such insurance was held was enshrined in law, it would go a very long way to allowing tenants to keep pets they have or adopt for the first time. We'd therefore like to see the Tenant Fees Act's secondary legislation, the List of Permitted Payments, amended to include pet damage insurance. Many pets that had loving homes are being surrendered to shelters, abandoned - or worse, being put to sleep - because of ‘no pets’ clauses faced by people moving home. It's time to put an end to responsible pet owners being refused permission to keep their human and furry family together, and we will continue to support Andrew with his Bill as it progresses through Parliament. Change is long overdue, but change which is fair to all parties has a greater chance of success.”

 

* The title of the webinar is  #APetInEveryHome - Jasmine's Law and pets in an age of lockdown and the speakers are listed in the link:

https://parliament-uk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_QB-ky2nxRbqE2BjscSbPDQ

 *Tenants or landlords seeking to resolve an issue with keeping a pet in a rental property can contact AdvoCATSeastmids at advocatsem@gmail.com or visit the website at www.advocatseastmids.org.uk for further information.

CLAP FOR TOM

Firefighters stood outside their station in Long Eaton, while lights flashed from a fire engine and clapped in memory of the 100-year-old World War Two veteran who died from Covid-19 while in Bedford Hospital on Tuesday, February 2nd. They joined the nation in a clap at 6pm on Wednesday February 3rd, organised by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, to honour the life of Captain Sir Tom. In the lead up to his birthday Sir Tom raised almost £33m for NHS charities by walking laps of his garden during the first lockdown. In Twitter post which included a video of fire workers, Long Eaton On-Call Fire crew said: “We salute you Captain Tom!

LONG EATON BURGLARIES

A 31-year-old man has been charged with three burglaries in Long Eaton. Robert Moss was remanded to prison after being charged with three burglaries in the Long Eaton area. He is alleged to have burgled homes in Parkside Avenue on 1st January, Curzon Street on 6th January and Springfield Avenue on 27 January. Robert Moss, of Upper Wellington Street, appeared at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court on 29th January where he was remanded to prison.

Inspector Ed Browne, who leads the policing team in Erewash, said: “In the three cases detailed above - a number of allegedly stolen items have been found behind walls, in bushes and around bins.  “I would therefore ask that people in the Long Eaton area keep their eyes open to items such as bags, wallets or jewellery that appear to have been abandoned in unusual areas. If you do find anything that may be of interest please contact the force.”

Anyone who has found something that may be of interest to officers is asked to contact Derbyshire police using any of the below methods, including reference 21*009894:

           Facebook– send us a private message to /DerbyshireConstabulary                                Twitter– direct message our contact centre on @DerPolContact                           Website complete the online contact form police.uk/Contact-Us.                                 Phone – call us on 101.

You can also anonymously contact the independent charity Crimestoppers, on 0800 555 111 or by visiting www.crimestoppers-uk.org.

We’re sharing this as part of Operation Derbyshire, a dedicated operation which sees staff and officers highlighting the excellent work that is going on to tackle certain crime types which you, our communities, told us you wanted to hear more about via the Police and Crime Commissioner’s public consultation.

These crimes include speeding; wildlife, heritage and rural crime, and community crimes like anti-social behaviour.

Operation Derbyshire runs until the end of May and will also showcase the work that we and our partners do to support victims and bring offenders to justice.

You can follow our work on social media by following #OpDerbyshire.

ALCOHOL SEIZED IN LONG EATON

More than a dozen cans of Carling were seized from youths who had gathered in Shakespeare Street Long Eaton. Local PCSOs had been called out after reports of youths damaging a defibrillator. The youths thought they could run away along with their box of Carling but PCSOs soon caught up with them and seized the alcohol. The incident occurred at 1.50pm on Friday January 29th. A spokesman for Derbyshire police confirmed no damage was found to the defibrillator and that warnings were given for behaviour and coronavirus-related issues. There were no arrests and parents were informed.

GOVERNMENT ACTS ON PET DISCRIMINATION

CHANGES to government guidelines will make it easier for tenants with well-behaved pets to find rented accommodation. Under the new Model Tenancy Agreement, landlords will no longer be able to issue blanket bans on pets. Instead, consent for pets will be the default position and landlords will have to object in writing within 28 days of a written pet request from a tenant and provide a good reason. The housing ministry says that just 7% of private landlords advertise pet friendly properties, meaning in some cases people have had to give up their beloved pets in order to find somewhere to live. To ensure landlords are protected, tenants will continue to have a legal duty to repair or cover the cost of any damage to the property. Long Eaton-based charity AdvoCATS has welcomed the announcement of the new Model Tenant Agreement, describing it as “a huge step forward for responsible renters who struggle to find accommodation that will accept them and their pets”.

 “The focus of the agreement is on demonstrating responsible pet ownership, which is at the very core of the AdvoCATS message,” explained Jennifer Berezai, who co- founded the charity in May 2018. We offer a free support and advice service to landlords and tenants where a tenant wants to bring a pet into a rented property. Providing some background information for a landlord to consider - our own tenant check, vet reference, pet assessment for example - can be enough to allay their concerns and allow them to make an informed decision as to whether to allow that pet in their property. AdvoCATS has helped many, many people since we began in 2018, and has gained support from Cats Protection, Battersea Dog and Cats Home, RSPCA, NRLA, ARLA Propertymark, EMH Homes and Nottingham City Homes to name but a few.”

The charity’s work has been included and commended in a parliamentary report into pets alleviating loneliness, and also been featured in the Your Cat and Cat World magazines.  Added Jennifer: “It's important to realise that the new Agreement isn't enforceable by law - for this to change we've been working with Romford MP Andrew Rosindell and his #JasminesLaw campaign, which seeks to ban blanket “No pets” clauses in rental home agreements. AdvoCATS requests readers to add their voice to this campaign by signing the petition and/or using the mail generator to send a letter to their MP for support:

 Petition: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/566355  Letter: https://paaw.house/campaigns/

 “It isn’t right that only a tiny fraction of landlords advertise pet-friendly properties and, in some cases, people have had to give up their beloved pets in order to find somewhere to live,” said the Housing Minister Chris Pincher, announcing the changes last Thursday.

Cat owners or landlords seeking to resolve an issue with a pet in a rental property can contact AdvoCATSeastmids

at advocatsem@gmail.com or visit the website at www.advocatseastmids.org.uk for further information.