Pet Bond NZ: What Landlords Can Charge From 1 December 2025 (Up to 2 Weeks Rent)

The short version: the law changed on 1 December 2025. You can now charge a pet bond of up to 2 weeks rent in New Zealand - something that was not allowed before. It is on top of your normal bond (up to 4 weeks rent), you can only charge one pet bond per tenancy however many pets there are, and it has to be lodged with Tenancy Services. If you have read anywhere that "pet bonds are illegal in NZ", that advice is now out of date.

This is a real decision, not just paperwork. Allowing pets opens you up to a much bigger pool of tenants and longer tenancies, but it carries a damage risk you want covered. Here is how to think about it, what the new rules let you do, and how to charge and lodge the pet bond properly so it is enforceable.

Should You Allow Pets at All?

Start with the commercial question, because the law now makes "yes" easier to say. Pet owners are a large and underserved part of the rental market - good tenants who struggle to find pet-friendly places and, once they do, tend to stay. A pet-friendly listing rents faster and turns over less often. The thing that used to make landlords nervous was damage with no extra security to cover it. As of 1 December 2025 that gap is closed: you can take a pet bond. So for most standard rentals, allowing pets on sensible conditions is now the stronger position. Where it still may not work: body corporate rules that ban pets (see below), or a property unsuited to an animal.

Can You Charge a Pet Bond in NZ?

Yes, from 1 December 2025. Under the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2024 a landlord can require a pet bond as a condition of consenting to a pet. This is brand new: before that date a pet bond was not legal in NZ at all, and the ordinary bond was the only security you could take.

How Much Is a Pet Bond, and Is It on Top of the Normal Bond?

The pet bond is up to 2 weeks rent, and it sits on top of the ordinary bond of up to 4 weeks rent. So on a property renting at $600 a week, that is up to $2,400 ordinary bond plus up to $1,200 pet bond, for $3,600 held in total. Charging more than the two-week cap risks a penalty of up to $3,000, so keep it at or under the limit (Tenancy Services - Charging a pet bond). You can only charge one pet bond per tenancy - if the tenant has two cats and a dog you have consented to, it is still a single pet bond, not one per animal.

Which Pets Can You Charge a Pet Bond For?

A pet bond only applies where all of these are true:

• The tenant starts keeping the pet on or after 1 December 2025
• You gave written consent to the pet
• The pet bond is a condition of that consent
• It is clearly identified as a pet bond in the tenancy documents and receipts

Existing pets are grandfathered. If a tenant already lawfully had a pet before 1 December 2025, you cannot now go back and demand a pet bond or add new conditions for that animal. The pet bond is only for new pet approvals from the start date onward.

Can You Still Refuse a Pet?

You can, but the bar moved. You can only decline a tenant's request to keep a pet if you have a good reason (reasonable grounds) - for example the property is unsuitable for the animal, or a body corporate prohibits pets. A blanket "no pets, no reason" refusal is weaker than it used to be. The flip side is that with a pet bond now available to cover damage, saying yes on conditions is usually the easier and more commercial answer.

What About Disability Assist Dogs?

A disability assist dog is not a pet for these purposes. You cannot charge a pet bond for a disability assist dog, and you cannot unreasonably refuse one. The Human Rights Act sits alongside the RTA here.

Body Corporate Properties

If your property is in a complex governed by a body corporate (most apartments and many townhouses), the body corporate rules can still prohibit pets or require their approval. Your consent does not override the body corporate, so check those rules before you approve a pet - the tenant would otherwise be in breach even with your sign-off.

Who Pays for Pet Damage?

The tenant. All tenants named on the agreement are responsible for pet-related damage beyond fair wear and tear. The pet bond is there to cover exactly this, but, same as any bond claim, it only works if you can prove the damage. Take a thorough tenancy condition report with timestamped photos at the start, and document the move-out condition the same way. The pet bond does not change the evidence rules; it just gives you more to claim against when the evidence is there.

How Do You Lodge a Pet Bond?

A pet bond is lodged with Tenancy Services like any other bond - it does not sit in your bank account. From 1 December 2025 you can do bond transactions online through Tenancy Services' Bond Hub, or through property management software that connects to their business-to-business bond service. The pet bond has to be recorded as a pet bond specifically, separate from the ordinary bond, so the paperwork and receipts show what each part is.

Get the Pet Approval in Writing

Whatever you decide, document the approval. A short pet addendum to the tenancy agreement should record the species and breed, any reasonable conditions (kept outdoors, a cap on numbers, professional carpet cleaning at the end if kept indoors), the tenant's acknowledgement that they are liable for pet damage, and the pet bond amount. Written terms are what make the conditions and the bond enforceable if it ever goes to the Tribunal.

How RentManager Handles Pets End to End

This is the kind of change that is easy to get half-right on paper. RentManager threads it through the whole tenancy so you do not have to remember the pieces:

• Mark the property pet-friendly. Set the property up as pet-friendly so your listing and records reflect it from the start.
• Pet clause in the tenancy agreement. The agreement builder includes a pet clause and pet-bond terms, so the written consent and conditions are in the document, not a side email.
• Lodge the pet bond directly. RentManager lodges bond through the official Tenancy Services bond integration, including the General plus Pet Bond split, so the pet bond is recorded correctly and the bond reference lands on the tenancy record. RentManager is one of the platforms listed by Tenancy Services as supporting bond transactions through software.

See it without signing up. You can open a RentManager demo, set a property as pet-friendly, and walk through lodging a bond with a pet-bond portion - no account, no card. If you like what you build, you keep it: the demo carries straight into your own account when you are ready.

For the wider rules on consenting to pets, conditions, and claiming for pet damage, see our guide on pets in NZ rentals.