PetsScore is an on-demand pet referencing platform. We help renters with pets, gather online references. We consolidate and risk score all the data. Then renters with pets can share that PetsScore, their own rigorous and bespoke reference, with any Landlord, Letting Agent or Short term rental host, (such as Airbnb).
A PetsScore is a live score, that updates in real-time, based on new reference data coming in.
The score criteria is based on the most important things landlords want to see from a pet owner and a pet in their property.
The service is free to renters with Pets. We charge the lettings industry to view a PetsScore. The cost is £1 – £1.66 per reference depending on the subscription they buy.
How did you come up with the idea for the company?
Petsscore came about because I’d just spent 6 months looking for a new place to rent, with Daisy, my dog. The whole experience of trying to find somewhere that would offer me a tenancy with a pet was a nightmare. Every site I visited online told me to pull together a resume and references for Daisy which seemed like a very old-fashioned way of doing things. Landlords (having been one myself!) don’t usually have the time or inclination to go through references manually.
So I thought “there must be a better way”
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How has the pandemic affected your company?
In terms of the problem PetsScore is trying to fix, which is the global housing crisis for renters with pets, the pandemic has made the situation worse in two ways:
- Around the world, millions of people decided to get a pet during lockdown. But as people return to the office, they can’t look after their pets anymore. So shelters are seeing a huge surge in pets being left and requiring rehoming. Many shelters are now full to capacity and the lack of pet-friendly rentals means shelters can’t rehome these pets. So too many pets are having to be put to sleep.
- During the pandemic, governments put temporary laws in place to prevent landlords from evicting people. As coronavirus restrictions are easing, governments are lifting those protections. This is creating a huge wave of evictions, especially for tenants that decided to get pets during lockdown, because now landlords are discovering those pets and telling tenants to get rid of them. Combined with the issue many renters are facing with rent arrears, the situation is pretty dire for many people.
The problem already gets worse each year anyway, without the pandemic, because more and more people are stuck renting long term and every year as a society we get more pets.
What can we hope to see from PetsScore in the future?
We are in talks with a wide range of organisations within the animal protection, housing, PropTech and tenant advocacy space and expect a strong pipeline of announcements around this.
We are planning to add on a number of ‘built for purpose’ finance products that will help pet owners and landlords alike – watch this space!
