Refused permission for dog in leasehold flat

[LostPrincess]

Hi all,

We bought our flat in April and in the process we checked with the previous owners if they had kept pets at the property. The response was that they had kept cats and dogs before and they had lived on the estate for 13 years and never had a problem. We also checked the lease:

And we checked with our solicitor how we would go about gaining permission. Sorted.

Fast forward to now we were pretty confident we could go ahead so we started our dog search and submitted a request for permission. We found our lovely puppy but have since heard back that the management company will not grant us permission.
Unfortunately, the directors of the Residents Company have not granted permission for you to keep a dog at the property.
The directors have advised that they want the transfer document to be adhered to and would not consider this any further. Unfortunately, I cannot see where permission was sought from the previous owners to have a pet within their property and therefore they were in breach of their transfer document.

We are obviously devastated. I know we should have sought formal permission first and we were stupid but its obviously so hard to walk away from the puppy we have chosen now, we've paid the deposit and so much is sorted for him to come home. My amazing amazing Mum has said we can keep him at her house, and as my husband is a study at home PhD researcher he can study there for the training and socialisation (we used to live there together anyway so we're very comfortable there) and we're so local so we can still walk him, feed him and he can still be our dog until we move out.

I'm absolutely devastated we can't have the dog at home like we dreamed though. We were hoping to stay here for 10+ years until we're ready to start a family but honestly if it means having our dog with us I think we'll be looking into porting our fixed term mortgage and moving as soon as we can.

Do you think we're being stupid over a dog? This was our dream ☹

[SquishTheWhale]

Will they know if you just get one anyway? We're in rented and couldn't break the rules like that as they carry out house inspections but surely they don't do that if you own? I always thought you could do whatever you wanted with your own property! (Bar extensive building work etc)

[kissimmee kate]

If having a dog is so important to you then no you are not being stupid. In hindsight, as you have realised, it would have been better checking first but when previous owners tell you they've had no issues it's understandable that you thought it would be fine. Is there an appeals process you can instigate? Good luck with whatever you decide to do

[WhereIBelong]

Originally Posted by SquishTheWhale

Will they know if you just get one anyway? We're in rented and couldn't break the rules like that as they carry out house inspections but surely they don't do that if you own? I always thought you could do whatever you wanted with your own property! (Bar extensive building work etc)

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Being leasehold it is different - you have the right to enjoy your property, but the lease owners rule the roost. The management company will be responsible for the communal areas etc.

Why should others pay as part of their monthly fees for any pet damage, extra cleaning, encounter any pet noise etc when it is written into the fabric of the lease that it is not permitted - and may be one of the reasons they chose their property over another one. (they also have the right to enjoy their properties).

[aqualiv]

Is it a ground floor flat with a garden?
I would look for something else and wait to get a dog as it’s hard work bringing up a puppy and is 24/7 to start with so a lot to put onto someone else to do

[LostPrincess]

Originally Posted by WhereIBelong

Being leasehold it is different - you have the right to enjoy your property, but the lease owners rule the roost. The management company will be responsible for the communal areas etc.

Why should others pay as part of their monthly fees for any pet damage, extra cleaning, encounter any pet noise etc when it is written into the fabric of the lease that it is not permitted - and may be one of the reasons they chose their property over another one. (they also have the right to enjoy their properties).

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It's worth noting that there an extraordinary amount of cats around. We completed in April but renovated and moved in in June, and since then we've had a cat come in through our lounge window twice, and one come through the front door once too. There is always cat hair on our lounge window sill and curtains so who knows how often they come in, but its so hard to keep those windows shut in this hot weather. The cats also soil the communal gardens, so I'm not sure that the lease does prohibit all pets, just dogs ☹

[LostPrincess]

Originally Posted by SquishTheWhale

Will they know if you just get one anyway? We're in rented and couldn't break the rules like that as they carry out house inspections but surely they don't do that if you own? I always thought you could do whatever you wanted with your own property! (Bar extensive building work etc)

See more...

They'll know if someone complains

Originally Posted by kissimmee kate

If having a dog is so important to you then no you are not being stupid. In hindsight, as you have realised, it would have been better checking first but when previous owners tell you they've had no issues it's understandable that you thought it would be fine. Is there an appeals process you can instigate? Good luck with whatever you decide to do

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Reading online you can appeal to get the lease wording changed, the the lease wording actually suggests we CAN have one if we have permission which is fine. It's getting the permission that is proving the problem

Originally Posted by aqualiv

Is it a ground floor flat with a garden?
I would look for something else and wait to get a dog as it’s hard work bringing up a puppy and is 24/7 to start with so a lot to put onto someone else to do

See more...

Yes, ground floor flat with direct access to garden, although it's a communal garden. I know we SHOULD wait, but honestly we're so in love with our puppy Also Garth is doing his PhD now, I start mine in 2 months, we were going to be working from home and researching for 2 years and have a dog and it's just been our life plan for so long, we'll never have these few years of our lives back

[aqualiv]

What would happen if you had the dog and they found out?
What kind of dog is it?
My dd moved back in with us and her Labrador pup last year and as me and her work, dh was left with her most days as he works from home
He really struggled to concentrate and get his work done when she was around all day as she was so demanding

[LostPrincess]

Originally Posted by aqualiv

What would happen if you had the dog and they found out?
What kind of dog is it?
My dd moved back in with us and her Labrador pup last year and as me and her work, dh was left with her most days as he works from home
He really struggled to concentrate and get his work done when she was around all day as she was so demanding

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He's a toy cockapoo. From what I can gather from reading online, it looks like we'd be told we have X amount of time to remove the dog or we'd get taken to court and we'd have to pay legal expenses and their legal expenses. It wouldn't be a nice thing to have on our record though and it would cause a whole lot of upset.

We were fully prepared for the implications of working from home with the puppy. That's why now was such perfect timing with husband's work calendar and me about to come home for 3 years from my full time job. We were all set for crate training etc and both my parents and his parents were willing dog sitters, and we also have a great doggy daycare on our doorstep. We were so so ready it's gutting that it won't be how we planned it, but our own fault I know

[Mr Tom Morrow]

OP. I know little about this. However my late Mum lived in a flat and after a year or so got herself onto the Residents Committee. They instructed the Management Company what to do. Plus they varied the terms and conditions ref all type of things such as bin storage, animals etc.

Just a thought but no use to you in the short term sorry.