New renters here, my boyfriend and I are moving into a house next week the landlord are a couple that own the house moving to Australia for some time.
My boyfriend is a biologist by trade and has looked after fish in huge labs at top universities. We would like to move in a very small new fish tank, and politely asked the landlords permission but they have declined due to a “bad previous experience”. My understanding is that it has to be a reasonable objection, does this count as reasonable? Of course we would cover damaged were they to occur (the deposit alone would cover more than any conceivable damage due to a fish tank).
What rights do we have here, it’s a d*** fish tank!!!
His reason is reasonable. He could allege he had PTSD and so you bringing in a fish tank could affect his mental health!
You could offer to pay a little more for the rent.
I dont think you have any rights unfortunately. The government ast contract states landlords need a good reason to deny pets but landlords dont need to use it and can use other ast’s which dont require a good reason.
I agree it’s a bit ridiculous, a lot of landlords get obsessive about pets. Normally you need consent to have a pet. A fish tank is a bit of furniture which you shouldn’t need consent for. You could ask permission to keep a fish in your fish tank, hard to know what damage a fish could do if fish tank is already there! Failing that you could offer to put down protective matting to protect against leaks.
You really shouldn’t have to pay extra to keep a fish!
I had a tenant who cut out the 9 inch skirting in an alcove to get his fish stand in it . I had this skirting made to suit the old house… A bit of furniture that really annoyed me . The man was only thinking of himself