Landlord unexpectantly won't accept 2nd dog

Tenant Discussion
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Myself and my fiancé adopted a 4 year old miniature dachshund 2 years ago (she’s now 6) when we lived in a different property. Our previous landlord provided a glowing reference when we moved outside the city during lockdown to our current house.

We decided we wanted to stay in this property for as long term as possible, as long as the landlord would have us, until we could afford a place of our own. When we moved in, they accepted our current dog and we were told by the agency on the phone that our landlord was ‘pet friendly’ (it was also marketed as pet friendly) and a 2nd dog in future can be discussed as long as it’s the same smaller breed, as we made it clear this was our intention and it was important to us before applying. We did not push to get a 2nd dog in the agreement at this point though so it’s our fault.

Now that we have been contacted by a rescue centre 8 months later about another dog of the same breed and similar age, when seeking permission the agency have told us the landlord hates dogs and it was a war to get our first dog accepted. We’ve offered £50 extra rent each month and are waiting to hear. But obviously we would never have moved in if we knew he hated dogs and feel misled by the agency.

It would be good to hear other perspectives on this. I think the agency have caused a lot of the communication problems.

This post was previously extremely long and detailed so I’ve cut this down a little.

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There is a VERY big blog under another heading about pets. suggest you find it

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Thank you, I’ll check that out

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If that was what you were told you have clearly been mislead.
In future get everything in writing and if you do use the phone immediately ping off an email to reiterate what was just discussed.
Another route would be to contact the landlord directly to find out what exactly they were told and/or said about the situation, as the agents seem to be contradicting themselves.

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My fiancé called them and was a bit more stern about it. We found out they never even discussed the 2nd dog with him, just said no to us themselves. They have now finally. The landlord has now accepted us getting a 2nd dog after our offer of extra rent and after the next door neighbour gave a good reference to the agency about our current dog. Thanks for your advice - certainly learnt a lesson about getting everything in writing.

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The agent isn’t the Landlord. you should have verified the pet situation directly with the landlord and secured his agreement regarding additional dogs. As you don’t appear to have anything In writing then you have little chance of recourse especially as the landlord has declared that he isn’t pet friendly as you were led to believe