To allow a dog or not allow a dog

Landlord Discussion
1

Tenant of 18 months has asked to look after a colleagues’ dog once or twice a week. Fully house trained, neverf be left at the flat alone. Personally I don’t want dogs but know the law has changed. The Open Rent Agreement with him says ’ cat, dog, bird or other pet or animal at the Premises without the Landlord’s written consent, such consent, if granted to be revocable at will byu the Landlord upon giving reasonable written notice. If consent is given, the Tenant agrees to undertake or alternatively pay for a full clean of the Premises with de-infestation cleaner upon termination of the t enancy.

The Agreement with the Freeholders states: “Not to keep any cat, dog… bird or other pet or animal athe Premises without the andlord’s written consent”

The location is complex to an outsider with 18 leasehold flats and 4 freehold houses all on the same site. The houses are permitted to have animals but the flats not.

Of course recent legislation has muddied the waters. This tenant came in under old legislation, so does the Agreement he signed up to now become obsolete and the new legislation overrides what has gone before?

Apart from using ChatGPT, would my next move be to consult the Freeholder and see if they will/will not consent?

Since all that the tenant has put in a Formal Request to temporarily have a dog in the flat on an intermittent and temporary basis in accordan e with his tenancy agreement and renting regulations. He has noted that other residents already keep dogs/cats. This is incorrect as those in question were owned by the free hold houses.

Constructive advice would be welcome.
Thanks for your time

2

Flats not permitted by the freeholder. There you go ,that is your get out clause . A dog in a flat , no chance.

3

@Prue

You should ask freeholder (see nrla guidance below) but you can frame your question implying you expect a refusal eg

"I am personally not in favour of this request from my tenants given risks of damage, noise etc so do not expect a positive response and would prefer a negative reply. I understand the purpose of the lease clause is to restrict pets in the flats, which I fully support.

However in order to follow nrla guidance I am asking whether you would consent to a dog being present in my flat, which would need your explicit positive consent based on the terms of my lease"

Then just refuse based on the reply (or none if not received) and the lease for your flat, quoting the clause and say you understand it’s different for the houses. To be more certain of not getting a positive reply in time, send on day 22 at 5pm marked ‘Request from sub tenant- to be agreed by the freeholder’, and respond to tenant 5pm on the final day 28 if no positive response received from freeholder. You are obligated to ask for freeholder consent, but not to give them an overly long time to consider it. A week is plenty and reasonable as any good freeholder will already know about RRA and will have considered the issue already.

Then when you don’t have consent from the freeholder, say so and official guidance

"When you can refuse a request for a pet

It may be reasonable to refuse a request in some circumstances, such as:

  • another tenant has an allergy
  • the property is too small for a large pet or several pets
  • the pet is illegal to own
  • if you’re a leaseholder and the freeholder does not allow pets"

Also. From same guidelines

"If a tenant wants a pet to live with them

If your tenant wants to keep a pet, they’ll need to ask you in writing.

They’ll need to include a description of the pet in their request. This could include:

  • what type of animal it is
  • how big it is
  • how much room it will need (for example, if it will be in an enclosure)

You cannot refuse without a fair reason.

If your tenant keeps a pet without your permission, they may be breaking the terms of the tenancy agreement.

Once your tenant has asked for a pet

Once your tenant has asked for a pet, you have 28 days to respond in writing.

You can ask for more information about the pet from your tenant if needed. If your tenant does not respond when you ask for more information, you do not have to consider the request.

Once your tenant has given you the additional information, you have either the remainder of the original 28 days or an extra 7 days to respond with your final decision, whichever is later.

If you refuse a request for a pet, you should explain why.

Example

Your tenant asks in writing if they can have a dog. You have 28 days to respond to them.

You’d like more information about the size of the dog and whether it is house trained, so you ask the tenant within the 28 days.

They reply and tell you it’s a small dog that is trained.

You then have either the remainder of the original 28 days or an extra 7 days to respond with your final decision, whichever is later.

If you’re a leaseholder, you may need to ask for permission from your freeholder. You’ll need to check the terms of your lease."

See also from nrla

"If you have a superior landlord and your lease bans you from accepting the pet then that is always an acceptable reason for you to refuse a pet request. You should communicate this to your tenant within 28 days of receiving the request.

If you have a superior landlord and the lease states that pets are not allowed without their consent, you should make reasonable efforts to obtain that consent. If they refuse this request, then it will be reasonable to deny the tenant’s request. "

Good luck

4

The freehold agreement is your reason

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5

Thanks everyone for your replies. I have had further details about the dog and have since contacted the Managing Agent to contact the Freeholder and request a Consent. I have also said I am not in favour but realise the RRA has it’s own rules guiding legislation!

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6

You mean you would allow it if the freeholder says it is OK ?

7

I don’t think he’d have much basis to refuse if the freeholder says yes.

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8

he will live to regret it. Everyone says their dog is well behaved. A flat ? That will please the other tenants.

9

@David122 a freeholder saying yes doesnt mean you have to say yes. there may be other reasonable grounds for refusing

To quote the official guidance

"When you can refuse a request for a pet

It may be reasonable to refuse a request in some circumstances, such as:

  • another tenant has an allergy
  • the property is too small for a large pet or several pets
  • the pet is illegal to own
  • if you’re a leaseholder and the freeholder does not allow pets

It would usually be unreasonable to refuse if you:

  • do not like pets
  • have had issues with tenants who had pets in the past
  • have had previous tenants with pets who damaged the property
  • have general concerns about potential damage in the future
  • think a pet might affect future rentals
  • know the tenant needs an assistance animal, such as a guide dog

If you refuse a request for a pet, you’ll need to respond to your tenant in writing."

So a Great Dane in a small studio flat on the 10th floor which is untrained and is going to be left at home when tenants are at work [or tenants havent yet figured out a plan for the dog’s care] might be reasonable to refuse…

in this case tho, house trained and wont be left alone, not obvious why refuse if freeholder says yes

best

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10

I’m aware of those grounds, but they didn’t seem to apply here, hence my post.

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11

I would have quoted the legislation from the freeholder contract
Case would have closed

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12

The lease term says without the freeholder consent, so I don’t think you would have got away with not even asking them.

13

I would probably reply to the tenant now saying that it needs consent from the freehold landlord, you have asked, but if they say no, or don’t reply then it has to be no. I the meantime, can I have some details about the dog? What size/breed? Can I have a copy of up to date vaccinations and evidence it has been chipped and that this chip correctly identifies the owner.

You don’t want the landlord to come back and say yes at the last minute and you don’t have time to ask for more information.

Being chipped is a legal requirement (for cats as well now), so perhaps this is an argument that it is illegal to own - or at least a tenant would be unlikely to go to court over this point while accepting they themselves are in breach of the law.

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14

The most important thing here is the dog , period. Essentially will the dog bbe left alone for More than 4 hours if so its a hard no

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15

Ask the tenants to sign a document to pay for property pet insurance for damages and they will also be responsible for replacing the floor boards if the per urinates on the floorboards

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16

I would say you can’t force a tenant to pay for pet insurance or make having pet insurance a requirement of having a pet. But that is just my take. The word “unreasonable” in the RRA will only really get it’s full meaning from case precedent, and there hasn’t been any yet. You can charge them for damage caused by a pet, but if they refuse to pay you’ll probably need to go to the small claims court to get the money or knock it off their deposit when they moved out. A dog can potentially do a lot more damage than 5 months rent.

But if you you do allow it in the end, getting them to sign something underlining their understanding that pet damage must be repaired within the timescale stated in the tenancy. I always describe pets something like this “My girlfriend’s cat loves to claw the stairs carpet. If a tenant’s cat had destroyed the stairs carpet at an annual inspection, then the carpet would need replacing. If at the next inspection it has done it again, then it’s another new carpet. Otherwise damage quickly mounts up and becomes more than the deposit”. I think that’s within the rules, but I’m not a lawyer. Maybe a discussion like that, or the first repair bill might make your tenant less keen on pet sitting.

17

@Phil15

There’s a good discussion of this at

Esp How to minimise risk of damage from pets • The Independent Landlord

And particularly the ‘model pet policy’ at

Best

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18

Landlords have no authority or expertise to advise how the dog should be looked after and it would not wash with a judge if challenged.

19

That’s illegal under the Tenant Fees Act

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20

@David122

True. But LLs do have a legit interest in knowing no laws are broken on their property, including on animal welfare, and on potential nuisance impact on neighbours. If you’ve ever lived next door to a property with an unattended wailing howling dog, you’ll understand. Admittedly maybe judges all live in expensive detached properties but they can still imagine the risk of such an impact

Best