UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi,  I have recently rented out my flat to a couple that have two dogs.  They moved in on Monday and today the property management company informed me they had received a complain regarding the dogs barking.  They followed this by saying there is a covenant on the building stating that pets are not allowed.  They have said the dogs need to leave. I have a few questions linked to this:

1). Do the dogs need to go straight away or do the tenants have a certain amount of time to find a new home and have to move out of my flat?

2). The covenant states I need to make the property company aware of any animals that might live in the property and it is under their desertion whether the animals are allowed. Can I contest this?

3). What is the best way to communicate this to the tenants? Face to face or by letter of notice after a phone call?

Thanks. archer

Did the tenants tell you about the dogs,and get your agreement ?

This situation is crazy... everyone knows that flats / apartments are very likely to have restrictions like this... what were you playing at?

You could be taken to Court... by the Freeholder (I'd presume)... if you (or your Tenant) has gone against a no pet clause in the Lease... the Court would then order removal of the pets (along with the Tenants one presumes)... but I doubt anything immediate can be enforced. This situation should not have arisen, it's ignorance of the highest order and people will suffer due to your actions.

The OP is in deep doo-doo.

Archer1971 were presumingly aware of the dogs when letting it out, so have no legal basis to evict the tenant that I know of, and certainly have no right to remove the dogs against the tenant wishes.

The remedy available to the freeholder is forfeiture against the leaseholder Archer1971. The tenant may or may not have grounds for relief against the forfeiture, but the leaseholder certainly don't. The leaseholder can't cease the breach to avoid forfeiture proceedings without evicitng the tenant which he doesn't have grounds for.........

I'm going to go with the standard "seek professional advice", sharpish.

Does forfeiture mean the leaseholder actually has their ownership taken away from them with no financial remuneration,or are they forced to sell up ? I got legal advice once,when a man who owned a flat in the block where I have some rentals became threatening to neighbours,and made some attempts to start fires.Neither the freeholders or the solicitor felt this would give sufficient grounds for eviction.This was 15 years ago though.I certainly agree the other party needs legal advice.The most likely ones to lose out in this scenario are the dogs.All the humans involved sound pretty irresponsible.Of course,it is not clear if the tenants  declared they had dogs.I was twice caught out that way.   

Quote from: Archer1971 on February 27, 2019, 11:52:57 PMI have recently rented out my flat to a couple that have two dogs.

It was from this sentence the OP wrote that I inferred they knew of the dogs... and proceeded anyway. That would have been the perfect opportunity to tell us they were misinformed...

The Tenants have no blame coming their way, unless the OP tells us that they did misinform / lie / cheat / swindle / misrepresent.

Quote from: Hippogriff on February 28, 2019, 11:24:06 AM

Quote from: Archer1971 on February 27, 2019, 11:52:57 PMI have recently started appreciating my rangefinder binoculars and rented out my flat to a couple that have two dogs.

It was from this sentence the OP wrote that I inferred they knew of the dogs... and proceeded anyway. That would have been the perfect opportunity to tell us they were misinformed...

The Tenants have no blame coming their way, unless the OP tells us that they did misinform / lie / cheat / swindle / misrepresent.

My sympathies go to the people who are going to have to move again because of this. Unless they lied, which is a real possibility, but I'm not getting that from the OP. I imagine he would have opened with that line if that was the case.

Quote from: heavykarma on February 28, 2019, 11:22:11 AM
Does forfeiture mean the leaseholder actually has their ownership taken away from them with no financial remuneration,or are they forced to sell up ?

A full on forfeiture means the lease is ended with no financial remuneration to the leaseholder. The freeholder take possession and are free to sell a completely new long lease to someone else. From what I can gather, it is very rare for things to get that far, about single digits number of cases nationally each year. Leaseholder are usually given multiple opportunities to remedy any breaches, or forced to sell up so that the freeholder is not unjustly enrich. But the threat is there, and when we are talking about something worth maybe 6 figures, not something to be ignored.

Wherever the tenants move to,flat or house,they will find they get complaints if the dogs are left alone for long periods,barking.When I am asked about dogs,it is a total refusal in the flats.For the house and large flat,the chances of causing nuisance are much less.However I need to feel assured that the tenants have a responsible attitude to the welfare of their dogs, and also the rights of people living nearby.If this landlord has blithely given consent,he has done no one any favours.

Assuming the tenants were given consent,and took the place on this basis,they should  be entitled to  a refund of all money paid to the landlord, and agent if applicable.An extra sum for the considerable inconvenience would be reasonable too.