inbox
rid of the dog you will move out, leaving him with all the expenses of finding a new tenant, he may change his mind. I would recommend you begin with a “friendly” chat with your Landlord and that you seek advice from a solicitor. Samantha Massey is head of training and compliance at SDL Estate Management Ltd These articles are not intended to give legal advice, and, accordingly, it should not be relied upon. It should not be regarded as a comprehensive statement of the law and/or market practice in this area. We make no claims as to the completeness or accuracy of the information contained herein or in the links which were live at the date of publication. You should not act upon (or should refrain from acting upon) information in this publication without first seeking specific legal and/or specialist advice.
be able to request that you can keep your pet in your flat despite a clause in the lease against it. Any such request should be fairly considered and not refused without reason. A problem does arise after the fixed term has ended. Your landlord can serve what is known as a section 21 notice on you which, if you do not vacate during the notice period, will entitle him to bring a claim for possession through the courts, based on that notice. Section 21 proceedings do not have to give a reason, other than the fact that a valid section 21 notice has been served and the tenant has not moved out. So, if your landlord did this, you would have to move out or face eviction. However, hopefully, during your fixed term, you can convince your landlord to re-consider his decision. If he sees that you are good tenants, the dog is not destructive, and that if he requires you to get
If the tenancy agreement has a clause forbidding pets (most tenancy agreements do by default), then the next thing to consider is whether you have evidence to show that your landlord provided you with consent. When you signed your tenancy agreement, you acquired a legal right or interest in the property. This means that you are entitled to live there until such time as you are evicted by the courts. I think it most unlikely that in these circumstances your landlord could succeed in a claim to evict you because of your dog, for the reasons given above. You would have a good defence to such a claim. For this reason, I think it is unlikely that your landlord would start any proceedings, particularly if you have made all rent and any other payments promptly. In addition, under the unfair terms regulations – part of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 – you should
building.” If the freeholder made the decision to enforce the “no pets policy”, your landlord may be wary of breaching the terms of their own lease and any potential action that may be taken against them as a leaseholder. That might be why they have asked you to remove the pet from the property. As mentioned earlier, the terms of the lease will be between your landlord and the freeholder. If the freeholder has made the decision that consent is now required before you can keep a pet, your landlord may be able to apply for retrospective consent for you to keep a pet in their property. The first thing you need to do is to check your tenancy agreement. Has it been amended to confirm that you may keep the dog? If it has, then there is nothing the landlord can do. He cannot unilaterally change the tenancy agreement without your consent.
Do you have a leasehold related problem?
Call of theMonth
Thanks to Adiuvo – specialist out-of-hours and call-handling solutions for the property management industry
Do you need some advice?
W e will soon introduce live chat via the new AI platform AskPorter. Part of what we’ve done in working with them has
Get in touch with us for some FREE expert advice! This is open to leaseholders and professionals! The only place to offer free advice to the entire industry. Email us: editor@newsontheblock.com
been training or teaching it more obscure call types – at present animal related ones – to allow it to recognise unusual situations and deal correctly instead of immediately passing the enquiry to a PM. So instead of one call of the month
we have been searching our 10-year archives to find occurrences with, to date, cows, ponies, a horse, three chickens, a goldfish, a chinchilla and three snakes!
21 ISSUE 103
www.newsontheblock.com
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker