Buying a house Dog related Covenant/Condition, help please.

GJUK_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

God I'd be mortified if a neighbour started breeding smelly/noisy dogs ... and would get straight onto anybody that could shut them down.

Anyone can legally breed 3 litters without registering as a 'breeder'. I'm not running kennels.

There is no smell, little noise as the dogs in question are boxers and hardly bark.

Being registered is one thing, but running a business would still be occurring without registration. Registration's more about good animal keeping. Running a business is another matter.

They're bred for show purposes, its a non profit 'adventure'. So, no. It's not a business.

GJUK_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

If you're breeding dogs, wouldn't that require either planning or change of use?

No. Not less than 3 litters. See my previous response.

G_M

GJUK wrote: »

You sound like a right bell end tbh.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

welshy_2002

If your house backs onto farm land or you have no direct neighbours, then there is no one to complain..

Cissi

welshy_2002 wrote: »

If your house backs onto farm land or you have no direct neighbours, then there is no one to complain..

The OP has already stated that there are neighbours on each side, just not to the rear. But as far as I can see, the key question is still who owns the covenant, as I think they're the only ones who could make a legal case to enforce it - and they would have to prove that they had been directly affected by the breach. So if it's the original builder - which sounds likely to me - then I don't think there is a problem. If, however, the neighbours are somehow involved then I think you need to steer clear.

MissMoneypenny

GJUK wrote: »

There is no smell, little noise as the dogs in question are boxers and hardly bark.

It could be that you just can't smell them anymore. Short coated breeds smell; a lot.

A few years ago my then OH, wanted a boxer. The breeders we looked at were like you, living in built up areas. One of the breeders told us she had lost dogs when her neighbours poisoned them because of the "noise and smell", yet she insisted her dogs were quiet and didn't smell. It wasn't true. To make matters worse, our car wouldn't start and the breeder invited us back into her house while we waited for the RAC: we declined as we preferred the cold March weather to the smell of her house.

We even looked at Boxer pups from breed show judges and their houses had a strong odour too. Lots of boxers together were not that quiet, even though every one of the breeders claimed they were.

I do know of two Boxers that worked, who were quiet, but perhaps that was because they got plenty of twice daily (free running across fields) exercise? They still had that short coated dog smell though.

vet8

When we bought our house there was apparently a convenant saying that breeding dogs was not allowed. As I keep German Shepherd Dogs and intended to breed them I queried this with the solicitor. He said that if we were not breeding commercially, but just having "casual pregnancies of a pet dog" that was O.K. so we went ahead. I must say that I have looked at the deeds and can find no mention of this covenant, so where he got it from I don't know.

If the covenent dates back to 1938 I assume whoever drew it up is long dead. You need to find who made the rule in the first place and also find out if your new neighbours will be miserable dog- haters. Covenant or not, they will be a pain in the a**e if they are paranoid about dogs. I bet they will still have horrible, noisy, destructive children though who they think are little angels.

ILW

Any dog bigger than a cat should only be allowed in the rural countryside. They are a nuisance to neighbours, parks and just about everybody.

Person_one

ILW wrote: »

Any dog bigger than a cat should only be allowed in the rural countryside. They are a nuisance to neighbours, parks and just about everybody.

What's that got to do with anything?

morg_monster

I find it hard to believe that a house with puppies in for maybe 3m twice a year would really smell that much from the outside? Because the smell once you're inside is really no-one's business but your own, just like if you choose to smoke like a chimney inside, or spray glade about 24/7, or have horrid paisley carpets. And the noise.... how far are the neighbours? Again, surely for most of the time the pups are in your house they can't be big enough to make MUCH noise (at least not the kind of barks that carry through a couple of walls and a few metres of air). But I don't know that much about how long they are with you before they go to their permanent owners, maybe they do get pretty raucous before they leave you.

Obviously I'm guessing you have a couple of adult pet dogs, well aside from the covenant I would say on the whole having people move in next door with dogs is one of those things that you have to accept in life considering how many people have them.

Sounds like you need to find out who placed the covenant as someone above said. And whether any of your new neighbours have dogs themselves! Are the houses around you similar? If so they are likely to have the same covenant; so if you moved in and then had problems with the dogs and neighbours they may know that you're breaking it.