Slightly worried!

charlie792

I had an inspection yesterday by the EA's they said they would get the LL to come round and look at the bathroom light not working - today the LL's dad (they both own the property) just turned up completely unannounced to look at the light - he also wanted to check the damp in the bedroom, I asked for few mins to 'tidy up' but he came in anyway - there is my hamster sitting on the floor, with her cage and pen. He didn't say anything but he had to have seen it as we were standing right next to it - Im slightly worried we're gunna get into trouble now as before we rented the place we the EA said they wouldn't allow pets of any kind at the property...

poppysarah

Just say you're looking after it for a week for a friend who's in hospital very sick.

BitterAndTwisted

How unfortunate that your dishonesty has come back to bite you on the bum...

Quite honestly, I doubt that most LLs would object to small caged animal: most of these "no animals" agreements are drafted to deter idiot tenants from acquiring half a dozen Rottweilers which then damage the property. To a lot of minds, any "no animals" agreements could be argued that it's an unreasonable term and unenforceable in any case.

If they object you have a number of choices: lie and say that you or your kid is looking after it for a friend who is away for Christmas (this should be quite easy for you as you're already used to being dishonest), agreeing to get rid of it and don't (ditto), get rid of it or challenging it as an unenforceable clause but risk getting a S21.

charlie792

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

How unfortunate that your dishonesty has come back to bite you on the bum...
this should be quite easy for you as you're already used to being dishonest.

Not exactly sure why you need to be so rude and are making me out to be such a bad person for this.

What was I meant to do abandon it the first second I found somewhere to live? - Im sure that would have made me a better person

sonastin

charlie792 wrote: »

Not exactly sure why you need to be so rude and are making me out to be such a bad person for this.

What was I meant to do abandon it the first second I found somewhere to live? - Im sure that would have made me a better person

No...

but as a grown up who knew they were doing something wrong, it is kinda childish to be "really worried" that you've been caught out. You knew you were allowed pets. You chose to have a pet anyway. You deal with the consequences of that choice. And B&T has spelt out the options for dealing with the consequences quite clearly.

BitterAndTwisted

Being honest at the very beginning would have been a good start: as I said most landlords wouldn't object to a small caged-animal but you might have been hoist by your own petard now. No-one has suggested you should have wrung its neck or anything. It's possible that your landlord is now wondering about what else you might have been less than candid about.

charlie792

sonastin wrote: »

No...

but as a grown up who knew they were doing something wrong, it is kinda childish to be "really worried" that you've been caught out. You knew you were allowed pets. You chose to have a pet anyway. You deal with the consequences of that choice. And B&T has spelt out the options for dealing with the consequences quite clearly.

Well considering it was the EA themselves who told me to lie - I asked if we were allowed pets and explained we had a hamster. The EA said just put on the form that you don't 'you can always hide it' I was told....

Orange2010

Why waste your time even replying to 'Bitter and Twisted' the clue is in the name!!!!!!

bosseyed

I wouldn't worry about it unduly, I doubt the landlord will have that much objection to a hamster and if they do, well you're looking after it for a friend. And if that means that for every future inspection you have to dump hammy with a neighbour for half an hour or something then so be it, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

And as far as I know landlords aren't allowed to just rock up whenever they like, they have to give you some notice period. If you plan on keeping hammy, might be worth point this out to them, give you time to stash the evidence before they arrive.....

BitterAndTwisted

Oh, that's OK then. If the landlord objects to Hammy I'm sure they'll be overjoyed to hear what their agent's advice was. Still, you're a grown adult and are allegedly competent to make your own decisions and responsible enough to accept the consequences of your own actions.

I've heard that quite a lot of Infant and Primary schools have pets in the class-room and teachers or parents quite often take them home for the holidays while school is closed.....

charlie792

bosseyed wrote: »

I wouldn't worry about it unduly, I doubt the landlord will have that much objection to a hamster and if they do, well you're looking after it for a friend. And if that means that for every future inspection you have to dump hammy with a neighbour for half an hour or something then so be it, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

And as far as I know landlords aren't allowed to just rock up whenever they like, they have to give you some notice period. If you plan on keeping hammy, might be worth point this out to them, give you time to stash the evidence before they arrive.....

Thanks - The hammy has always been tucked away elsewhere before, for the inspection she had a little holiday with family.
The point of the thread was to see if the 'no animals' really was that enforceable.
I know the previous tenant had a cat - the amount of cat fur I found in the carpets and on the curtains gave that one away, not to mention the scratch marks all over the window sills - but I certainly don't know if the LL was aware of it...

I agree about the notice period thing that's the second time the LL's dad has just randomly turned up now...