Leasehold clause no cats which may be a nuisance...

AdrianC

19lottie82 wrote: »

Whatever the clause states, would it be enforceable? I doubt it.

That's a whole 'nuther kettle of fish.

CathA

Just to add, my daughter was buying a flat in a block that other people had pets in; dogs, cats etc. When the subject of her dog came up, the lease said that animals were allowed with the freeholders consent and they must not be a nuisance to the other residents. As there were lots of other pets in the building, she thought it would be just a formality and her solicitor phoned the freeholder just to check. She was told under no circumstances could she have a dog; I believe a flat had been rented to someone previously who had a couple of dogs and they (and the owner) had been a complete nightmare, so from now in no dogs. The freeholder said that as she had been told no, if she sneaked the dog in there and they found out, she would be in breach of her lease, which would affect her mortgage and they would serve notice to evict her for breaching the lease. The freeholders employed window cleaners and gardeners so all it would take is for them to make the dog bark, someone complain and the game is up. I might add that the flat came with a garden, the main reason she was buying it so she had a contained space for the dog. In the end she didn't buy it.

Not wishing to worry you but I'd ring the freeholder, as you don't want someone knocking at your door saying the cat goes or you do!

davidmcn

CathA wrote: »

Not wishing to worry you but I'd ring the freeholder, as you don't want someone knocking at your door saying the cat goes or you do!

They can knock on the door if they like, but they'd also need to persuade a court that the enforcement they're seeking is reasonable. You can't just kick someone out summarily because they haven't obeyed their lease to the letter.

agrinnall

AdrianC wrote: »

The problem with the option B interpretation is that the "pet which may be a nuisance" is, by definition, redundant, since you've already explicitly covered any live animal.

Exactly the point I was making in post #23, but you've spelled it out to make it even more obvious.

Greenone

CathA wrote: »

Just to add, my daughter was buying a flat in a block that other people had pets in; dogs, cats etc. When the subject of her dog came up, the lease said that animals were allowed with the freeholders consent and they must not be a nuisance to the other residents. As there were lots of other pets in the building, she thought it would be just a formality and her solicitor phoned the freeholder just to check. She was told under no circumstances could she have a dog; I believe a flat had been rented to someone previously who had a couple of dogs and they (and the owner) had been a complete nightmare, so from now in no dogs. The freeholder said that as she had been told no, if she sneaked the dog in there and they found out, she would be in breach of her lease, which would affect her mortgage and they would serve notice to evict her for breaching the lease. The freeholders employed window cleaners and gardeners so all it would take is for them to make the dog bark, someone complain and the game is up. I might add that the flat came with a garden, the main reason she was buying it so she had a contained space for the dog. In the end she didn't buy it.

Not wishing to worry you but I'd ring the freeholder, as you don't want someone knocking at your door saying the cat goes or you do!

Thanks CathA - it sounds like, in your daughter's case, the restriction was to not keep an animal without the consent of the landlord.

In my case, consent is not an issue - the restriction (depending on how the clause is interpreted) is either to keep no cats, or to keep no annoying/nuisance-causing cats.

The only way the freeholder/landlord could "consent" to me keeping a pet with no conditions attached, would be to enter into a deed of variation (which i'm keen to avoid given that it will be at my expense and circa £1k).

I'm just trying to get comfortable that the clause would be interpreted in my favour - i.e. that it means no annoying/nuisance-causing cats.