Buying a leasehold flat with a pet

imoustache

Hi guys,

I read this forum quite regularly and just came across a post that someone mentioned a pet.

I'm a FTB and never for a minute thought that pets until 10mins ago, could potentially cause me an issue with the freeholder. Now I'm super worried.

My solicitors, haven't yet sent me a full copy of the lease, however, I do have a copy of the Title Register acquired from land registry. Will this hold any information on pet clauses? If not, where will I find this information?

Bit of info on what we're buying:
1 bed ground-floor converted flat with private garden and communal entrance to other 3 flats. 125 years lease from 1987.

We have a lovely King Charles Cav who is very quiet.

Any light on this matter is greatly appreciated.

Thank you

G_M

Any pet clause will be in the lease.

It is unlikely to be copied by LR into the Title Register.

Is a Cav similar to a Chav?

ognum

imoustache wrote: »

Hi guys,

I read this forum quite regularly and just came across a post that someone mentioned a pet.

I'm a FTB and never for a minute thought that pets until 10mins ago, could potentially cause me an issue with the freeholder. Now I'm super worried.

My solicitors, haven't yet sent me a full copy of the lease, however, I do have a copy of the Title Register acquired from land registry. Will this hold any information on pet clauses? If not, where will I find this information?

Bit of info on what we're buying:
1 bed ground-floor converted flat with private garden and communal entrance to other 3 flats. 125 years lease from 1987.

We have a lovely King Charles Cav who is very quiet.

Any light on this matter is greatly appreciated.

Thank you

The majority of purpose built flats that I have come across have a no pet clause.

I really am not sure about conversions but do read the lease carefully not only for pet clauses but other issues come up as well. Know your responsibilities, do not expect your solicitor to point everything out to you.

Read the whole lease as soon as possible, anything you don't understand refer back to your solicitor.

Ask the vendor about pet clauses as well.

Irratus_Rusticus

Hi, of you don't want to wait for your solicitor to discuss your lease which they must acquire at some point if they know what they are doing, and if the vendor is unhelpful with a copy (perhaps fearing you will find something more than a dog clause to worry about) you can go here...

https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/copies-of-deeds

and browse around for the correct application form (think it's an OC2?) and download, fill in and post off with £7 and ask for the lease, not the title which is the £3 download bit.

The lease will tell you if pets are not allowed. Not sure it is true that this is the default but you might be unlucky. Otherwise it might say don't keep annoying pets. It will also likely say don't cause a nuisance so a perfect pet is not enough if your guests poo on the lawn or howl at the moon regularly.

Sadly no matter how good the dog is, if there is a blanket bar in the lease and somebody stirs up a fuss and the landlord feels compelled to issue a breach warning, then you would have a decision to make because tribunals find on the lease, whatever they might think of the dog itself.

Let's hope the lease is reasonable and only requires a not-annoying animal. Then it's down to opinion and degree of annoyance. Picking up doo-doo from common parts would probably be a wise opening move.

Davesnave

imoustache wrote: »

We have a lovely King Charles Cav who is very quiet.

Sorry, but all spaniels hum.

imoustache

Hi guys,

Thank you so much for the prompt replies. Really appreciate it.

I asked for a copy of the lease and my solicitors 'can't yet' provide me with the full lease. But I did find out about the pet restrictions. So here it is:

“no bird or dog or other animal which may cause annoyance to the owner, lessee or occupier of any other flat in the building shall be kept in the flat”.

Now I don't know what to do. Should I contact the management company and ask but might get a straight no. Or I ignore this because technically, as long as they don't disturb, I can have animals.

I promise, our dog doesn't bark and is a lazy little !!!!!! who loves the sofa. He loves his walkies but not very much a garden dog.

He's very unlikely to cause any annoyance or nuisance.

I don't know if it helps, the other ground floor flat has kids and remaining 2 flats is owned by a someone who rents them.

Thank you once again.

Guest101

The word 'may' is very open to interpretation

dc197

If your paperwork says no dogs, and you have a dog that you don't wish to give up, this flat sounds like a non-starter. There's probably very little else to be said.

Okrib

Depends on the building, the neighbours, the freeholder etc.


I bought a flat with a no pets clause in the lease. The vendor had a dog, and I now have two cats. The freeholder never visited the property and didn't care as long as he was getting his ground rent! We've enfranchised and as such now it isn't even an issue.


Based on that clause in the lease I would think you would be ok, as long as you don't have difficult neighbours.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

Quiet or not, he is unlikely to keep up with his half of the mortgage and I think you would be best advised to buy alone.

davidmcn

imoustache wrote: »

I asked for a copy of the lease and my solicitors 'can't yet' provide me with the full lease. But I did find out about the pet restrictions. So here it is:

“no bird or dog or other animal which may cause annoyance to the owner, lessee or occupier of any other flat in the building shall be kept in the flat”.

Now I don't know what to do. Should I contact the management company and ask but might get a straight no. Or I ignore this because technically, as long as they don't disturb, I can have animals.

As I've said on another thread, the pet would have to be annoying enough to persuade a neighbour to take legal action about it - and objectively annoying for a court to agree with them.

If an animal is that much of a nuisance then neighbours have other legal remedies anyway, even if the title deeds are silent about pets.

Also bear in mind that freehold properties often have similar restrictions. Such clauses are ubiquitous in modern housing developments, but I've never heard of them actually being enforced - not successfully anyway.