can residential management company make me get rid of a pet, as the homeowner?

jigglypuff66

I am the owner of a duplex apartment, which I let to a long term tenant.
She recently asked me if she can keep cat, at the property and install a cat flap. She's a fantastic tenant so I agreed.
The 16 apartments are managed by a residential management company to whom all homeowners pay an annual management fee. This is for refuse collection, communal lighting, gardening etc.
I recently received a letter from the management company stating that I must remove the cat flap on grounds of fire safety. They also claim that having a pet in the apartment is a breech of the lease agreement between myself (the owner) and the management company. They have asked my to get rid of the cat.
As I own the property I naturally assumed it's my right to have a pet in my property.
Do they have the right to do this?
Has anyone had any experience like this with a management company before?
Any input or advise would be greatly appreciated.

aneary

The management company where I live have a strict no pets policy.

My LL agreed to this when he brought the leasehold.

G_M

Best read your lease and see what it says about pets.

I don't have a copy so can't read it for you.

eddddy

As G_M says, you need to read your lease. It may say no pets, it may say pets only with the freeholder's consent, or there may be no restriction.

What has the cat flap been installed into? Is it in a fire door? On into an escape route?

If so, you'll probably need to remove that as well. If a fire door has been cut into, I suspect you'll need to get a new door to achieve the fire resistance rating.

boliston

As a tenant you should NOT be installing cat flaps! Having a cat (or cats) discreetly is one thing but a cat flap is like shouting "I HAVE A CAT"

michael1234

boliston wrote: »

As a tenant you should NOT be installing cat flaps! Having a cat (or cats) discreetly is one thing but a cat flap is like shouting "I HAVE A CAT"

If your landlord gives you permission to do so then why not?

This does bring up the subject though of what does being an owner mean? It seems to me there are increasing levels of ownership. From squatter to lodger to tenant to leaseholder to freeholder to the queen and positions inbetween.

Essentially nobody can do whatever the heck they want on "their" land. I suspect our even our dear monarch would need planning permission to do certain things. e.g. Would she be allowed to demolish Buckingham Palace if for some crazy reason she wanted to? I would doubt it.

boliston

michael1234 wrote: »

If your landlord gives you permission to do so then why not?.

The "landlord" is still a tenant so have to abide by the rules of their lease - if they sub let then they cannot give their sub lessee any greater right that they have themselves as a tenant.

PasturesNew

michael1234 wrote: »

e.g. Would she be allowed to demolish Buckingham Palace if for some crazy reason she wanted to? I would doubt it.

Yes. She's the one exception. If she decided to do it, she can. As the Queen there'd be plenty of people willing to act on her word... and down it'd come.

No come back because court cases are Regina v. And she can't be taken to Court because she IS the law/court.

Her country; her rules. Because hundreds of years ago a bloke on a horse killed another bloke on a horse ....

PasturesNew

As for the OP. No, you cannot do what you want because it isn't "your property".

Anybody in a flat is subject to all the rules/regulations set out in the lease, the deeds and any covenants attached to that and even stuff in Planning Approval. Even many house/freeholder owners have some restrictions - increasingly so on modern estates.

Many flats don't allow the "owners" of the flats to have pets.

You need to get your paperwork out and read through it, to see where/if pets are mentioned.

If pets are not mentioned, then ask the fire brigade if a cat flap's a fire/safety issue....

If no pets mentioned and if it's not a fire risk .... then you can go back to the management company of the freeholder and say "Ah ... but it doesn't say that in any of my paperwork ....and the fire brigade sent a nice young man round and he said the flap's fine"

aneary

You can sue the crown now the legal position was changed some time ago.

The queen could also not just pull down buck palace as it's part of the crown estate which are assigned over to the country (hence why she is technically taxed 85%, unless she takes it back) also she would have to pass PP.

Rosemary7391

Unless it's a ground floor flat with it's own outside door I can see why the cat flap is an issue. Cat can wander into the common stairway at will, cause issues for anyone allergic to/scared of cats (who might've chosen this building for not allowing pets), might mess up the carpet if there is any (will almost certainly leave hairs on it!). And if it's in a door to the stairway then that's almost certainly a fire door and having a hole chopped in it won't help - I imagine you can get cat flaps that are designed to seal shut/be fire safe if they get hot, but did you?

I love cats, but even though you're an owner you still have to be considerate of those around you. And if the management company know about it it's obviously annoyed someone enough to make the call.