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

jigglypuff66

Just to give more details on this.

There are no indoor common areas, the flat allows the cat to walk out into a court yard/ road? The front door is on street level and spans up to the attic. Its like a town house. We used to manage the property ourselves until the key resident that arranged this and allowed this management company to come in and bully most of us in many ways.

@eddddy - what do you mean by freeholder? am I not the freeholder as the person that purchased this property?

I have my original deeds and covenants when I purchased the property and i'll have a look at them tonight.

We did enter a lease with the management company but I was under the impression their responsibility is to look after the surrounds and common areas. Surely they cannot dictate to the owner of a property if they can or can't have a cat?
The owner I bought the property off had a parrot and a dog when I went for the viewing many moons ago.

It makes me anxious that this company can do this, I understand the fire safety but not allowing a pet?

TBagpuss

Are you in the UK?

You need to read the contracts you have with the management co. and the head lease.

I suspect (but check the lease) that removing the cat flap and reinstating the fire door are enforceable requirements.
Demanding that the tenant doesn't have a pet may or may not be enforceable.

If you are not in the UK then you need to get advice locally!

Ithaca

what do you mean by freeholder? am I not the freeholder as the person that purchased this property?

This is quite an important point! You should know whether you own the freehold to your property or not... if you are NOT the freeholder (i.e. you bought a lease for the house, even if it's 999 yrs) then it's a very different position.

If you think you own the freehold but in fact only own the lease then a cat flap is likely to be the least of your worries over the next few years!

jigglypuff66

I am in the UK, the door is not a fire door it is simply a UPVC front door like any other normal house. Everyone has a similar variation to a UPVC door on the plot. We all walk out onto the street.

I do not have a copy of the lease with management company and I do not see anything on our online portal other than statements of how much we owe Re: management fee

jigglypuff66

I know for a fact that the land is freehold. not leasehold. The reason I remember this is that the house/ apartment was quite expensive due to the fact the land was freehold.

Please note that this dispute is with the residential management company. They collect money from the residents as a management fee and pay for the refuse collection, electricity for the automatic gates, gardening etc..

Please feel free to give me some further advice, you have been helpful. You were right in asking me a few more questions to direct the responses in the right direction

eddddy

jigglypuff66 wrote: »

I know for a fact that the land is freehold. not leasehold. The reason I remember this is that the house/ apartment was quite expensive due to the fact the land was freehold.

You describe the property as a 'duplex apartment'. Are there other apartments on top of (or underneath) it?

If not it would be a house which could well be freehold. If there are, it's unlikely to be freehold (in England and Wales).

LEJC

look very carefully at and read your purchase documents that would have been sent to you by your solicitor following the purchase of the property.

certainly what you describe in your opening post would lead most to the assumption that you have purchased a leasehold property and as such you are bound to comply to any leasehold conditions within the lease document.

With a leasehold property is is not unusual that you will need to seek permission to carry out certain things within the boundaries of your property and there may well be exclusions on the owning of pets for example.

The set up of the managing company that collect a management fee from all leaseholder on a monthly basis is not uncommon in a leasehold situation either....that company basically acts on behalf of the leaseholders to ensure communal expenses are met and that as you refer to in the opening post leasehold conditions are upheld.

Red-Squirrel_2

It is possible for freehold properties to have management companies that look after communal areas, especially if there are also leasehold properties on the same development.

Do you pay ground rent as well as a maintenance charge?

If your property is indeed freehold then the management company can jog on, you are perfectly entitled to have a cat in the house!

jigglypuff66

yes there is a flat underneath

We do not share the front door (with the said cat flap)
Every propertry has a seperate front door walking out to various areas around the plot.

jigglypuff66

no ground rent. I am 100% sure the development and gardens are on freehold land

we have an agreement with the management company like @LEJC has said.
I'll have a good read of the letter they sent again and my docs that were passed over from the conveyancing solicitors upon purchase.

I wonder if the Management company are assuming I am not the landlord, I was gobsmacked that they can ask me to ask my tenant to get rid of her cat.