Fish allowed in my rental? Confusing legal wording.

mightymooses

Hi, I'm set to move into a small studio flat in a couple of days. Its in a block of flats that are all managed by one agency. The section in my agreement regarding pets states, "the tenant agrees not to keep any pets, animals, birds or reptiles or rodents on the premises". I find this very confusing wording and would like some clarification from others on whether this means I could keep a small fish tank. I can't understand why it would state "pets, animals" which seems pretty all enclusive as being all living things, then list "birds or reptiles or rodents" as if these are not animals. Fish are not mentioned in the list so does this mean they're allowed or does animals mean fish?? I'm very confused by this wording and was hoping anyone who has more knowledge of legal wording could explain to me.
I know the easy option is to ask but the only way to make contact is with phone calls, which I try to avoid as much as possible. Any advice appreciated!

davidmcn

As long as your fish don't annoy the neighbours I think you'll be fine.

TBagpuss

I suspect that the wording is intended to catch all possibilities. In a residential setting, most people would see 'pets' and 'animals' as covering the same ground, but listing them separately would catch the person who claims that their Emu is a bird, not an animal, and is a guard-emu not a pet.

With fish, I think the only thing you have to worry about is water damage is you had a large tank and it broke. After all, it's not as though there is a risk they might escape and cause problems for the neighbours, or that they might chew, or smell, or make a lot of noise.

A small tank is likely to be fine

Davesnave

It appears no one who has replied here so far has ever had dealings with a large eel....


However, I agree with the others that a modest tank of fish would not be viewed as a terrible hazard or likely to annoy others in neighbouring flats.

LilElvis

Make sure whatever you place the tank on is strong enough to take the weight. Even a small tank weighs a hell of lot and you don't want a little coffee table collapsing under the strain of a 40l tank!

AlexMac

Can't you just buy em from Iceland like everyone else?

welshbookworm

Please if your fish tank has electrics (light,heat etc) make sure the electrics are safe.
Had the misfortune to live below a flat where the fish tank electrics were the source of the fire. The fireman put his foot through my ceiling and it was like that for ages.

eddddy

Fish are animals, so the agreement doesn't allow you to keep them - so if you ask, the answer is likely to be "no".

But if you don't say anything - I suspect nobody will ever find out.


...unless the tank breaks and gallons of water flood the flat - and the flat below!!!

If you think there's a risk of that, you might want to make sure that you have contents insurance with suitable occupier's liability cover.

Red-Squirrel_2

If its a small studio flat I'd live there for a bit before deciding whether or not you actually have room for a fish tank.

ACG

"the tenant agrees not to keep any pets, animals, birds or reptiles or rodents on the premises"

That reads as a list to me. So it would be no pets, no animals, no birds and no reptiles. A goldfish to me would be classed as a pet.

To me if you were reading it to the letter, I would say no fish/goldfish. But I agree with everyone else the chances of anyone caring about a goldfish or 2 is pretty slim. You never know if you will have one of those neighbours with nothing better to do than look out their window and complain so I would probably try to bring the bits in discretely.

Adereterial

There’s nothing unclear about that clause.

You can’t have pets. Fish in a tank a pets. You also can’t hve any other animals - which excludes any other type of non-pet animal - livestock, service animals, guard animals etc. Excluding service animals may be a breach of the Equality Act but that a subject for a different debate.