Buying a flat with two yappy dogs

beanie414

Hi guys,

I just wondered as I am about to (hopefully) move to the Essex coast from east London and we have two very yappy dogs! I am looking at garden flats with the share of the freehold but I was wondering if it is hard to buy a flat with pets?

Does it matter more about pets if it is a leasehold flat?

We are living in a house now with very tolerant neighbours!

Any advice welcome.

Thanks

mrschaucer

beanie414 said:

Does it matter more about pets if it is a leasehold flat?

Yes.  With any luck the estate agent will know whether there are restrictions on pets under the lease terms of any flat you want to look at.  Any chance of buying a small freehold house instead as then you can do as you wish? 

NameUnavailable

Some leases will exclude you from owning any pets (technically even a goldfish!). You need to check the lease of any property you are thinking of buying.

However if the neighbours are annoyed by the dogs barking they could complain to the freeholder that you are in breach of other terms of the lease which will cover noise/nuisance.

Buying a house is safer but if you can only afford a flat I would suggest buying one that only has one or two other flats (conversion obviously) or a maisonnette. You could even try to speak to your potential neighbours before committing to see if they like animals and are going to be relatively easy going or not.

Another option is dog training or muzzles!

beanie414

The problem is that I work shift work so I have to be very close to a station when I work morning shifts and the houses are much more expensive in those areas. We could get a house and another mortgage but we are mortgage free and it would mean getting a mortgage and I'm almost fifty. I wanted to retire in a couple of years, again hopefully, lol.

If you own a share of a freehold on a flat does that mean that you can have pets or that they can't kick you out if your pets are annoying?! I mean, they aren't that bad but I can imagine people getting irritated with the barking when we let them out into the garden if they have the flat above,

boxer234

I can’t think of anything worse than this for the other flat owners and I’m a dog lover.  Some leases restrict pets the estate agent should know that said this is a habit you can work on with positive training methods. 

beanie414

boxer234 said:

I can’t think of anything worse than this for the other flat owners and I’m a dog lover.  Some leases restrict pets the estate agent should know that said this is a habit you can work on with positive training methods. 

This is what worries me. They are both rescues and have had training which didn't work. They are little dogs but one has a very loud bark.

Ah, maybe we should go for a house and just annoy our neighbours and they can't do anything about it, haha.

beanie414

NameUnavailable said:

Some leases will exclude you from owning any pets (technically even a goldfish!). You need to check the lease of any property you are thinking of buying.

However if the neighbours are annoyed by the dogs barking they could complain to the freeholder that you are in breach of other terms of the lease which will cover noise/nuisance.

Buying a house is safer but if you can only afford a flat I would suggest buying one that only has one or two other flats (conversion obviously) or a maisonnette. You could even try to speak to your potential neighbours before committing to see if they like animals and are going to be relatively easy going or not.

Another option is dog training or muzzles!

We were definitely looking at maisonettes /split level conversion garden flats. They don't bark much in the house, only outside in our garden so we could keep them in and get an dog indoor litter tray and just take them outside for walks.

beanie414

Oh, yes, I meant to say we were hoping to go through an online place like purplebricks so does the estate agent you are buying from check the lease for the pet rules? Do you have to check that they are right about the rules as well? Do they provide you with a document about the lease?

Sorry if this sounds stupid. I have only bought one house as a first time buyer and we only had one cat back then.

Thanks.

Mojisola

beanie414 said:

This is what worries me. They are both rescues and have had training which didn't work. They are little dogs but one has a very loud bark.
Ah, maybe we should go for a house and just annoy our neighbours and they can't do anything about it, haha.

Perhaps you need to try different training methods.

If you want to be happy in your new house, don't underestimate the effect of the barking on your neighbours - if they are so inclined, they could make your life miserable in retaliation for having to listen to your dogs barking a lot.

Are you sure that they don't bark a lot when they are in the house and you aren't there?

MovingForwards

beanie414 said:

Oh, yes, I meant to say we were hoping to go through an online place like purplebricks so does the estate agent you are buying from check the lease for the pet rules? Do you have to check that they are right about the rules as well? Do they provide you with a document about the lease?

Sorry if this sounds stupid. I have only bought one house as a first time buyer and we only had one cat back then.

Thanks.

No, EAs do not check the lease rules.  You can downloaded them from the land registry and check whether pets are allowed.

Slithery

beanie414 said:

If you own a share of a freehold on a flat does that mean that you can have pets or that they can't kick you out if your pets are annoying?!

No, it doesn't. You still have to abide by the terms of the lease.