Help with cat in leasehold flat - Director with passive/aggressive behaviour

NameUnavailable

macman said:

Forgetting about the cat for the moment; who the hell buys a flat without reading every single word of the lease, 'loosely' or otherwise?
What else could be lurking in there that you 'weren't expecting to find'? 

I would hazard a guess that the majority of buyers never read the lease.

They will only see it late in the process, after paying for mortgage/broker fees, surveys, valuations, searches etc., and then rely on the solicitor to tell them if there's any show stoppers (but doubtful a solicitor will mention clauses about pets in their comments.

In fact a lot of buyers don't even know what the lease is, they think they're buying the actual flat.

wannabe_a_saver

davidmcn said:

I would have thought the likelihood of anybody bothering to go legal about an indoors cat to be pretty remote.

I'd have thought the chance of anyone refusing permission for a cat that's already there and hasn't bothered anybody were pretty remote, but its happened, so the OP may be dealing with someone unreasonable or we may not be getting the full story. 

davidmcn

wannabe_a_saver said:

davidmcn said:

I would have thought the likelihood of anybody bothering to go legal about an indoors cat to be pretty remote.

I'd have thought the chance of anyone refusing permission for a cat that's already there and hasn't bothered anybody were pretty remote, but its happened, so the OP may be dealing with someone unreasonable or we may not be getting the full story. 

Sure, but it costs nothing to refuse consent, and it's hardly unknown to be left in the limbo of not getting consent but not facing enforcement action for the breach either. It generally needs to be a significant problem before people will spend time and money going to court.

wannabe_a_saver

davidmcn said:

wannabe_a_saver said:

davidmcn said:

I would have thought the likelihood of anybody bothering to go legal about an indoors cat to be pretty remote.

I'd have thought the chance of anyone refusing permission for a cat that's already there and hasn't bothered anybody were pretty remote, but its happened, so the OP may be dealing with someone unreasonable or we may not be getting the full story. 

Sure, but it costs nothing to refuse consent, and it's hardly unknown to be left in the limbo of not getting consent but not facing enforcement action for the breach either. It generally needs to be a significant problem before people will spend time and money going to court.

And hopefully the rest of the directors won't let one waste everybody else's time and money! 

AdrianC

macman said:

Forgetting about the cat for the moment; who the hell buys a flat without reading every single word of the lease, 'loosely' or otherwise?

Oooh, 90%+ of flat owners...

Slithery

Doesn't everyone else order the lease from LR and read it before deciding to even view a property?

I know I do....

greatcrested

Slithery said:

Doesn't everyone else order the lease from LR and read it before deciding to even view a property?

I know I do....

and before that downloading the Title ad Plan for just £6.

Well slithery, that's two of us!

Luisaandhercat

seradane said:

Have you actually had a response to your request yet or are you just assuming they will refuse?

Hi, thank you for your question. The reply was:

"Unfortunately, the Management Company have denied giving retrospective pet consent and therefore the cat cannot reside in the property. I know this is not the answer you was wanting so sorry to be the bearer of bad news."

Luisaandhercat

Tiglet2 said:

"Not to keep any animal on the Property without the prior written consent of the Company or the Management Company".
The Management Company should act reasonably to your request and not withhold consent unnecessarily.  Obviously you should have sought prior consent from them (would incur a fee), but a cat is not a nuisance in a block of flats and doesn't usually cause a disturbance which might result in complaints from the neighbours.  I would have thought retrospective consent would be given in these circumstances.  Have a look at the Management Company papers, which you would have received as part of your purchase of the property, and see what the procedure is for obtaining retrospective consent for your cat and then make an application for the consent.

Really hope it works out for you both.  Cat lover here.

Hi, Thank you for your reply.

I have taken a look at the Management Company's papers and it does not say anything about this matter. It's just very general.

Luisaandhercat

Racky_Roo said:

Wait for the outcome before panicking.
However, you need to acknowledge you are in the wrong.  You didn't read the lease, you then broke the lease, so I wouldn't be getting the residents backs up by moaning about other residents visitors and pets. For all you know, they have applied for permission and it was granted.

Thanks for your comments.

The outcome so far is that the pet cannot stay. We have written again and are waiting for a response, as per my initial post. No one has permission in our building. One of the directors has dogs but I'm assuming he lives in a house, hence freehold. The other two, who live in our buildings have said they applied for permission to have dogs before being directors and in both cases, it was denied without explanation. One of the Directors has said to us that he has no problem with us having a cat and that, because of the blatant refusal when he asked for permission to have a dog he decided to become a Director.

Just a note about the moaning: on the contrary, what I said on the letter to the Managing Company is that other residents from the Estate have dogs, etc. and that we don't mind. The Director who actually made the complaint has a visiting dog (doesn't live here) and then, every weekend a gentleman comes with 2 dogs for a while and they are very loud. Our point was that we don't mind, e.g. our cat is inside, doesn't bark.