Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To get a cat without asking landlord?

227 replies

lananana · 30/12/2016 19:25

Wooden floors throughout so no danger of carpets being ripped. Previous tenant smoked and left the house in a state which I spent ages cleaning. Agents said no pets when I moved in.

OP posts:
VeryBitchyRestingFace · 30/12/2016 23:44

Renting is a financial transaction,and it has terms and conditions
Landlord can specify no children, no pets

But there must be limits to those T&C, surely?

Landlords couldn't refuse to rent to a person with a protected characteristic because of that characteristic?

user1471439240 · 30/12/2016 23:52

If a landlord is concerned about a few scratches and wear to cheap carpets then they probably shouldn't be in the game. Why be a landlord if your margins are so tight? Sounds like a stressful occupation.
10% yields can be made on property shares, without the hassle of owning one.

GimmeeMoore · 30/12/2016 23:54

The t&c of a rental need to be legal of course.its illegal to exclude a protected category
However a landlord can chose to exclude children and pets,they're not protected categories

generationpie · 31/12/2016 00:02

A complete ban on pets is likely to be unenforceable because of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations. Ask your landlord for permission - legally they can't refuse without a good reason.

The landlord probably won't know that though and might refuse anyway. You could still get a cat, but risk landlord serving a Section 21. If the landlord objects, apologise and claim the property has a huge mouse problem.

charlestrenet · 31/12/2016 00:05

You've got me bang to rights, fourkids. I have indeed repeatedly stated that I am a tenant and also that this gives me the right to go into other people's homes and trash them. In fact I've just got back from letting myself into a neighbour's and curling one out on a thirty year old carpet.

generationpie · 31/12/2016 00:06

If you think they're going to be difficult, you should probably just get a cat and hide all evidence if there's an inspection. They can't really do anything then.

HeCantBeSerious · 31/12/2016 00:19

A complete ban on pets is likely to be unenforceable because of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations. Ask your landlord for permission - legally they can't refuse without a good reason.

Utter horseshit.

CherryChasingDotMuncher · 31/12/2016 00:22

It is total horseshit, pets (bar service dogs) are a lifestyle choice and should never be a protected characteristic

CherryChasingDotMuncher · 31/12/2016 00:24

If the landlord objects, apologise and claim the property has a huge mouse problem.

Shock Jesus, 2016 has truly excelled itself for completely fucking awful advice! Don't do that OP unlesa you want a good few days needless disturbance from pest control. It's would take a magnanimous twat to make someone pay for it too when you know fine well it's not a problem.

Just ask FFS!

generationpie · 31/12/2016 00:28

Not horseshit, alas. Google it. It is a lifestyle choice, but a landlord doesn't have the power to dictate lifestyle choices. It's likely to be an unfair term in a contract, and would be unenforecable.

GimmeeMoore · 31/12/2016 00:29

Sniggering at all the keyboard lawyers advising a ban on pets is unenforceable

Aye..

CherryChasingDotMuncher · 31/12/2016 00:32

generation of course a landlord has the right to deny pets. Unless you can provide me with proof otherwise?

Grindelwaldswand · 31/12/2016 00:33

You can't have pets in rented accommodation because of the risk of flea infestation and pet allergies of future tenants.

Naicehamshop · 31/12/2016 00:34

My elderly mother let a small property and one lot of tenants decided to sneak in a kitten which they had been told was not allowed. My mother saw the kitten but because they were about to leave anyway she let it go. Tenants left and house was then given a normal clean and redecorated ready for new tenants which took a while to find, resulting in the house being shut up for several weeks in very warm weather. You can imagine the rest. The kitten had had fleas which weren't detected when the tenants first moved out, but after the warm weather the property had become totally infested with fleas. My mother went in to show round a friend of hers who was interested in renting it and as they went in they were covered in fleas - my mum's pale trousers turned black with the bloody things. The friend screamed and ran out and my mother - totally mortified - had to pay to have the whole house professionally fumigated, which was very expensive.

No one has any right to inflict that on someone else's property.

generationpie · 31/12/2016 00:34

CherryChasingDotMuncher jfgi

charlestrenet · 31/12/2016 00:37

The UTCR thing really is rubbish advice! Grin

Just ask your landlord OP. But do be aware that even if they say yes, the next landlord (who won't know you) and the landlord after that etc will also have to agree, otherwise you will have a homeless cat. So you do need to weigh it all up carefully. Unfortunately tenants are not free to do as they please and most tenancies do not last as long as a cat does. It's shitty, and it shouldn't be like that, but well that's how it is.

CherryChasingDotMuncher · 31/12/2016 00:38

generation I have and have found nothing to say a landlord can't legally refuse pets.

Grindelwaldswand · 31/12/2016 00:38

Get a caged pet like a hamster or a gerbil anything in a cage doesn't count as a pet to landlords because it's kept locked up and can't cause damage

charlestrenet · 31/12/2016 00:57

Oh and if your landlord says no then I don't think you should get one. Not because it will cause thousands of pounds worth of damage or because it's not your home (it is) but because there have been a whole succession of people on here saying that they would make someone homeless because of a cat being in their spare house and your landlord might well be one of them.

CherryChasingDotMuncher · 31/12/2016 01:01

charles it's really not unreasonable for either a LL or tenant to end the tenancy because the other has broken the rules of the tenancy agreement. You can use all the emotive language you want, this still remains true.

Or shall we assume that if it was a LL forcing something halfway through the tenancy that goes against the agreement you'd be sticking up for them too?

GimmeeMoore · 31/12/2016 01:01

Getting a cat isn't worth the aggro of a tenancy abruptly ending and the accompanying upset

TheInternetIsForPorn · 31/12/2016 07:56

User 'don't be a landlord' isn't that easy. Where our flat is property just isn't selling. We tried. Our neighbours have been trying for 3 years to sell, with ever reducing prices. Nothing. I don't want to be a landlord, it's stressful, angst inducing and a constant worry. I've had to replace the boiler this year which means I owe my mother money as we just didn't have enough. I hate it.

Might as well say 'why don't all renters just buy if they hate landlords so Much'. That doesn't work either. Stop being so obtuse and look at things from the other side.

MetalMidget · 31/12/2016 08:16

As other people have said, you can ask, but if the landlord says no, don't do it.

Even aside from the landlord's fears about pets causing damage, smell, flea infestations, etc, if you get a roaming cat, the neighbours may end up complaining to your LL/letting agency (just look at the regular threads on here about cats pooping in gardens, or the current one about the neighbour's cat causing damage in the house).

If you really want a pet, you need to find a rental place that allows pets (and do this throughout the pet's life, if you move), or buy or your own place. We always wanted a dog, but respected the terms of the contract so didn't get one until we bought our own house.

Naicehamshop · 31/12/2016 08:47

What TheInternetisForPorn said.

Temporaryname137 · 31/12/2016 08:58

If you have a cat, you make sure that property cannot be occupied by anyone with allergies for a considerable time after you move out, regardless of how much you clean it. Only someone who does not suffer from allergies would not consider this. My stupid asthma and eyes and nose can spot a cat hair at 100 yards!