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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:
Jaxhog · 01/01/2017 20:11

It's all very well to complain that YOU would be reasonable etc. But the truth is that many tenants are rubbish too. A LL doesn't know you before they rent to you so can't know you will be a good tenant. The cost of a bad tenant can be astronomical.

. Please ask them and make it clear that you know what looking after a cat involves, they may well say yes. If you get a cat without telling them then you are just reinforcing the message that you are an unreliable liar.

Quarterlifecrisis27 · 01/01/2017 20:35

I let my flat. Would I be pissed off if you were my tenant and you got a cat without asking?

Yes:
1 - If you ask and I say yes and then your cat causes damage it's easier for me to take a fair amount from your deposit. Don't tell me and I have to prove otherwise, meaning I could be out of pocket if I can't provide concrete evidence.

2 - I have a leasehold and I have to get permission from the freeholder to keep pets. If you don't inform me I can't ask them and I will be paying the fine.

It's a big issue of trust and responsibility. Unfortunately you are in someone else's home, so you do need to adhere to their rules.

knittingwithnettles · 01/01/2017 20:41

Cats can leave a terrible stench even with wooden floors. It would be difficult for a landlord to discriminate between those tenants that have three cats and let them pee everywhere and the good tenant whose cat has excellent manners (and isn't neurotic enough to spray on occasion)

Cats kept indoors can be more destructive because it is boring indoors, I would be more concerned about you keeping a cat without access to outdoors in the long term. When you live with a cat the smell isn't noticeable, when you walk in from outside and you don't live there, it is.

Squiff85 · 01/01/2017 21:48

We have done it several times, always been fine. Go for it!

GimmeeMoore · 01/01/2017 22:07

Go for it!is fine advice when considering a new hobby,different dinner.
not so go for it! if it breaches tenancy and landlord terminate lease

StrangeLookingParasite · 01/01/2017 22:54

If you don't like it, why not buy your own place

This has to be one of the most stupid things I've ever read here, and the competition is stiff.
How fucking oblivious do you need to be to say something this ridiculous?

CannotEvenDeal · 01/01/2017 22:59

StrangeLookingParasite very well said!!

TheInternetIsForPorn · 02/01/2017 12:00

No more stupid than the 'don't be a landlord' comments. Meh.

kirinm · 02/01/2017 16:16

Quarter - I don't disagree with your comments other than to say it isn't your home. It's your tenants home. It's your property but someone pays you for it to be their home.

CherryChasingDotMuncher · 02/01/2017 16:19

I dunno TheInternet, I'm an 'accidental' LL - had a 1-bed flat, got pregnant with DD but would've been in negative equity so couldn't sell, we had to rent a bigger house until we could afford another home/market improved, and so I rented out my flat. I'd have lost so much money per month if I just left it empty and couldn't have a child in there as is size of a postage stamp.

I've been told on MN before that I should have just left it empty because otherwise I am personally responsible for making it impossible for young people to get o the property ladder. I'd have had £0 a month to spend on food by forking out for a mortgage AND rent, but hey at least I'd have a clear conscience Hmm I've also been told I should've just lived there with DD (despite he bedroom not being big enough to accommodate both a bed and a cot) other people do so why not me? APprently we must martyr ourselves financially before making wise financial decisions.

There's a massive anti-LL thing on MN, we're worse than the devil himself and despite some people thinking we roll about in £20 notes every month from our 'spare houses' fuck off with emotive words I would do anything for my house to sell for a half decent price but it's not gonna happen and I refuse to be in debt over it. I have spent so much on thoughtless tenants damaging my property, one still owes me thousands in damages and unpaid rent, and there's people like those on this thread that think paying rent gives them the god given right to shit up a home and then leave, and it's fine because Greedy Landlords.

PidgeyfinderGeneral · 02/01/2017 18:10

Cherry I'm in a not dissimilar situation. Couldn't sell it for years because of negative equity, so it was let at a low rent to a young family who fucked me over, caused £10K worth of damage to the flat yet somehow I am the devil incarnate. Perhaps people think I should have just given it away.

The anti-LL feeling on here is ridiculous at times.

StrangeLookingParasite · 02/01/2017 19:29

No more stupid than the 'don't be a landlord' comments. Meh.

I think you'll find it's a lot easier to stop being a landlord if you don't want to be one than to just blithely pull money out of your arse to buy a property. On a whim, like. Because buying a place so I don't pay rent had never occurred to me...

TheInternetIsForPorn · 02/01/2017 20:05

I give up. So you really can't see why it might be hard. I can't Magic up a buyer anymore than you can magic money. Only if I'm not a landlord and have no buyer I also have to
Magic up mortgage payments. That's the last I'll comment.

It's not necessarily your landlords fault you're a renter. If you're renting from an individual without multiple properties think twice before acting like an idiot and treating them like shit.

Most of the individual landlords I know are there because of awkward situations and want to do the best by the people they let to. Me included. Stop tatting everyone with the same brush and talk a bit more nicely on here. It's some of the stuff I read on here from tenants that makes me thank the gods for the current tenant I have and makes me dread having to find someone new.

Temporaryname137 · 02/01/2017 20:10

There's a lot of jealousy towards landlords. Some people admit that. Others try to pretend they wouldn't do the same if they had the chance. Do as I say, not as I say I would do.

And whilst some tenants would prefer to buy, there's lots of people who need to rent - students; people with new jobs, people who are working somewhere temporarily etc. without landlords, where would they live??

Bottom line: anger at most landlords is misplaced, although there are greedy fuckers just as there are in any area of life. Blame the government and its various policies over the years!

maddiemookins16mum · 02/01/2017 20:15

The sensible answer is of course "ask your landlord", and offer a "pet deposit".
As a volunteer for a cat rescue in Lewisham, we got many cats/kittens handed in because....a) I never told my landlord
b) my landlord found out and told me to get rid of the cat or else.
c) my new landlord wont take my cat boo hoo even though. I knew that
d) I got a kitten for Chrustmas

Temporaryname137 · 02/01/2017 20:23

Maddie - if you managed not to get the stabby stabby rage at (d), you're a better woman than I!

GimmeeMoore · 02/01/2017 20:27

I think all the reasons Maddison quoted a-d are lame,and a-c are wholly avoidable

GimmeeMoore · 02/01/2017 20:27

Autocorrect I meant maddie

kirinm · 02/01/2017 20:28

Temporary - I don't think it's jealousy. I think it's people being fucked off with paying rent to someone who can make you homeless on a whim, where you have no right to make your place home, where what goes on in your 'home' is dictated by others. I'm now a homeowner after 18 years of renting. I've had to move so many times when LL decide to sell or want to wack up the rent. It's bloody tedious.

babybarrister · 02/01/2017 20:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

GimmeeMoore · 02/01/2017 20:29

Yes,I agree

Littleballerina · 02/01/2017 20:41

It is not your house. You ask permission and don't assume.

What would your back up plan be if your LL found out and asked you to leave?
Would you have the money to pay for damages caused by the cat?

PidgeyfinderGeneral · 02/01/2017 20:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

maddiemookins16mum · 02/01/2017 21:24

Honest to god chaps, within the next 14 days Cat rescue places will have hundreds of approx 12 week old kittens on their doorsteps. People buy them on Scumtree at Christmas, they are 8 weeks old, not wormed, not fleas, un-neutered.

GimmeeMoore · 02/01/2017 21:36

Blimey.hundreds? that is so sad and avoidable