AIBU moving into house with a cat in no-cats neighbourhood

[museumsandgalleries666]

Asking for a friend :-)
Buying a house (freehold) in a newly-built (20 years old) neighbourhood and have received a letter from the resident's association advising no cats are allowed.
AIBU to continue my purchase and move in anyway? Do the Res Assoc have any legal right to stop anyone owning a cat?
Looking for advice as nearing completion and purchase chain will be affected.

@steppemum

PaddleBoardingMomma

I have to say, I am bolshy enough that if I lived with that appalling resident's association, I would have deliberately broken every single rule.

And when they complained, I would have said - you have no legal right to enforce this. Sue me.

I can't imagine living with such shitty neighbours thinking they can rule your life.

I'm bolshy too & would do as I pleased, but it's a horrible horrible way to live. It just grinds you down & it's impossible to relax.

If you are a freeholder you cannot be banned from keeping pets, covenants can restrict their presence in communal areas eg parks, greens. Leasehold is different and they can be banned

[quote QueenPaw]@nickymanchester U.K., and it classes as any washing on view so for instance hanging a dress up in the window etc
My neighbour is a pain very hot on the restrictions so the minute it's glorious and I pop an airer outside, I get a phone call or letter[/quote]
That's harassment.

Re the management company, I'd tell them to stop harassing you too.

Our houses were built on the site of the former Manor House kitchen garden. They are all decorated in similar style. There is a covenant to the deeds to prohibit any changes to the paintwork/windows etc and to prohibit the keeping of pigs, hanging out washing etc. I value having a very lovely environment over hanging out washing, which would IMO would ruin the view.

By signing the purchase of our house, we agreed to these terms. Why would we buy the house if we didn't intend to keep the covenant? Why would we break rules we had already agreed to keep?

It might be different if the rules were changed but generally, it makes sense to only live there if you accept even welcome the rules. It makes no sense to know there are rules then buy the home anyway with no intention of keeping to the rules.

I know a previous poster said that you would receive deeds of covenant earlier in the buying process but this isn't the case at the moment. As I said earlier my daughter had only just found out she can't have pets and they are about to exchange. I think covid had delayed the searches quite a lot, they took about 3 months.

You can get a copy of deeds on line from Land Registry, it usually includes any enforceable covernants.

I have 3 cats. I wouldn’t live in a place that tried to ban cats, even if I could prove legally that they couldn’t do that. I would genuinely worry about the safety of my cats, as people have been known to poison cats.

I have a friend who has a freehold house but it's on a private, gated community... In the UK. She can't have animals which live in the garden, no washing out, no trampoline, can only paint her wooden balcony one specific shade of preserver. All heavily enforced.

Posters are mentioning covenants here which are used a lot and are legal. The OP said this is a letter from the Residents Association which I don't think can be or is legal. If it was a legal requirement it would come in the form of a restrictive covenant via the solicitor.

We owned a leasehold maisonette in North London in a cul-de-sac with a no-pets restrictive clause. This was enforced by the residents association - which was also the management company for the lease. One resident rebelled and did have a cat - but it was always referred to as the "not-cat", because obviously it couldn't exist! ;)

Who do they think they are!! Cat free neighbourhood indeed! Busibodiness abounds.

Sounds lovely. Where is it?

And don't move their and spoil it with your hair ball joking not joking 🙃

I would hate to live in a place like that. I live on a council estate where it's live and let live. I love it.

I used to live in a very Hyacinth Bucket cul-de-sac where one family had three cats and an elderly lady had a large tabby. Everyone but me used to moan about these cats; they dug up your garden, they slept on your car, they entered your house, they howled at night. I used to love it if ine of them came and gad a nap in my house. The large tabby died and, just a couple of weeks later, the family with three cats moved. To cut a long story short, it turned out the cats had been keeping the rat population down in the gardens. People really missed them then. I used to live in a very Hyacinth Bucket cul-de-sac where one family had three cats and an elderly lady had a large tabby. Everyone but me used to moan about these cats; they dug up your garden, they slept on your car, they entered your house, they howled at night. I used to love it if ine of them came and gad a nap in my house. The large tabby died and, just a couple of weeks later, the family with three cats moved. To cut a long story short, it turned out the cats had been keeping the rat population down in the gardens. People really missed them then.

And I have no idea how that weird post happened.

My neighborhood has all sorts of restrictive covenants and it’s fantastic. No mention of cats, but things like loud music and required garden maintenance. The wonderful thing is that we never really deal with the crazy neighbor problems that tend to entertain mumsnet because everyone who buys a home here has ageeed to live by the rules. Sure they chafe occasionally, but that is rare.

This sounds incredibly dodgy - how do you even know this “ residents association “ isn’t just one self appointed busy body - or even someone sneakily trying to scupper a house sale/ purchase? I would want to know more - but either way, if this anonymous “ residents association “ hates cats/ wants to bring in petty rules etc .... no way would I want to live there!!

You are 100% NBU.

However, I very much assume it basically is a veiled threat and your cat will be in danger.

Plus, they sound ghastly. I wouldn't want to move there. This is definitely going to be the tip of the iceberg!

Get out while you can and run far, far away!!

Cat comes first, wouldnt want to live there anyway neighbourhood sound awful full of miserable gits

Run

In a cat free neighbourhood, a cat coming in will decimate the local wildlife, much of which will be encouraged by your neighbours knowing it's safe from cats. Not to mention your neighbours having to deal with your cats poop! YABVU, move somewhere your cat is welcome

Cat free neighbourhood = Mumsnet Nirvana!

Throw in electrocuted doorbells, mined driveway entrances and sniper towers for kids playing outside and half the posters here would find the deposit within an hour.

As to me, and you, I wouldn't live there with cats. You'd have an estate full of people with cat bum mouths.

There are no cat neighbourhoods?
Where? I want to live there!
Cat shit all over my garden is non stop and do disgusting.
I think if you received the notice after completion then there’s not much you can do but gif I bloody hate cat shit everywhere so I do get the sentiment.

I wouldn’t risk the cat coming to harm. It’s too easy to kill them.

Also they sound batshit like those people who make their neighbours lives hell. I saw one couple persecuted because they moved from a council estate into a road of Art Deco style detached houses and a ndn decided to get them out.