to get a dog even though tenancy agreement says I can't??

[WannaDoggie]

I want to get my DCs a dog. For the last 3 years we have had to rent after having to sell our home and have not a hope in hell of buying again within the foreseeable future!! At our last property (different agent) we asked if we could get one and were told that we could'nt. Am thinking just to get one anyway without telling our current letting agents. I am aware that this will breach the terms our tenancy but so what we are paying lot of money to live here and should be able to live as we please. Why should my kids grow up without a pet because we rent?? We have obviously paid a damage deposit and IF there is any damage, we would rectify it whether from the kids or the dog.

Why should our lives be dictated to just because we can't get a mortgage? AIBU??

mmrsceptic not all tenants have a great time n the UK, laws are fiddly,hard to apply and and many landlords don't even adhere to those sadly- our last one let the water drip that was on the electriciy box go unrepaired and it was either press it or lose our home. Fabbo choice (we now have excellent alndlords, have been ehre for 5 years just renewed and have been landlords ourselves, albeit briefly.)

Saying that-

wannadoggie just blinkin ask

it's not even an issue untilyou do is there?

Sunshine - you take the cleaning cost from the bond

mtr -- that IS in the uk

being a tenant outside the uk you really do have to treat it like your own home

ie you haev to fix things that go wrong

in the countries i've lived in anyway

Sorry - assumed from your last post you meant outside UK.

Erm, we have to fix stuff too. Although, when we moved into our current house it had rising damp. The landlord paid for that. They had just painted over it before we moved in - then the walls started growing mould.

If I had a quid for every dogdy or horrible stuff I have endured from landlords I could buy my own house (oh the irony)

As BethNoire said - wannadoggie just blinkin ask

it is an incredibly expensive possesion and you should be bloody gratefull to have been allowed to use it.

See mamazon and others I don't agree with that. I mean, obviously it is a very expensive possession but we pay a lot of money to use it, it's not a favour. Having said that I don't think the OP is being reasonable at all, but she is right in that rented places should be the tenants' homes while they live there. I pay my landlord's mortgage for her and a bit more I'm sure, I have the right to live here as if it is my home, by which I mean put pictures up on the walls, not wreck the joint.

No,I am not grateful for use!

I pay for it. I fulfil my contract, they are clearly pleased as we are about to start 6th term, but no not grateful.

I am however grateful for a great landlady- and I get the impresion she is grateful for us. Differnt thing though. For the usage of the hosue we pay.

I can't believe the tone of this thread. I have rented and kept pets because they are part of my family and if I'm paying I should be able to live how I like, within limits of course. It's disgusting that letting agents have put a blanket ban on pets, leading to overcrowding in animal shelters. OP YANBU at all but try to find a human landlord instead of control freak robots to rent from. And actually not everyone can afford to buy so renting isn't a choice but a circumstance. Yet again the rich who own can do what they like and the people who can't afford to buy a home are treated like shit, added and abetted by all your YABU's.

Oh and it's mostly the letting agents who are the dictators, not the landlords. My landlord didn't have a problem at all when he did find out. The place is clean so why would he? Unless he was a smug power tripper of course

hello?

I'm not rich

my tenants are not poor

i do not treat my tenants like "shit"

YABU, no one has to have a dog.

The rest of us all have to deal with the downsides of dog owners. Few owners clean up all the crap their dogs produce and the smell of houses with dogs in them is really strong. The owners can't smell it, but it STINKS!

Actually, blind people, farmers, the police, people with their own land etc can have dogs, I've no problem with working dogs.

I just spent over an hour over the week end cleaning dog poo off my pram wheels and then off my ds's trainers.

Verminous owners.

As soon as you walk into a house with a dog you can smell it, but dog owners don't smell it themselves (as many people on here have already pointed out). The small of dog is not a nice one (to those of us that don't have dogs)and it lingers, just like the smell of smoke.

As a landlord i do everything I can to help my tenants. I always carry out repairs, I try to be ameniable to their suggestions, but I WILL NOT allow a dog in MY house. Yes, it is my HOUSE and my HOME, but because my DH is working abroad and my DD and I want to be with him, we are letting out our house. I don't let out my house to make money, I am NOT in the property business, I am not in it to make a fast buck. I am doing it so that my home doesn't remain empty when we are away (and to help pay the mortgage of course, not that the rent we charge co\vers all of the mortgage).

For those of you who think landlords are going to sting you for the whole deposit when you leave, think again. I will take what is necessary to get my house back up to scratch again (within reasonable limits), but I wont take what I don't need. That isn't fair. Some of us are fair, too fair to be honest.

My previous tenants owe me 6 grand in unpaid rent. They decided that they were just not going to pay anymore, we tried to get them out(costing an awful lot of money), they decided to get housing benefit so we decided to be nice and let them stay (it was around Christmas), the housing benefit stopped because they both got good jobs, but the rent was not being paid. We went down the court routes again, just as we got a date for a hearing they upped and left, did a runner in the night, just like that. Bastards.

The law is definately on the side of the tennats as to finally get a tennant out of your house, the baliffs have to go in abnd this can take months and months.

So, if you want, have your bloody dog, as you can stay in your house until the baliffs come in. Even if you are in breach of contract your landlord can't just kick you out.

But think about it morally will you. Think of other people instead of yourself. Think of how much money your landlord will have to pay out in order to get you evicted (it may be his house and just because he is a landlord he isn't made of money).

To be honest your attitude makes me sick.

I an't smell dofg in most houses but I don't have one.Must be my feet then

You may not personally, but the blanket policy is shit. Also poverty isn't just about money, it's about who has choice and who doesn't. I got sick of being honest and being told no so I was dishonest and kept my dogs. Not everyone has the heart to just abandon their pets on someone elses say so.

Wannadoggie,

Why are you not even willing to ask your landlord first? Not all landlords are evil people just wanting to shaft you for money.

DH and I are landlords and have a no pets policy, however I have had tenants who are good tenants and have asked if they can have a pet.

Although we would prefer not, as my DH and I are reasonable people, we have allowed this in the past, on the condition that our tenants pay an additional refundable deposit to cover any potential damage and cleaning before they get the dog.

The point is though that they have always been polite enough to ask.

Even if your landlord is a nice person and decides not to evict you and to let you keep the dog, if you didnt bother to ask in the first place, I would expect that when your tenancy is up if they would not be renewing it with you.

Then what would you do with your dog?

My house does not smell of dogs

I know because I have obsessively asked friends this

Friend of mine who rents out her flat loves dogs so much that she gives priority to tenants with dogs - suppose she's not the norm though.

Seems like nearly every poster on Mumsnet lets out a property?

Florence - sorry to hear about your dishonest, thieving tenants but I think the laws are against renters in this country, and they tax system favours buy to let owners, however if you're a dishonest person, it seems quite easy to play the system and ruin it for the vast majority of honest, good tenants.

The blanket policy is NOT shit. Are you reading any of the posts you don't agree with? have you read Florence's post? I don't have any choice. We all have to obey rules. As a landlord I have to obey a hell of a lot of rules. As a tenant, so do you. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Abubu, I'm a nice person and I don't allow dogs. They are not mutually exclusive. The laws are not against tenants in this country lolololol.

We've ahd bad tenants too FLorence,they ripped out the kitchen and we found it in the back garden. Fortunately they managed to get the capital together to buy from us (they had known that when they did the work but forgoten to tell us- you can imagine our horror when we drove past!)

But when we did own that house (now own none) we at least ahd some powers and certainly beleived it was their home- back to my originalpost really,'their HOME my HOUSE' I think. At least we did have options; as a tenant we do feel despite landladies nioceness that we are consstantly on report- well the Letting Agent's insistence on 3 monthly inspections does that as well.

And we didn't take from the deposit to get it back to scratch- you are supposed to allow for fair wear and tear, and only use deposit to sort that, maybe you didnt reman it in the way I understaood it but getting things perfect and newly rentable again from that 'cared for but lived in state' iss the landlord's responsibiity to pay for

What about the tenants coming after you junglist1? Are your "rights" to a dog more important that the health of someone with asthma or allergies?

mmrsceptic perhaps you should try being a damned good tenant, then beng told that the house s needed back in 8 weeks becuase the landlord fancies it tolive in and they won't be paying your seposit until after you moved out 'for proceduralreasons' (ie they can't be bothered) so you have to find a whole new deposit and a house and possibly a school and everything else!

IME of being on both sides, the landlords have the ultimate power.It might be costly but theyca n choose to sell or leave the house empty, whereas a tenant is dependant on them not changing their minds for a home. Choice, as you realise when you lose it, is everything in this life.

It's total discrimination. I have read the posts and I'm angry. Landlords have a choice whether to accept pets, they can tell the letting agents to stuff it. People without pets can trash houses, no? No pets, no children, no benefits, professionals only. Yuck. It's just the enjoyment of dictating what people can and can't do, isn't it

What am I paying 1250 a month for??? The landlord had better ban asthmatics then, because my dog stays! Oh sorry kids doggie has to go because an asthmatic might want to live here in future!!?? You people are out of your tree