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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

203 replies

WannaDoggie · 10/09/2009 18:16

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??

OP posts:
DeFluffMyFanjo · 11/09/2009 17:33

i am feeling rather aggressive today, I apologise. Pregnant, DP working away in Denmark and been up since 2am feeling very ill. DD won't stop saying 'cuddle' and I'm afraid I'm taking it our on jungalist

BethNoire · 11/09/2009 17:33

I'm just going to C+P this every hour

There are good landlords. there are terrible ones who should be prosecuted for cruelty. There are good tenants. There are terrible ones who leave a trail of destruction. There are rules we don't like. We shoudln't complain until we have asked if there is any discretion.

And there are pets available that don't go woof and eat the carpet.

there ye go

Debs75 · 11/09/2009 17:35

Junglist I think it is different if you alreasy have pets and need to omove. My SIS rents and she was upfront about having 2 dogs and a cat and they missed a few houses becausr they weren't prepared to take animals. Her DP wanted to get rid of the animals as he saw them as not essential so tyhey had mant arguments. After about 6 months they got the go-ahead and now rent a house where the pets are welcome, all she has to do is have the carpets professionally cleaned which she would have to do even if dhe didn't have pets.

Wannadoggie YABVVU you are prepared to put you home at risk for a dog?
You said earlier that your mum had a dog and her house didn't smell and was pristine well sorry to burst your bubble but all dogs are different. What if you get an insane chewer who destroys skirting and doors and carpets? The risk is the same with a big or small dog BTW. Look for somewhere else if this landlord won't let you.

Also you say you should just be able to have one, your attitude suggests thst you won't stump up for the above repairs so I personally would say NO.

BethNoire · 11/09/2009 17:35

DeFluff PMSL- Dh is sort of away atm as well (goes at 9, back at midnight) and I kinda know how you feel- not PG but 4 small boys and two of them asd...... PITA isn;t it?

junglist1 · 11/09/2009 17:37

Ah don't worry, I'm not exactly laid back either! I've calmed down now, I always rant then end up having a laugh over it all. OP, you owe me one, I got flamed for you

DeFluffMyFanjo · 11/09/2009 17:42

Bethnoire - its killed me, only been for 3 days but im the walking dead i swear! suppose i should appreciate him a bit more once hes back which is at 8pm tonight but i think i'll just spend the time moaning at him that 'he left me'

junglist - i like your style!!

HecatesTwopenceworth · 11/09/2009 17:45

Has wannadoggie gone?

ThingOne · 11/09/2009 18:05

I think it was time for walkies, Hecates.

ThingOne · 11/09/2009 18:06

I don't know where in London junglist lives but in much of central London you'd pay that for a decent 2-bed flat. Decent as in clean, well maintained and in a safe area with good transport, rather than decent as in "huge".

HecatesTwopenceworth · 11/09/2009 18:07

I have this irrational need for her to come back and say, "yes folks, you were right. My kids matter more than some dog we don't even have. I am not going to risk the roof over their heads by getting a dog without permission. Thanks for helping me see sense."

mumzy · 11/09/2009 18:30

YABU we viewed a house where the owners had 2 well behaved dogs the place was immaculate except for the pervasive smell of dog which would take about a year to disappear. Needless to say we did'nt consider buying it.
If you want a dog find a place that allows dogs

Saltire · 11/09/2009 19:06

YABU

You think your landlord is bad, you should try having DE/MOD as your landlord

curiositykilled · 11/09/2009 19:10

hecate - I do too. I'm not sure it's that irrational though, I'd like to know the security of her family's home actually does matter more than hypothetical dog.

scaryteacher · 11/09/2009 22:28

That was my point Saltire - and being abroad means that maintenance gets split between the UKSU and the guy who actually owns the property. It's fun when it's something that neither of them wants to fix...at which point I point out I'm paying (or dh is) rent to MOD, so it is their problem,as it would be mine of it were my tenants needing something done.

I rent out my home as I am abroad with dh. The rent money does not go towards the mortgage, but is reinvested in the house so that the tenants have within reason what they and the house needs. However, whilst I allow cats, I will not have dogs in the house. The letting agent does do three month inspections, but that is to let me know what needs doing on the fabric of the building, so I can arrange work and plan and budget for it.

I am going to live in the house again when we are posted back to the UK, and I do not want to move back into a place smelling of dog. Full stop, no commas. Any tenant who breaks that part of the tenancy agreement with me would be invited to leave.

florence2511 · 12/09/2009 02:50

"I am going to live in the house again when we are posted back to the UK, and I do not want to move back into a place smelling of dog. Full stop, no commas. Any tenant who breaks that part of the tenancy agreement with me would be invited to leave"

Scary - My thoughts entirely.

SparklyGothKat · 12/09/2009 03:32

I was at the dog rescue centre today with my parents, dogs stink! ANd I could still smell them on my buggy and on my clothes well after we left.

TheYearOfTheCat · 12/09/2009 08:51

I want a pony.

AIBU to move one in without asking?

AvrilH · 12/09/2009 09:10

Not read the thread, but have to go against the tide

YANBU, it is your home, you will rectify any damage before you leave, chances are the landlord won't really care, but might say no if asked

go for it

I think some people think a mere tenant is getting above her station. Imagine the cheek of a pleb who rents wanting a normal family life with a dog...

Not the OP's fault that mortgages and social housing are both so hard to come by these days.

MANATEEequineOHARA · 12/09/2009 09:18

I rent, my landlord is pretty chilled and we have cats, but I would ask before I get a dog (I do really want one too).
It is rubbish though when you get reminders like this that your home is not entirely yours, I hate that.

scottishmummy · 12/09/2009 09:19

go for it?this isn't a cheerleader competition she is the tenant in landlord home. it isn't her home it is property she rents. landlord asset and commodity

dogs cast hair and leave odour
dogs affect marketability of property to future tenants

to wilfully breach a lease is fuckwitted

MrsSchadenfreude · 12/09/2009 09:20

I agree with Scaryteacher. But I wouldn't "invite them to leave". I would give them swift notice.

We rented somewhere where the previous tenants had dogs. Apart from being able to have recreated a small blonde puppy from the amount of labrador fur on the carpets (which had been cleaned - they had been cleaned, the receipt was left behind), the house did smell of dog. And nothing got rid of it - not keeping all the windows open for days, not febreze on the carpets, nothing. It would go for a few hours and then the dog whiff came back.

Not a case of a "mere tenant getting above her station at all." (We are currently renting, so in the interesting position of being landlord and tenant.) But respecting other people's property and what is not yours.

AvrilH · 12/09/2009 09:23

tip: bread soda is the only thing that gets the smell of dog out of carpets, though cornflour also helps.

scottishmummy · 12/09/2009 09:23

having been both a landlord and a teanat it is completely unreasonable.

but hey op has scarpered and she probably knows it is mental idea

posieparker · 12/09/2009 09:33

Am I being unreasonable?

Yes, YABVVU and stupid. I bet your dcs aren't as bothered as you are about having a pet.

HecatesTwopenceworth · 12/09/2009 14:24

Go for it? Love, are you mad?!!! The rights and wrongs of tenants being allowed pets is not the issue. The point is that it IS a breach of her actual tenancy. Getting a dog would give her landlord the perfect legal right, if they so chose, to evict her and the children!!! The council would have no obligation to house them.

Ok, maybe us tenants ought to be allowed pets, but if the legal agreement prohibits that, and you choose to break it, you are potentially making your children homeless.

That can never, in a month of sundays, be the right thing to do.

And for what? I should be able to have a dog, so I will have a dog, it's unfair that I can't.

Yes. It is. And?

You can't work on the way these things ought to be, you have to deal with them the way they are.

Imagine going to court to try to fight the eviction.

"I know I signed a contract, but I think it's unfair. Why shouldn't I have a dog?"

I give you one guess how that would go!