Faaaark, landlord giving us notice

[bratnav]

I can't believe it. We moved in in October with our 2/3 children and our dog. We have had quite a few problems, blocked drains, panes of glass broken in the greenhouse before we moved in that we have had to ask the landlord to sort out.

We got a new puppy about 6 weeks ago, told the letting agency straight away, they did a regular quarterly inspection a couple of weeks back and they agreed that everything was fine.

He has contacted the agents today saying we have 7 days to get rid of the puppy (whom we adore) of he will serve 2 months notice on us. We love the house but have had to fight like crazy to get him to fix things, including another problem with a blocked drain at the start of this week.

The lady at the letting agents agrees he is being unreasonable and will go back to him to argue the point that if he objected to the puppy he should have let us know straight away, instead of waiting all this time whilst we get more attached to her.

We are not getting rid of the puppy, but can we fight against this?

What does your tenancy agreement say about pets? I've rented property in the past and pets do tend to cause damage so we always said upfront what our policy was - and expected tenants to stick to it. Perhaps the inspection person said all was well but reported otherwise? Letting agents can be very amiable but not forthright in giving you negative feedback sometimes.

How long is the tenancy agreement for and what is the notice period?

I had to get a letter of agreement in writing from the landlord before getting my cat- AND pay an extra £150 on top of my deposit never mind that the owner had kept house rabbits before we moved in. How did we know? Well the rabbit poo under the fridge was a bit of a giveaway

Well he agreed we could have a dog when we moved in, so we didn't think it would be an issue to get another

We also paid 2 months rent (£2600) so we could have a dog, rather than 1 months. The lease is for 12 months

You have to see what it says in your tenancy agreement -that is what will count.

I think no matter what your agreement is both landlords and tenants have two months notice to serve to break the contract, so if he wants you out he can do it.

Are you sure the letting agents contacted him about the new puppy when you got it?

I've had trouble with agents trying to say they've done things they haven't

If you signed a 12 month contract, he cannot serve you with the two months' notice until at least 10 months have passed, unless you have breached the tenancy agreement.

If he agreed to your having a dog, it would seem unreasonable of him to get difficult because you have two. It might be better to try and get him onside. Even if you win on the timing of the notice, i.e. that he cannot serve notice until 10 months have passed, he may still want you out as a point of principle.

Perhaps he could come round and see that the dogs are not causing any damage.

Thanks for the replies.

I have spoken to the letting agent again and she confirmed that she sent a good report to the landlord about the inspection.

It would seem that he can do it, having said that and spoken to DP, maybe it isn't the worst thing in the world, we are paying top whack for this place and have a landlord that wont get off his backside to fix things (even a drain that spewed effluent onto our driveway on Sunday ), plus I have just seen the most amazing cottage on rightmove.....