Freehold property no pets rules

[Afolnerd]

We have found a house we love and had our offer accepted. 4 bed townhouse, semi detached. Freehold, completely enclosed garden.
It is in an estate build in the 90’s 30ish houses and 4 small blocks of flats/maisonettes. The grounds are maintained by a company and we have to pay a small fee towards it, (less than £200 a year)

Everything seemed to be going along fine until I got the searches back today and there seems to be a complete ban on pets.

We have a tortoise who lives outside in the summer months. I have emailed our solicitor and told him that this is a deal breaker for us. If he can’t come then we won’t be continuing with the purchase, he replied immediately stating he would get on to the other side and try and get permission.
But typically I got this information at 4.30 on a Friday and I’m not going to get any information for days.

Is this actually enforceable, can they dictate if we have pets or not? I understand in the flats but in a self contained house?

We don’t want to lose the house but if we have to choose we will pick him as he is part of the family.

fencing off a bit of community land could be an issue if it’s not your land?

what would happen when they come to mow the lawn and mr tortie is out and about, he could get injured by machinery or some neanderthal fuckwit grass cutting thick lackey kicks him roughly into the bushes thinking he’s an inconvenient rock…..

I wouldn't buy a freehold with management fees tbh. Or one with massively restricting covenants. You are getting all the disadvantages of leasehold but paying a premium for freehold!
I would worry about ability to sell later on.

If this wasn't initially disclosed and you have spent money on searches etc, is there any way to claim back that money. I think it's a pretty big thing for a house owner/estate agent not to inform prospective buyers of from the outset.

The agent should have been aware of this, the vendor should have disclosed it when briefing on the property. It’s a waste of everyone’s time not being open about such thkngs

I wouldn’t touch this with a barge pole. I don’t like management fees for a start, the board of directors sound like a pain in the arse and I’d be worried about resale and how many people this would put off buying there.

Id walk away now.

Conversely, I would LOVE such a place.

62% of UK households have a pet- and this skews towards owned properties rather than rented. Of the 38% that are left some would as you say LOVE this, most would be unbothered

I don't live on an estate, but I am thinking of my neighbours on my side of the road, and not a single one 15 houses either way has a pet, that I have ever seen, and I am out and about a lot. Of course I may be wrong, but I have never seen a pet, and we are a friendly lot and I know most of them. There is a block of flats opposite and they do have a couple of dogs, but I think it's reasonable to think that of 30 homes, none may have pets.

If i knew of such a place near me and I wanted to move, I'd be there in a shot. I love cats, but I don't like them pooing in my garden. And the sound of dogs yapping and barking makes my ears bleed.

It sounds as if the management fees are entirely within the collective control of the property owners as they are the only shareholders of the company. So unlikely to escalate to unreasonable levels.

I’d love to live somewhere with no pets around, but I wouldn’t like to live somewhere with an interfering management company thinking they can blanket ban even a goldfish. I’d assume they’d be a massive pain in the arse about things generally.

So what happens if the clandestine tortoise is discovered? Does OP get kicked out of the house that she owns?! I don’t see how this is enforceable.

You say that, but I lived somewhere with management fees and there was always conflict between those who were planning on living there for 5 or 10 years and wanted to maintain for now versus those who saw it as there forever home and wanted to invest in making it better and putting in improvements. We also had a couple of retired people who were directors and liked creating projects to manage, and were quite happy to spend collective money on these.

our management company would also charge 15% on any works commissioned, so even if an external contractor came in at the directors request they would take a cut.

I don't have a pet but I wouldn't like to live in a place that has these kind of restrictions as they attract the type of people who will fuss over everything their neighbours do.

This bloody thread is just making me want a tortoise 🐢

What a bunch of Stepford weirdos to live next to though, wouldn’t suit me so do be aware it will put off maybe half the population if you ever want to sell 🤦‍♀️

I imagine that the management company have this rule because they don't want beloved tortoise to stray out of the garden and get accidently mown by their ground staff. Not likely, but perfectly reasonable I would think.

Oh we have one of these clauses - the difference is, we are only 5 in the building and it's just one person who is against, but because we could not get a unanimous decision we had to go with no pets. A recent sale fell through because the potential buyer had a dog. But honestly? The people who lived in our flat before us had a dog and no one did anything about it. And the pet naysayer in our block is actually a really nice guy, just a bit...pedantic.

However, in your case there are many more residents involved, so you won't get to know all of their quirks. Your tortoise will likely be fine and most won't care, but in a group of 30 plus, there will be some who will say it's a slippery slope etc... Plus yes, if they are definite about these clauses, it is indicitive of the culture of the place, even if that culture is a minority.

Sounds like too many people with too many fingers in the pot and too many opinions. What a shame. But perhaps your tortoise has inadvertently saved you from a lifetime of bureaucracy and a tense whatsapp residents group (viz 'you have no authority here Jackie Weaver').

Thanks for all your input, I completely understand the risk regarding reselling and a think it’s a valid concern, I am also really angry that this wasn’t made known up front and makes me wonder what else they are hiding.

I have now read through the entire pack and there is no other restrictions on what we can and can’t do. The previous owners have been there for years and done extensive building work to the house and it is perfect for what we need. We have a disabled adult child who will be living at home for the foreseeable future so suitable options are limited.

The management company’s sole responsibility seems to be maintaining the communal grounds.

The survey was meant to be going ahead tomorrow but I have cancelled until we get some proper answers on the pet situation.
Albus is my baby (the kids joke I prefer him) so there is no way we are moving without him, he will coming to the nursing home with me!

If he just lived inside I wouldn’t even be asking permission, my younger child wants some pet rats and they wouldn’t even know they are there.

But I want to be able to build him a proper outdoor space. So a couple of the neighbours would be able to see and obviously we don’t know them yet.

interestingly the house currently has a electric cat scarer in the front garden which suggests to me that there is cats in the surrounding properties.

I will try and attach a photo of Albus.

I'm just here for more photos and information about Albus. How old is he? I was sad when mine died aged about 35, but our previous neighbours had one who was at least 70 and I often wonder what happened to him.

I can’t believe that no one has fish or hamsters.
On our estate it says no caravans, yet one person keeps theirs on the front all summer and no one complains, if it was there all year someone might.

He is a Horsfield and about 10 years old, his breed life expectancy is about 60 years so that would make me 90. So hopefully we can be old and grumpy together.

His favourite thing to do is chill under his heat lamp he is also an incredible climber and escape artist.

He's lovely! Personally I'd keep looking, some neighbours can be bad enough without there being extra rules that they can use to get on their high horse. I'd imagine a place like that will attract a few pedantic individuals. I'd be too worried a busybody neighbour would take exception to your tortoise and go out of their way to make life difficult for you or that he'd 'go missing' from outside one day.

you could ask solicitor about a Restrictive Covenant indemnity policy this would protect you if any covenants are breached. Good for you for putting your pet first

Surely you can’t get insurance to protect you if you break a covenant you are aware of and planning to break at the time you take out the insurance?

I thought that sort of insurance was often taken out by sellers who had broken the covenant, and protects the buyers in case it ever becomes an issue.

Hi I thought I would update and say that the management company have put it in writing that Albus is more than welcome. Apparently Its only really dogs that are banned under the rules but even that isn’t enforceable as some houses got dogs and there is nothing they can do.
So purchase is back on and Albus will soon have his huge forever home in a south facing garden where he can sunbathe as much as the British weather allows!