Q. I am a tenant looking for a new property ideally an apartment in a gated complex with 24 hour concierge and leisure facilities. The only issue I have is I have two cats. This seems to be a real issue, not only because some Landlords refuse to accept pets but more importantly even when the landlord is agreeable it appears that the head lease on most developments do not allow pets. Is there any solution to my problem, or should I give up and start searching for a house instead?
A. I can sympathise with you having dealt with this situation a few times over now. As a whole, Leasehold developments are not generally agreeable to having pets on site for a number of reasons, and that is why you will find that overall most head leases contain a ‘no pet’ clause. Pets can cause disruption to other residents within the development and cause an extra workload for the maintenance staff too in some cases where pets are not kept under control and allowed to roam around the development. Dogs particularly are often a cause of noise disturbance, so for this reason dogs are usually always a no go area. Some managing agents will be willing to grant a ‘Pet Licence’ but each case is looked at individually to determine whether or not granting a licence should be allowed. When viewing tell your agent right from the beginning that you have pets as they will normally know whether pet are allowed in that particular development or whether there will be any chance of the managing agents looking at granting a pet licence, that is of course if the landlord is agreeable to two cats in the first instance. Many tenants like yourself have pets and the agent is usually the best person to start with as he will normally be in a position to direct you to properties that can facilitate the pets, rather than wasting time viewing places that are simply a non – starter. Remember the managing agents will always have the final word and even if the landlord is agreeable if the managing agent says no then ignoring that and overriding it will result in you being asked to vacate if they realise you have moved pets in, ultimately if the managing agents find out they will come down quite hard on the landlord which will result in you having to vacate your home.