KMC23 Posted June 17, 2014 Report Share Posted June 17, 2014 Ok, so our first tenants moved in during January (our first time letting a property out). We have a management company who deal with everything and after good references we accepted a couple with 3 children. Rental payment has been on time and all has been good so far. However, I had my suspicions when I drove past the house that there were dogs on the property due to a "beware of the dog" sign in the window. A few weeks later, a neighbour (we previously lived in the house) phoned me to express their concerns that there were 4 dogs living in the house who are constantly barking. We went straight to the management company as there is a 'no pet' section in the contract that specifies dogs and cats. The management company told us that they thought they had told us that there were pets there! (Obviously that is the sort of thing you would forget!). To be honest, it isn't the having the pets that is the issue. It is the lying from the start of the tenancy as we had no choice in the matter. By choice, we would have waited for other tenants or would have asked for a higher deposit and details about the dogs. It gets worse! The management company contacted the tenant and it turns out they did have two dogs, but have been breeding them on the property! It isn't just a case of having dogs in the property, but a business and puppies that will inevitably not be properly trained yet! We are furious with the management company and although we were sympathetic towards the tenants as it was the agent who agreed to the pets, we are now not very happy with them for taking the Michael in this situation! Has anyone had this before or have any advice on where we go from here? Thanks in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave A Posted June 17, 2014 Report Share Posted June 17, 2014 Either your tenants are in breach of their tenancy, or your agent is in breech of his contract. Any alteration to the tenancy, such as excluding the "No Pets" clause must be documented somehwere on or attached to the tenancy. Your agent can't just mention it, he should have sought your approval to alter the terms of the tenancy. You will also probably have a clause excluding running a business or commercial activity from the property, if they are selling puppies (and nobody would do it for the sheer fun), again they are in breech. I don't wish to frigthen you, but I have recently visitied some amatuer dog breeders. We lost our Labrador earlier in the year and have just aquired a Lurcher pup. I wouldn't keep pigs let alone humans or dogs in some of the conditions we saw. Carpets had been taken up in one house as they couldn't be bothered to clean up after the dogs. Urine and worse was simply left to soak into the concrete floors, the smell was absolutely unbelievable. You should treat this very seriously. I would say at the very least an inspection should be imminent, and assess how you want to handle it from there. The upside is that they may be very conscentious people and you might be able to find a compromise short term solution. We have let to pet owners in the past, we won't do it again. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melboy Posted June 18, 2014 Report Share Posted June 18, 2014 You must now take the necessary actions to get these tenants to leave and to enter into serious dicussions with your management company for breach of contract if it states clearly " no pets". If the tenants informed your management company that they were going to keep dogs then it's pretty clear to me where the fault lies but it cannot be emphasised enough to you that you must take positive action now..... do not delay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortitia Posted June 18, 2014 Report Share Posted June 18, 2014 Go for a Section 8 possession now as they have breached the terms of their agreement. Also contact council re dog breeding - that is an activity they will not want to see and the fact that 3 children are in residence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMC23 Posted June 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 Thank you all. We are going into the house tomorrow to inspect the property with an independent inspector. The tenants have said the management company have told them it was fine to keep pets, but have offered to pay a larger deposit. In some ways this is positive, but we are furious with the management company, who we have said we will meet with after the Inspection to discuss what happens next. When we are paying for their services, we really don't expect that! Likewise, I do feel the tenants have taken the michael by breeding dogs, which again breeches their contract as it clearly states about not operating a business from the house. Again, I would be looking at putting a stop to this. I can't believe you would have dogs of the opposite sex in the house who have not been snipped if you weren't planning to breed them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mortitia Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 I might use this breach of contract by the management company to get rid of their services without cost and maybe get shot of tenants too. Do yourself a favour and don't let this drag on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave A Posted June 19, 2014 Report Share Posted June 19, 2014 Going on your agents past performance I would think very carefully about accepting a larger deposit. If the deposit and all it's associated paperwork hasn't been handled properly you could be setting yourself up for an even bigger problem. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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