Help Ozzy stay with his family

Hi, a friend of mine is being forced to rehome her Weim, Ozzy. Ozzy's family have been told by their landlord that they have to rehome him because another tenant's dog caused damage to another of his properties. The landlord is now saying that he won't allow pets in any of his properties. Ozzy is not a destructive puppy, he is a fully grown adult almost 6 years old and a much loved family pet. They will be heartbroken if Ozzy has to go because of someone else's mistake when he has done nothing wrong.

I have started a petition which will hopefully make the landlord think again if we can get enough signatures, so could you please help out by adding yours? You don't have to put your name, you can remain anonymous. You don't have to make a donation, just close the page when you have signed. The petition is here. Thanks.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ozzyweim

Signed I hope it changes the Landlords mind.

Also speak to Battersea as they are doing some work with the landlord association regarding pets in rented homes.


Edited to add I have signed

Whilst the petition can't hurt, there are other things to consider:

(1) what type of tenancy do the family have and does the current agreement allow pets? If the tenancy agreement says that pets are allowed, the landlord can't change these terms unilaterially during the tenancy (though if they have an AST, the landlord could terminate the agreement and then offer a new one with a no pets clause.

(2) they do have a choice, they don't have to rehome him but could find someone else to live that would allow him. I appreciate this may not be a viable option, but I do hope that it is something they will consider if the landlord won't change his mind.

(3) If the landlord is worried about damage, offering to increase their rent deposit might appease him. I know that this might be financially difficult for the owners, but if I was a landlord, I would be much more likely to agree to the dog staying on this basis than if I was purely given a petition with a load of names on it, particularly if the people on the partition don't know the dog or the family.

I hope your friend can sort something out.

The tenancy stated that pets were allowed but that the landlord was entitled to change his mind.

The family have only been in the house a couple of weeks and have already moved twice in two years and had to give £2k deposit, which is plenty to take care of any damage he would do, but he's not a puppy.

It's a big committment to take on a dog of that size and she has already asked friends. I wish I could help, but I already have two males. Rossi is already jealous of any attention I give to Enzo and I wouldn't want to upset things further by having another dog to give my attention to. Despite that I couldn't afford another and Enzo is enough work for two on his own!

It may not help at all, but I had to try and help in any way I could. I hope I never have to stay in rented accommodation, I would rather live in a caravan than not have my dogs, but I don't have kids to consider.

Thanks for the further info - I was only raising those points in case they hadn't of been thought of.

Re the tenancy saying the landlord can change his mind - is there anything in that clause about him having to act reasonably or there being a reason for the change? If not, I would say this clause is really unfair and there may be some argument to be had there (though I appreciate that would only give them until the end of the existing tenancy anyway, but at least it would give a little more time for them to sort things out).

I'm not a solicitor but do know quite a bit about leases/tenancy agreements (although commercial rather than residential) and would be happy to have a look to see if I could find any angles to argue if you wanted to pm me the relevent sections?

Thanks very much, I'll contact her and see if she can scan in the tenancy agreement and send it to me.

She has had the agreement looked at by a legal friend and they say the landlord has a right to change his mind at any time. The landlord is Asian and thinks that animals should be kept outside and not as part of the family and is not even interested in meeting Ozzy.

They only have a week to go before the landlord serves notice if they still have him and Weim rescue are looking for a new home for him. I think we're losing the battle.

Signed hope it works out for you x

I suppose if a legal person has checked the agreement then that's that, but I would have thought that changing his mind was an option if for instance the dog had caused some damage but just to change it on a complete whim doesn't sound right to me. After all, the dog has done nothing wrong and he must have known the family's situation before he took their money and signed the tenancy agreement. Seems very harsh to me but it sounds as if they are between a rock and a hardplace - poor things.