landlords and dogs - needs some advice urgently

This is a bit complex but I hope someone can help. I'll try to be as concise as I can to make it easier to understand.

Just before we moved into the house I emailed the agent to see if we could have a dog at the property. I made it clear the dog would be an indoor dog (he's a toy breed) and explained he'd be crated overnight and during the day when we went out. The agent forwarded my email to the owner and the answer came back that it was ok to have the dog. We then signed the paperwork confirming we were going to keep a dog at the address.

18months down the track and we've had a change of real estate agent (the owner has moved management of the property to a different agent as she wants to sell) and we're now being told we've been breaching our tenancy agreement by having the dog in the house!! I contacted the previous agent querying this and he sent me the email exchange between him and the owner asking about the dog. I sent that to the new realtor this morning explaining that we'd always made it clear the dog would be in the house and permission was granted based on my email.

They're still saying that the owner never agreed to the dog being in the house, it was just something I said would happen, and he has to kept outside at all times. This is a 3kg, 11inch tall dog that would probably freeze to death if he was kept outside. If we don't keep him outside from now on we're going to be served with a 14 day termination notice for breach of our tenancy agreement.

I'm fuming as the owner never specified he had to be an outside dog, they agreed to us getting a dog based on an email in which I stated he would be inside AND the pet addition letter we signed doesn't state he isn't allowed in the house. Never mind the 6 inspections we had with the old agency where he was in the house at the time.

Anyone got any advice on how I can fight this? The alternative involves my girlfriend moving out while with the dog while we look for somewhere else (our lease is up on 15th August so we're looking at the moment) and I really don't want that to happen cause the option is her parents and they really don't get on well.

If you have a copy of the original lease agreement to say an indoor dog is ok then they can't say you have been breaching the agreement. If you don;t have a copy then it is your word against theirs/real estate IYGWIM..

Hope it all works out :hug:

Which state are you in? If you have it in writing that the dog will be inside, and the owners agreement, I don't see how you are in breech of anything?

We're in NSW. The sticking point appears to be that we don't have anything from the owner saying he can be an inside dog but there's nothing to say he has to be kept outside either! All I've got is an email trail stating our intention to keep the dog inside and a response from the owner saying it was ok. I took that to mean it was ok to have him in the house but the owner / new realtor are now saying that's not the case at all.

It's so frustrating - the owner won't budge on this and I've had to step away from the emails today before I ended up abusing the new realtor.

You might have to give the tennents association in your state a call and see what your rights are

I agree...go to the tenants association.

If the email clearly says inside dog and the owner says yes then its a no brainer I think- get some advice....

Have a look HERE for help

Good luck

Legally you are fine. The LL really cannot do anything about it at this stage (you have the evidence of their knowledge of the dog). Get in touch with your local Tenants advocacy service (google it :) ) they will give you some free information and advice and assistance if you need it; they should be able to resolve this for you, or at least put your mind at rest.

Just a quick update - I contacted the tenancy advisory service and they've confirmed what we thought, the dog is allowed in the house. We've put a letter to the real estate informing them we've taken specialist advice on this and basically they're in the wrong. We also informed then we'll be taking the matter further with an application to the tribunal if they persist in their harrassment over the dog.

Not the ideal way to end a tenancy agreement (our 90 day notice period ends 15th August) and I'm starting to think they're deliberatly giving us bad references but it had to be done.

Hopefully we'll find somewhere else really quickly.

pretty sucky, but sounds like they have an agenda and you're suffering

Maybe the conflict isn't at all about the dog.... The owner wants to sell, which may mean he wants the house vacant, but in order to break the lease he needed a breach on your behalf and hey presto, blame the pooch. I hope that's not the case, but sounds like it could be