Just as a matter of interest how many dogs are you allowed to own in the uk per household,is there a law in the uk?

It depends if you own or lease your home or are a tenant, either private or council.

Generally the owner of the property makes the rules - there is no national law.

Usually it is two dogs but  housing associations allow two but you must have written permission. My friend was in a council property with four cavaliers but the council allowed her to keep them all as they were well looked after and the fact the dogs were small. They told her if they were large dogs it is a maximum of two. Hope this helps.

No it is not two dogs as JG said there is no law in the UK. Whoever owns the property makes the rules be it the number of dogs if any, what colour you can paint the door and how often it is done, those and all sorts of other matters but they are not laws or rules but part of your leasing contract or house deeds.

I own my house but we have a one dog limit in the deeds. Nobody takes any notice, not until the council come round after a noise complaint... (which turned out not to be my dogs!) and so the dog warden had to write me a letter giving me permission to have 5 dogs and if I increase the number I have to go back and he'll write me a new letter.

I am talking about council sector preoperties but some councils in different areas differ. My local council policy stipulates a two dog policy in their tenancies. It is going to be different with other landlords.

Wow, I hadn't realised that there were privately owned houses with a dog limit.
I knew that rented houses usually had a limit set by the council, housing association or private landlord, but assumed that if you owned your own house you could do as you wish. Is this made clear before you purchase the property?
I'm very lucky in that I live in the middle of nowhere with loads of land and no restrictions on what I can keep.

> Wow, I hadn't realised that there were privately owned houses with a dog limit.

It might be written into the deeds in certain areas. For instance in my deeds it says I can't keep chickens!

Check with the council - some areas have a limit.  My ex's parents are only allowed to keep two dogs where they are and it's their house.

I rent privately from my sister, and there is no limit on dogs from either her or the deeds; however I'm not allowed chickens and other livestock (although a legal query on that suggests that no-one can really enforce it anymore, unless someone complains on grounds such as rats or cockerel noise).

> Is this made clear before you purchase the property

A good solicitor should point all this out to you :)

The barn next to us has a clause saying no large vehicles (bigger than a standard car) should be parked outside :) :)

with regards to house deeds what you are talking about is restrictive covenants and they can differ from property to property.  Mine says I cant have fences and I must paint my house white - suffice to say I do have a fence but I did get a written letter of consent from my adjoining neighbours.  These should be advised to you when you purchase a property by your solicitor.  Quite often you will get one that says the house cant be used for breeding of domestic animals.

In our old house (newbuild property in small scheme of about 15 at the edge of a village) they had quite strict deeds.  From memory there was no chickens, no more than 2 pets, no breeding, no fences and hedges at the front were a max of 18inches.  No 'commercial vehicles' works vans, caravans etc were allowed to park overnight on drives.  You had to keep your gardens in 'tidy' order and eaves, window frames all had to be painted every second year in a specific colour.  There were quite a few Victor Meldrew types neighbours as well so rather than take the chance with complaints, we moved.

Now live in the sticks, no real close neighbours and those we do have couldn't give 2 hoots.  Much more relaxed.

My mums old council house was 2 dogs but you could get permission  to keep more.

I am talking about council sector preoperties

I'm sorry, the OP question was asking about the law in the UK not about council lettings.

I do beg your pardon sorry for trying to give some advice.

The "is there a law in the uk?" part was the giveaway. ;-)  That's why I replied "there is no national law."

Well obviously there is no national law because there are all types of landlords. Duh. I was talking about social landlords and social landlords alone which i explained in my post.

is there any need to be so rude as she said she was only talking about social landlords

It wasn't clear from her first post (the third post on the thread) - and clarity is so important to avoid misunderstandings. I'm sure Katalina can cope perfectly well (judging by her 'duh' remark) with rudeness without help.

I said the duh remark because you was being rude to me Jean.

I do beg your pardon sorry for trying to give some advice.
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No problem but your post was not clear it seemed a contradiction to what had already been said - that is, it is up to the landlord or the deeds as there is no law. You replied "Usually it's two dogs" which is untrue and misleading when the OP was asking about the UK law.

See you now say your were talking about social housing but you did not make that clear either, misinformation is worse than no information at all so it needs correcting.

Thank you for support woody. It is a rarity on here. I put clear comments further up stating social landlords obviously some people do not read properly.

No nova I said with some councils it is two dogs not two dogs for all. Depends on area.

Think perhaps you need to re-read what you actually wrote.

However any misinformation is now made clear so no harm done.

Well i'm glad it's finally cleared up  :)

I don't know about most countries laws, but I'm sure that I have heard of American States that have a blanket ruling of 2/3 dogs per house (or whatever number)
I saw an extreme case on Miami Animal Police, I think it was, where they removed 80 assorted small breed dogs from a woman and allowed her to keep the limit of 4.

You may well be right Sassinak but we were asked about the UK.

Thank you for support woody. It is a rarity on here

Katalina you have been a member for a few months and Woody for a few days so I do feel this sort of comment in uncalled for and not necessary. Jean however has been a member for 9 years and I find her comments and advice along with other long standing members to be invaluable and never rude. I do think many of your answers however are rude and offensive. This is just my opinion but felt it necessary to voice my feelings, I apologise to the OP for the interruption to this thread

Might be an idea that posters try to answer the OP's query rather than try to score points over each.This has become a recurring theme between the same posters on a couple of threads.

You may well be right Sassinak but we were asked about the UK.

I realised that Nova :), but it struck me as strange question until I thought about it and realised that there are probably countries that have a national law regarding the number of dogs etc. I had never considered the possibility until then. Sorry

>I said the duh remark because you was being rude to me Jean.

I put in the winking smilie to show that it was a lighthearted comment. Sorry you misunderstood; friendly comments don't usually get a rude retort. Heigh-ho.

Sorry for misunderstanding i didn't mean to be rude i reacted because i thought you was being rude to me. Think i got off to a bad footing being on this forum. :)

in my deeds it says I can't keep chickens!

!!!! I'd have to move.

Last year I had a resident come by to complain about my cockerels--she was aghast when she heard that I could have up to 50 birds without registering them with anyone.

This is a really timely topic--I own my house, but as a mid-terrace I have neighbours in very close proximity and I try very hard not to offend them by ever leaving the dogs alone and barking. I have three dogs now and am hoping 2012 will make it four but was scared someone could report me for it.

I know it's not completely relevant but, when looking at the number of dogs you could have - it's worth being aware of some of the dog control orders your local authority might have in place...

Some LA's have restrictions on the number of dogs that can be walked at any one time, in certain locations. 

BUT what exciting news Jay15 - 4 dogs and an affix!!  Your sons have finally come round to your way of thinking then :)

what exciting news Jay15 - 4 dogs and an affix!!  Your sons have finally come round to your way of thinking then

(Stuffing handkerchief in mouth to keep the hysterical laughter down)...dogs a babe, I think my sons felt the affix was a case of "What harm can it do? She's demented anyway." But they don't know about the puppy. I have mentioned it fairly airily in passing but so far they think it's just a wind up. I have decided not to say anything yet because the bitch in question first has to come into season (she's keeping everyone guessing this time), and even if she has a litter I will only be in luck if she presents the breeder with a bitch of sufficient show potential since I'll be campaigning her.

So right behind my new year's wish for world peace, guess what I will be hoping for :-)

It might be written into the deeds in certain areas. For instance in my deeds it says I can't keep chickens!

I'm not allowed to keep bee's or canary's lol.
What could happen if you live in a bought house and don't keep to the deed's ?

For instance in my deeds it says I can't keep chickens!


Once leased a National Trust property and we were not allowed to hang out washing or have a washing line, a television aerial or paint anything but could keep as many animals as we liked of any species. Needless to say we did have TV and we did hang out the washing we also took advantage of being able to have animals.

> I'm not allowed to keep bee's or canary's lol.

A friend of mine told me she once lived in a house in Southsea, where it was written in the deeds that she may not keep circus or zoo animals! She said this came about because many years ago whenever travelling circuses came to town some of the animals were billeted temporarily in people's gardens.

One of my first jobs, many years ago, was in a Building Society and, in the process of checks deeds coming and going to solicitors I remember a few covenents that amused me such as no pigs in the upstairs rooms.
It was in Bristol, a strong Quaker area, and many deeds also banned the occupation by Catholics.  I'm pretty sure that one would not be upheld these days!

My property in Manchester, I can keep an unlimited number of dogs/cats/other domestic pets, I CANNOT keep cockerals, but can keep hens, no other livestock is permitted though.

Where I live now, as far as I know I can keep any number of whatever domestic animals I like, can't keep livestock.... but I must be prepared to contribute financially to the maintenance of the church roof should it require repairing...

No one actually knows WHICH church roof that is, and so when we bought the property we took out an insurance policy should it ever actually come up.

The point is, private properties CAN have all manner of weird covenants and conditions within the deeds and as there is no national law about what  you can and cannot keep as regards dogs, its wise to check your deeds!

> but I must be prepared to contribute financially to the maintenance of the church roof should it require repairing...
>

The same here so when we bought the house took out insurance in case we were asked to contribute.

> No one actually knows WHICH church

Our house is built on church land and we cannot sell alcohol from the property!!

So many houses are built on land previously owned by the church that, as someone else has said, all manner of weird conditions or covenants can be applied.  Another is when land has been sold to a developer and the original owner of the land wants to ensure he has 'nice' neighbours.  These are the sort of deals which often attempt to restrict the keeping of livestock, dogs, or other so-called 'antisocial behaviour' like parking caravans or commercial vehicles in the driveway :)

>I have three dogs now and am hoping 2012 will make it four but was scared someone could report me for it.

OMG!  This thread is making me panic!  Because the house is mine, I assumed I could do whatever I liked with the place.  Haven't even checked deeds to see if I'm allowed to dance in the garden naked! 

JAY15 don't you dare tell anyone how many dogs I have.  I shall just plead ignorance.

JAY15 don't you dare tell anyone how many dogs I have

Let's just say I hope to get there one day myself, but not until I live at least 1000 miles away from any of my family :-)

no pigs in the upstairs rooms

LOVE that one...must tell my sons I have just discovered this in our deeds and sadly unless they tidy up their rooms they will have to pack their bags and leave

Why is having a caravan or commercial vehicle in your driveway considered to be anti-social?

> Why is having a caravan or commercial vehicle in your driveway considered to be anti-social

Generally, they just don't look very nice :) Just depends on the location tho' :) Where we used to live, our neighbours' son parked his van almost outside our house on the verge (across the road from his house). Firstly it blocked the view of the road from our window and also it was very noisy when he started it up at 6.30am :) We got on very well with our neighbours and never liked to say anything :(

In Obedience (and I suspect Agility to a large extent) I would say at least 50% (probably a lot higher) of people have either a van or caravan or both lol. Never had any neighbour complaints about our two vans as they probably appreciate they are used for our dogs to travel in comfort and safety, and kitted out to a serious degree. We now have our own land to park on, so not an eyesore to anyone lol. I would never be snobby about someone having a works van - people who actually want to go to work are a rarity these days lol. 

Hi Marisa, the point I was making about vans is that some of the original land owners put that in their covenant to ensure their views are protected.  Several smaller developers have it too if they are building a 'close' or cul-de-sac where the properties have clear views of each other (as they would in a curve) and where a high sided vehicle will cause loss of kerb appeal for the others or, more importantly, loss of light.  It can also form a condition of planning consent...

It isn't really a question of anyone being 'snobby' as you put it :)

Were not allowed to have a pigsty within 6 yards of the road or run a tea shop from our downstairs rooms.

Were not allowed to have a large gathering of people with the intention to make music, sing and make merry with the use of alcohol or cause nuisance, bang goes another Christmas