Can anyone tell me what the rules are concerning dogs in council properties.I may have to sell our house and go into council but need to  know if I can take the dogs...if not then I'm not going! BTW ...I have 5
Archer

From what little I know about Local Authority housing rules, they vary from council to council.  What's relevant in one area may not apply in another.

Our local council has a good website.  Try looking at the one for your area and it might tell you.

You'll have to check with you local authority as I think the rules (and how stringently they are applied) can vary.

Here (N. Ireland) the rules are that there should be no pets in flats and one pet in a house at the discretion of the district manager. In reality, a blind eye is turned to most breaches of the rules as long as the animals concerned do not cause a nuisance to neighbours and no complaints are made about them. I don't know of anyone actually seeking permission from the manager before getting a pet and am not aware of any cases in the area I work of someone being made to get rid of one either. If you walk around any Council estate you  will probably see dozens of dogs (mostly uncontrolled :( ) so any rules that exist are obviously not enforced too vigorously. You have a much better chance of moving into Local Authority Housing with your dogs than you do private rented accommodation.

Good luck!

You will have to ask the council concerned. Some have limits and some don't. my mother lives in a Housing Asociation bungalow and they allow 1 cat or 1 dog, here are on the other hand there are no limits as long as they don't disturb the neighbours.

I know the NKDC council in Lincolnshire have a one dog rule. But have leeway as long as they dont cause any problems but dont know about 5. And the nottinghamshire housing association has a no pets rule :( so best to check with the local council.
I hope your ok?????
Lea.

Angus council have a 3 dogs AND 3 cats maximum. I have 3 dogs and 1 cat at the moment. Do you think I could get a puppy and pretend it's a cat? ;) It helps that I live in the country, though, as I don't think I'd get away with it in the town - the dogs bark too much :D

I think my friend in Norfolk lives in a council house and she has 7 Cavaliers - she does worry if they bark though! The man across the road has the cheek to complain sometimes - I say cheek, because he has Labradors which also bark a lot!!

When i split with my ex - our house was repossessed and i thankfully was offered a very nice council house in a lovely area (apart from one neighbour !) anyway i had at that time 5 dogs all giant breeds, but all i asked the officer was were dogs allowed - he said yes two but you can get permission for more.  I decided not to declaire my dog total as at the end of the day once you are in it is very hard for the council to get you out (provided you have a secure tennancy - i did) also they really dont bother unless someone complains and as my dogs were quiet and well behaved no-one did.

Hope that helps
Sharon

Thanks Sharon....I had thought about going down that road...
Nikki

my council allows 1 dog in a house or flat . i had 5 dogs a few months ago !! the housing manager came round & saw them , but never said a word !! (ive bought my house now! ) i think if you keep the garden clean & tidy & the noise level down , there shouldnt be a problem , apart from lack of space !! :):)

Hi Archer here it is two dogs but that is rossendale borough council.I had a friend enquire only a matter of weeks ago. they told her two dogs but only one cat dunno why only one cat. she had three dogs at the time and asked for special permission to keep the three and they allowed it.

Thanks Polly
your not far from me...I'm in Rochdale.I've emailed the council and am going down to speak to them on Monday.If we have to move it looks like we'll just have to risk it...and keep the dogs quiet etc.
Archer

May not be the answer but have you thought about going private.  I have a friend who had, I think, six dogs at one time and rented a house in the middle of a wood.  Forestry land I think, it wasn't expensive as the owners hadn't done a lot with it.  Sometimes you can be lucky like that.  There were no problems with the dogs, all medium size and barkers. 

I had to move out of my home many years ago when I split from my first partner and went into council accommodation.  The rental agreement said pets were allowed so long as there was no disturbance.

I hope everything goes okay for you.

only thing is echo, they are hard to find :(
I would love to live in a house in the moddle of no where, and would even do the improvements on it myself, just cant find any that are one, in the middle of nowhere that arnt extortionate amounts of rent,or two they except pets :(
Lea :)

Im in Bury, with four dogs and a cat in a council house.. the only hoop i had to leap through was when i was in a bedsit and then i needed written permission to have one dog.

It would seem in a house there arent any rules here! I suspect if they were noisy or someone complained id have a problem, but im not breaking anything in my tenancy agreement by having four dogs (although my neighbour is as she has a snake over 2ft long, LOL :D)

Em

Is having a snake breaking the tenancy agreement? I have a 5 foot prairie king snake and i'm in a council house. I put this on my application form as a pet and nothing was said about it so i presumed it was ok??

It varies, some allow them others don't.

I own my place but it is leasehold and the lease is owned by the housing association.  I was supposed to ask permission for all the pets I keep, before I moved in I asked permission for American Bulldogs (because they were what I wanted at the time) and the association refused, I nearly didnt by the place because of it.  I never asked permission for my snake because I thought they would say know.  I now have two dogs, a cat, and a snake and no one has ever said anything.  The best thing to do is keep in with the neighbours and make sure the pets dont become a nusiance.  As far as my neighbours know I have permission for all of mine anyway ;)

Hiya

I am currently in a council property at the moment too and I have 5 large breed dogs and two cats. My lease says one dog, I have had the housing officer in when I had 3 and nothing was said then, she actually commented on how well behaved and how quiet they were. I am very lucky that my dogs are not barkers, if anyone in the neighbourhood asks me how many dogs I have they are very surprised when I say 5. In my area we have one smaller cross type dog that barks continuously and one Cocker who lives next door to me that makes a fair old racket. My dogs make very little noise and I generally don't tolerate them barking at all.

I live in a council house and no one has ever mentioned pets and wheather we are allowed them.
Mary

Have you read the tenancy agreement, it is likely to be mentioned there.  For example the council tenants around here have it in theri tenancies that they can keep up to 6 chickens, but no Cockerels.

Been to the council today...told them I have 5 dogs and a cat and they said....''thats a very tolerant cat!!!!!''
So looks like theres not a problem or surely they would have said so
Archer

We always lived in a council house and always had dogs. there are all sorts of rules in these houses such as no cutting down trees and putting up garden structures ect but TBH everyone in our street did it and I think the general concensus was that so long as you didnt upset anyone and was not inconsiderate then no one would know and even if they did the council would probably turn a blind eye. Long as your dogs dont make pests of themselves :) you should be ok!