Society says tenants can't keep pets even though the owner is okay with it. Can they actually do this?
I was looking for a rental flat and I have a dog so I specifically filtered for pet friendly properties and found a good one on nobroker that looked ideal and the owner had explicitly marked pets as allowed. I spoke to him before visiting as well and made it clear that I would be moving in with my dog. He said he had absolutely no issue with it.
I visited the flat and ended up liking it and paid the token amount. Before finalising the agreement and paying the deposit, I went to the society office to ask about few things and while talking to the society manager I casually mentioned that I'll be moving in with my dog but he told that the society does not allow tenants to keep pets.
I was confused because I had already seen people walking dogs inside the complex, so I asked him if pets were banned completely he said no. According to him, flat owners are allowed to keep their own pets, but tenants aren't.
That sounded strange to me, so I called the flat owner immediately.
The owner is now saying that the society cannot legally make a rule allowing owners to have pets while stopping tenants from having them. He is completely willing to rent the flat to me.
But the society manager seemed quite confident about their rule.
As of now, I haven't been shown any written bye law or circular. This was communicated to me verbally during the visit.
My concern is that even if the owner is legally correct, I'm going to be the person actually living there. I don't want to move in, pay everything and then have daily arguments with security over taking my dog through the lift or get constant calls from the society office.
So legally, I wanted to understand:
- Can a housing society/RWA make a distinction where owners can keep pets but tenants cannot?
- If my landlord expressly permits the pet in the rental agreement, can the society still stop me from keeping the dog?
- Should I ask the society for the relevant bye law/rule in writing before signing anything?
- If they refuse to give anything in writing but continue saying tenants with pets aren't allowed, what practical remedy would I actually have after moving in?
I have already paid the token amount but I m leaning towards dropping the flat , even though the owner is insisting that there won't be an issue.
Would appreciate advice from anyone familiar with housing society/RWA rules or who has dealt with something similar.