Goff Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 I've had a note through my door from the council for a breach of tenancy...... Im certain its cos i have chooks cos my neighbour said they came round and were peering through my fence. Someone must have told them, although i went over the back to see the lady who lives directly behind me and she said she didnt even know ihad them and that she thought it was great that i did I have to call the council tomorrow to see what its about Im gutted, cos i might have to get rid of them now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chick wiggle Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Oh my goodness! Oh eck I hope everything turns out ok. Not much help for you Im afraid, i dont know much about tennancys and stuff. Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Shirl Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Oh gosh I am sorry. I hope everything gets sorted out for you. You must be very worried. May be something completely different of course. I hope so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goff Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 I found this in The Allotments Act 1950, Chapter 31, Section 12 which states: Abolition of contractual restrictions on keeping hens and rabbits 12 Abolition of contractual restrictions on keeping hens and rabbits.(1)Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary in any lease or tenancy or in any covenant, contract or undertaking relating to the use to be made of any land, it shall be lawful for the occupier of any land to keep, otherwise than by way of trade or business, hens or rabbits in any place on the land and to erect or place and maintain such buildings or structures on the land as reasonably necessary for that purpose:. Provided that nothing in this subsection shall authorise any hens or rabbits to be kept in such a place or in such a manner as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance or affect the operation of any enactment. Does anyone know if this applies to ANYONE regardless of who they rent their home from? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Check out the legalities section of the eglu and cube section - not sure if that holds any chicken info or not If I remember correctly the allotments act is a tricky one, lots of people maintain that it doesnt necessarily out you in the clear I would suggest you embrace your neighbours to ensure that no one minds then approach the council to say that you arent keeping a cockerel and that the 'pets' are outside so cannot ruin the house Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 As far as I am aware, the Allotments Act refers to allotment land only. 'Any land' in this instance would therefore relate to any allotment land, not residential. So it is perfectly permissible to keep chickens on any allotment you fancy but there may well be local restrictions on keeping chickens in a garden. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news about this, but councils are not always accommodating at the best of times, so might not help your cause if you quote the Allotments Act and it turns out not to be applicable to residential land/gardens. I really do hope you come to an agreement with them though so you can keep your chooks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Oh dear, poor you . I hope you can sort something out so you don't have to get rid of them . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goff Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 I shall be fighting it all the way if its my chooks. I only got them sunday and someone ha complained already - i have cleaned them out every evening so they dont mell and they dont make noise! So its someone with nothing better to do. I didnt sleep last night worrying about it, but im going to fight them all the way if its my chooks. I grow veg too so im trying to be a little self sufficient. I would have thought they should be more concerned with things like fixing my heating which has been broken for over a week AGAIN, or clearing up the empty house across the road with all the windows smashed, rubbish in the garden and kids setting fire to it! Its early, i didnt sleep and im very cranky so sorry if im ranting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 What a shame. Tap into your councils green credentials and see if that will sway them. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickiepiggies Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 I hate councils and busy boddies with nothing better to do they are always looking for ways to spoil things. Are there others houses under tenancy that have pets? If so maybe you could mention this also when you go to see them, and say other are breaking rules also. So if you have to get rid of yours others should get rid of there’s (not nice but you could use it) Maybe they might think more hassle than its worth. My old tenancy for a previous council property stated no pets what so ever but everyone in my street had pets and i had a cat. it shouldn't matter what the animal is its still a pet. We live on a estate with lots of council properties 50% of our street is still council and they all have pets and the house are quite close together. Hope everything works out and you get to keep them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annieblue Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 I'm really sorry to hear that, I've only had mine for less than a week and would be gutted if they had to go. Erm, speaking as one of the much maligned council workers (though not anything to do with housing I hasten to add) could I suggest that it might be an idea to approach this situation from a non aggressive point of view, at least to begin with. Council workers are just people, like me, who have a job to do, which is sometimes very unpleasant and we get plenty of abuse from the public - The person dealing with this may have had a complaint and will have to deal with it in a way that could have some leeway, so it's better to be able to reach a compromise by starting off on the right foot rather than going in for the jugular straight away. I know you must feel awful and very angry but having a go at the council staff will not be very productive, hear what the situation is (who's complained etc) and go from there. If the person you are dealing with is an almighty 'job's worth' though, by all means give them both barrels! I don't have any contacts in the housing type areas but PM me if you think I could give you any advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Shirl Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Everyone will be behind you with this. I agree that the softly softly approach should be adopted first off. Be assured though that I and many others will be thinking of you today. On facebook ealier in the year there was a case of the council making an old couple get rid of their chickens, and they mounted a campaign and won the case. Some thing to keep in mind should things get difficult. Good luck today. Chin up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickiepiggies Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Actually I used to be a council worker myself and I have known some of them to get off on there authority and actually enjoy other peoples misery...hence I don’t work there any more. Not all are the same so i apologies if any offence caused. I’m just annoyed at why people feel the need to interfere and spoil things for others. There are 2 of us in my street who own chickens, a complaint was made against the other house, they visited the house was happy and that was it nothing since. Sorry again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwing Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Well fingers crossed you will be ok then Is it pets or livestock that are not allowed Many councils allow pets so if they are on to you because of the livestock clause point out that the hens are pets Do go softly softly, if you rub someone up the wrong way you will be struggling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veggiemad Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 how horrible> you stick to your guns. I had to ring the council about ours before i got them (we own our house) and they said we could keep poultry as pets but no other livestock., not sure how this stands if its a council house, but i'm sure chickens are pets, just like a rabbit? Good luck and let us know how you get on. Flippy authorities! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluckingmad Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 I'm thinking of you petal, Our council don't seem to knwo what their own regs are currently We were given verbal permission to keep the girls when we bought our hosue last year, now we want to try raising chicks as long as we can find homes for any boys (or we'll have to eat them...) and the council are being VERY difficult to get any info from, apart from saying we need their permission and no-one seems to know who that permission has to come from... Keeping eveything crossed for you hon, let us know how it goes carolyn x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seagazer Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 I'll keep everything crossed for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henriette Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 A very difficult position for you, but I am certainly in agreement with the polite way forward. We had several minor problems with the council when we were in the UK and each time we managed to find a way to continue doing what we wanted - even with perhaps some slight compromise. We always tried our hardest to keep calm (although it wasn't always the easiest thing to do). Anayway, all the very best with this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goff Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 A bit of news I called the council today and spoke to a very nice lady who is my housing officer. She said that in my tenancy agreement it says no livestock. I told her i wasnt aware of that (my fault!), but that i had called the environmental health about 3 weeks ago to ask what we had to do regarding chooks. They told me that they had to be around 10ft from m house and 30ft from my neighbours - which they are. They also said as long as they were looked after and weren't causing a nuisance it was fine. We havent taken on chooks lightly, we spent weeks gathering information and educating ourselves before we commited - i just STUPIDLY never thought i would have to ask permission. I got my girls from a lovely lady on here and they have been wormed, vaccinated and registered with my vet. Anyway, i invited her round to come look at my hens. She is coming 2 weeks today so i still have my girls! My OH is going to build the WIR we had planned this weekend so everything will be top notch and hopefully i can persuade her to let me keep them. Im also going to go round all my neighbours and ask them to sign a kind of petiton to say they have no objection to me keeping my girls, because when i spoke to them last night they all thought it was great! We also grow our own veg so i can show her that we are trying to be as green as possible, and i'll invite her to come round and inspect us any time she likes. Anyway i have a little bit of hope because i think if they were sticklers for rules she would have told me there and then that i couldnt have the hens and that i had to get rid of them straight away, so fingers crossed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluckingmad Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 That IS a good bit of news If you let them know that they're pets and not for any commercial gain then I'm sure it'll all be ok (still fingers crossed for you ), the main concern councils seem to have is with vermin, we have 10 chooks and not seen a single mouse or rat since we got them - we DO have two cats, but neither have brught us any, ahem, "presents" since we moved, so I doubt its them keeping any rodents away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chick wiggle Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Oh that is good news, as said before, I think, if there was any doubt the lady would have mentioned it there and then. Yay Now go tidy your garden and poo pick before her visit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Good news, what a relief for you . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henriette Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 Tremendous news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goff Posted October 9, 2009 Author Share Posted October 9, 2009 That IS a good bit of news If you let them know that they're pets and not for any commercial gain then I'm sure it'll all be ok (still fingers crossed for you ), the main concern councils seem to have is with vermin, we have 10 chooks and not seen a single mouse or rat since we got them - we DO have two cats, but neither have brught us any, ahem, "presents" since we moved, so I doubt its them keeping any rodents away! We have some Eradibait just in case anyway, so im going to show her all the treatments and things we have for them, and tell her what each one is for so she can see that we do look after them and that the risk of vermin is minimised with the use of the eradibait. I too have a cat but she's never brought me anything since we have been here either! I shall be spending all weekend tidying my garden and helping the OH build the WIR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KateG Posted October 9, 2009 Share Posted October 9, 2009 That sounds very positive. I'm sure if they really wanted you to rehome the hens they wouldn't be coming out to see -or at least they'd be around asap to see them rather than 2 weeks time. Got everything crossed, be sure to update us as soon as you know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
