Family forced to give up pets after animal licence policy brought in at Arlington House in Margate

A heartbroken family living in a high-rise have been forced to give up their cats after an in-house ‘pet licence’ scheme was rolled out.

The residents of Margate’s towering Arlington House say the new rules compelling them to kick out Puss Puss and Pebbles are “stupid” and “a joke”.

Building bosses PS and B recently ordered tenants to abide by a new set of “licensing requirements” in a clampdown on nuisance pet owners.

Under the new rules, tenants must make the firm aware of any animals living permanently or temporarily in their flat, whereby renters must also acquire their landlord’s signed approval.

Couple Tor Ball and Sean Brady have hit out at the new measures after their landlord was unwilling to sign off their ‘pet licence’.

But PS and B defended the scheme, stressing its staff spends an “inordinate amount of time” clearing dog mess in common areas left by “irresponsible owners”.

Ms Ball applied for the permission, announced on April 17, which has to be signed off by their landlord as the legal owner of the flat.

The homeowner did not know Ms Ball was keeping Pebbles and Puss Puss in the home, and told her to remove them.

Her paranormal investigator partner Mr Brady, 36, said: “When it comes to licences for pets, you've got like the XL bully thing and stuff like that, but it's a bit weird being in a tower block for a cat.

“It’s stupid. I think it’s a bit of a joke to be honest.”

Her son, Kai, said a letter was recently sent to residents “pretty much saying we can't let animals live here any more unless your landlord agrees for them to stay here”.

He continued: “If not, you have to just get rid of them. And our landlord said no.”

Puss Puss is going to live with another family member, but a new home has not been found yet for Pebbles.

Kai added: “It’s pretty sad that they have to go.

“My mum is quite upset about it.

“I thought it might happen anyway, as a lot of the landlords had been complaining about pets in the building.”

Ps and B says it introduced the “licensing requirement” because the “caretaker and cleaner were found to be spending an inordinate amount of time cleaning up dog waste from the common parts and grounds”.

“We hoped that introducing some basic rules for pet keeping would reduce these incidents.

“This should not be necessary, but due to a number of irresponsible pet owners, we made this effort to try and improve the situation for all concerned,” they added.

But the firm said an original levy of £100 if pets were not registered within a month of the policy being brought in has now been scrapped.

The spokesman added: “We issued licences free of charge for the first two months, and now have completely removed any fees.

“There was never a commercial motive.

“The lady in question, we understand, applied for a licence, but this needed to be signed by her landlord who legally owns the property.

“The landlord then realised the lady had been keeping cats in the property and must have told her to remove them.

“We understand that the matter has been resolved between the flat owner and the tenant who owns the cats.”

In October 2024, the law surrounding pets in rented properties is changing.

Landlords will no longer be able to issue a blanket ban on tenants living with animals. Under the new rules, tenants will have the right to ask the landlord for permission to live with pets at the property.

The homeowner must consider your request to live with pets and cannot “unreasonably” refuse.