Just to let everyone know we managed to persuade the landlords of the new house to let us keep the dogs. We explained how we keep them in our own house - in dog pen during the day and limited access to the whole house as this works well with 2 small children as well - and we are trialing it.
The only problem could be the collie X as he can be a constant barker. we've introduced a spray collar which seemed to work for about a week.
I'll keep everyone posted on the out come.