An estate agent who helped a couple sign over their home to their pet dog has been seized by police in Iran for “violating moral values”.

The couple – not named in local media – wanted to hand the apartment to their pup Chester because they have no children to pass it on to.

But bizarre video footage of the ceremony has infuriated strict Iranian officials after it appeared online.

In the clip, the estate agent – also not named – is filmed outlining the arrangement before he presents official-looking documents for Chester to sign.

As the puzzled pup looks on, his mistress takes a paw and presses it into an inkpad before putting his prints on three documents confirming him as the new owner.

Local media reported on 20th August that police had opened an investigation into the ceremony and closed down the firm.

Reports quoted Deputy Prosecutor General Reza Tabar saying: “The police arrested the head of the real estate agency and shuttered the firm on Saturday.”

Tabar said the sale sought to “normalise the violation of the society’s moral values”, adding that it had “no legal basis”.

Conservative clerics in the Islamic Republic have long urged Iranians not to keep dogs – which they consider unclean – as pets.

However, keeping cats and dogs as pets remains popular among the country’s more secularly-minded upper and middle classes.

Local media have not speculated about the fate that awaits the arrested estate agent.