Nasty Bathroom

RoseRed

OK, I was stuck on the thread title, just looking for a little advice!

We have recently rented a property and are planning on staying for the next 4 years. It is a nice property and our landlord has been very good so far but we have also been excellent tenants. The last people in before us were disgusting and had treated the place very badly. When we came to view the place on the day they got it back his wife was in tears as it was their first home together. The place was OK when we moved in but certainly not amazing. I'm suffer from OCD and Bipolar 2 and need my home to be clean and nice or I struggle to sleep, rest or eat. It took over 2 weeks till I felt suitably comfortable to eat food prepared in the house. Since being in we have done loads, such as treating the fencing, sorting the lawn, cleaning, scrubbing and repainting. This includes redoing all the gloss work. The previous tenant had dogs without permission, they had chewed a lot of the wood work. The tenant had repainted but the chew marks were still visible, to make things worse she had just glossed without cleaning and there were dog hairs painted in everywhere. I spent house sanding down and repainting.

The bathroom is very dated but I was willing to put up with it. However I came home today and found some tiles had fallen off and smashed in the bath. I couldn't get hold of the landlord so texted him and have just got a response back, he is going to arrange for someone to come in and fill in the tiles. Sounds good but the tiles are very old, very dated and not a standard shape. They are not just not in fashion now they were never in fashion and the only replacements are going to be a filler of white tile. Whilst I don't like the bathroom I was prepared to put up, if it is a patchwork of mismatching tile I don't think I could handle it.

I'm pretty certain that the landlord is only responsible to keeping the bathroom fit for purpose but do you have any idea how I could convince them to re-tile? I'm happy with the fixtures and if he could just get the tiles removed and the tileing redone around the bath I would paper and paint the rest to a high standard. I'd have done the whole thing myself but the tiles seem to be on plasterboard and I can't afford to replace everything.

I know this will seem trivial to many but with my OCD it is preventing me from relaxing and affecting my bipolar. We have improved this house a lot and our neighbours (who take great pride in their homes) have told us how delighted they are that decent people are renting the house.

Any pointers much appreciated.

RoseRed.

nearlynew

Sounds like about £150 worth of work tops

Why don't you suggest to the landlord that you will have it done and take it off next month's rent?

LunaKamelia

I would just ask the landlord to simply retile the bathroom using new tiles and perhaps reinforce the fact that you are a long term tenant. In any case he should look at it as an investment in you in the long run. Good luck :0)

Old_Git

you could offer to buy the tiles if the landlord pays for the work .This way you get to pick the tiles .

Jowo_2

I'll be honest with you - I don't know many landlords that would be willing to pay for improvements, rather than repairs, in order to fit in with their tenant's mental health, though hopefully for your sake, your landlord will decide that the bathroom could do with an overhaul and that the cost of a complete retile isn't that much greater than a repair.

bebewoo

Your landlord will only be able to offset repairs against tax,and not improvements, e.g. replace the tiles, but not retile the whole area, so he may not be keen on that idea. However if he is getting free redecoration done by you, why not ask him?

neverdespairgirl

Jowo wrote: »

I'll be honest with you - I don't know many landlords that would be willing to pay for improvements, rather than repairs, in order to fit in with their tenant's mental health, though hopefully for your sake, your landlord will decide that the bathroom could do with an overhaul and that the cost of a complete retile isn't that much greater than a repair.

Under the Disability Discrimination Act, a service provider has a duty to make reasonable adjustments.

PROFESSIONAL_LANDLORD

The problem is the bathroom suite will probably require replacement not just the tiles the shower may also require replacing etc, but that will turn the bathroom in to a building site, the added problem is the plasterboard walls. It could run in to several days work. I've done a few of these renovations for long term tenants, I'm more than happy to re-furb a bathroom rather than get a property back, but...


it can be difficult to organise, although ideal if a tenant is gone for a week's holiday.

PROFESSIONAL_LANDLORD

RoseRed wrote: »

I'm happy with the fixtures and if he could just get the tiles removed and the tileing redone around the bath

edit: sorry I missed the part of your post that the tiles are only around the bath-ignore the above

Jowo_2

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Under the Disability Discrimination Act, a service provider has a duty to make reasonable adjustments.

I'm not familiar with this legislation, other than it obliges landlords to make disability related adaptions and to not treat disabled tenants less favourably when they apply, including those suffering from mental health issues, and to honour requests made for adaptions.

I've done a little research into it after you made this point but still can't see how this obliges the OPs landlord to make improvements to the bathroom instead of a repair because non-matching tiles will cause anxiety, based on the principles of the DDA summarised in this link...

http://www.rnib.org.uk/livingwithsightloss/yourrights/disabilitydiscriminationact/Pages/housing.aspx

Hopefully in this case, the landlord can be persuaded of the benefits of replacing the tiling from a cost/maintenance perspective, at the very least, or the tenant can influence an outcome that's favourable to them.

RoseRed

Thank you for your posts, I was having a bad night last night, had a bit of a manic episode and didn't manage to go to sleep until about 3am but am feeling much calmer now.

I don't think this would be bothering me so much if we were more settled, I'm still feeling like it is not home yet and I want to relax. I'll put it to him that if he retiles I'll deal with the rest, the bathroom could do with an overhaul and he can see from the standard I've done to the rest of the property he will know it is not a shoddy job. It is a good deal for him as we want to stay minimum of 4 years if the place is right and he will get the property back in excellent condition and ready to rent the second we leave the door. I'd be too ashamed to return a property that wasn't spotless!

Thanks for your help.
RR