VERY short notice of major renovations

Yorkie1

There is no right to a rent rebate, whatever you might have read elsewhere.

dancingfairy

Whilst it is indeed a pain, I'm not sure you will get any money out of her. It depends on whether she is happy to accept that you have been inconvenienced and makes a goodwill gesture to you.
In terms of arguing she has frustrated the contract I'm not sure it will get you very far and as far as I can see she is now chasing up the builders
Your options appear to be either following the Shelter guide for enforcing repairs or contacting environmental health.
Hopefully she will get back to you soon.
df
Edit: She appears to be stuck between a rock and hard place. The builders appear to have not followed her instructions.
IF you are all about to sign a new contract then this might give you some bargaining power but that's about it.

philman

I have heard back from the two flatmates who have been here longest now (they have been here a few years, I only moved in in October). They are basically saying they don't think it is worth chasing her about anything as they have dealt with her before and she will never admit she has done anything wrong, and apparently can become quite 'difficult' if pushed too hard.

They are more worried that she is doing these spontaneous improvements to the house in order to raise the value to try and sell it, or raise our rents.

I am still aiming to ask her for a small decrease in the rent for this month, depending how long the room ends up out of use for. I was reading the Citizens Advice Bureau website (won't let me post link apparently because I'm a new MSE forum user) and it says that it wasn't right, but it doesn't mention which laws it comes under or anything, so am unsure if it is just advice or how legally binding it is.

But if the rest of the flatmates don't seem to want to bother then I have no idea of how it will go.

dodger1

For me, an extra toilet where four people are sharing the present bathroom far outweighs a few days of inconvenience in not having a shower, especially as you say you can use the bath. The 24 hour notice would have been a little annoying but that's all, just a little, I am a very laid back person though.