Renting furnished room - law regarding mattress?

King_Mustard

My partner and I are about to rent a room in a house from a landlord (no idea who he is) via. a letting agent. We move in next week. We are renting the room as furnished.

When we viewed the room, we forget to check the mattress. There was a material protector on there at the time, and the letting agent staff member did say they would replace that for a new tenant (i.e. us).

If the mattress is in poor condition, we can legally request a new one?

To be fair, we don't even like the idea of using a mattress that's been slept in by someone else that I don't know, even if appears in good condition, but I doubt the law allows requests of a new mattress for each new tenant.

Basically, I'm just trying to find the overall stance regarding mattresses when renting a room

bebewoo

There is no "law" regarding mattresses.
You could appeal to the goodwill of the landlord and ask for a new one, but it is an unusual request and it might make them think you are a fussy tenant.

King_Mustard

bebewoo wrote: »

There is no "law" regarding mattresses.
You could appeal to the goodwill of the landlord and ask for a new one, but it is an unusual request and it might make them think you are a fussy tenant.

So if we are paying for a furnished room and the mattress is in a disgusting state, we have to pay for our own...?

gayleanne

Well if it is that bad that you are worrying about light bulbs and mattresses, rent an unfurnished room, then everything in it is yours.

hncb0809

i see your point here on the ma tress basis mate as for light bulbs they are cheap to replace.

why not buy your own mattress and then request landlord removes the other. then take yours with you when you go

King_Mustard

hncb0809 wrote: »

i see your point here on the ma tress basis mate as for light bulbs they are cheap to replace.

why not buy your own mattress and then request landlord removes the other. then take yours with you when you go

Could do, and it's a possibility I just created the topic because I wasn't sure if legally, a furnished room meant a decent mattress (I don't mean expensive, I mean if it's gross). The bed base was in poor condition. You could tell it was old.

hncb0809

buy a standard bed then if your not fussed

i picked up the bed im using just now for 70 quid delivered

full metal frame.

does for now. no issues.

King_Mustard

hncb0809 wrote: »

buy a standard bed then if your not fussed

i picked up the bed im using just now for 70 quid delivered

full metal frame.

does for now. no issues.

We're low on funds, we can't do that.

I didn't mention the base for any specific reason, that can easily be covered over. Was just mentioning it for an overall image.

I guess what we'll have to do is hope the mattress is in decent condition. We'll get a mattress protector to cover it in that case.

However, if it's in poor condition, or smells of urine or something, I don't know what we'll do. Buy a new one I guess, since it appears we can't ask the agent/landlord to do it (I wasn't sure until I posted here and got ripped royally ).

abankerbutnotafatcat

I personally would not expect my tenants to sleep on a mattress that I wouldn't sleep on and I have high standards. I also let my property to young professionals and expect that they have similar expectations for the level of rent they pay.

However, other LLs servicing other target markets may have different standards.

If you're paying bottom dollar (I'm not saying you are, just an example) unfortunately you may not get a very nice mattress or indeed anything else. As I student I experienced some pretty unpleasant rented accomm.

If the mattress is really bad then ask nicely. If they say no either try a compromise that gives the LL some certainty about how long you stay or offer to pay some of the cost etc. Alternatively, you could buy one yourself but the LL might not be able to store his.

Hopefully, you've got both a decent mattress and a decent LL and this won't be an issue!

Fire_Fox

King_Mustard wrote: »

So if we are paying for a furnished room and the mattress is in a disgusting state, we have to pay for our own...?

Generally what happens in that situation is prospective tenants go rent somewhere else, or they negotiate with the landlord to provide a new mattress. Personally I'd go with the first option, any landlord who will permit viewings on somewhere with a truly disgusting mattress I would not want to let from. Don't hope, inspect your potential new home and its contents properly.

A lesson for anyone new to letting is that living with your parents is your and their home that you care about and will spend money on if you have it, for landlords this is a business. Some landlords are total sleazeballs who will happily break every law going and put tenants lives at risk. Other landlords are highly professional, knowledgeable, responsible and even caring people, but will still be frugal with their spending in order to make a profit.

You may see the place as expensive but the landlord probably has a huge mortgage and insurances, repairs and maintenance of the structure, income tax, capital gains tax, letting agents finders and management fees, voids between tenants, utility bills, legal fees, tenants who don't pay rent or trash the place and so on. It really adds up.

King_Mustard

Cheers guys, I appreciate it. I was losing hope of this forum having decent members after most of the first few replies but you guys came through in the end

I didn't post here expecting a new mattress, I was just asking what happens!