Can landlord do this?

Dinglehopper

GDB2222 wrote: »

It's quite common for LLs to ask for guarantors. Particularly on a newly-refurb'ed property where the amount of damage that can be done is far more than the deposit is likely to be. It's also quite common for tenants not to agree to this!

If the rent figure reflects the lack of flooring and the tenancy term is long enough, I don't see why you couldn't agree to provide the flooring. It's unusual, certainly, but you should take a commercial view of what's being offered.

The guarantor part wouldn't have been an issue for us, both sets of parents would have been happy to act as guarantor, I just couldn't understand what the reasoning was as it hadn't been mentioned previously. Your explanation makes the most sense, he has put an awful lot of money into the property and in my opinion, hasn't renovated with tenants in mind. He seems to have renovated to his wife's orders and tastes (which is another story entirely!)

Unfortunately, the rent price is not reflected by the lack of flooring. We have rented in this area for over 8 years now and the rent is definitely at the upper end of the scale, if not a little high for the area. We would have been happy to pay the increase however, as it was essentially like moving in to a new build for us.
Mutual acquaintances and posters on this forum have hit the nail on the head, I think he has run out of money for the renovation and is trying to pass the costs on to us.

elverson

Why do you need to rent this specific property - is there nothing else suitable in the area?

fairy_lights

Very unusual. Is he offering you a very long tenancy in return for your outlay, or could he potentially turf you out after 6 months and have got himself a nice free floor?

Dinglehopper

elverson wrote: »

Why do you need to rent this specific property - is there nothing else suitable in the area?

Yes, there are currently only 2 other houses to rent in this village and they are in less than desirable areas and the houses are unsuitable. In theory, this property ticked all our boxes.
We like the area after living there previously and this is the first house to come up for rent in about 3-4 years.

PasturesNew

If downstairs is wood and the bathroom's tiled, that just leaves you the bedrooms. By the time you've got your furniture in there's only room for 1-3 rugs.... if you want it, if your back's against the wall, just go without fitted carpets in the bedrooms. Buy yourself some rugs to fit the spaces and take them with you when you leave.

Fitted carpets are quite a "new thing" .... we didn't have them when I was growing up!

DRP

All things being equal, as long as you have secure tenure for a long enough period, then personally i wouldn't be overly concerned...

Dinglehopper

PasturesNew wrote: »

If downstairs is wood and the bathroom's tiled, that just leaves you the bedrooms. By the time you've got your furniture in there's only room for 1-3 rugs.... if you want it, if your back's against the wall, just go without fitted carpets in the bedrooms. Buy yourself some rugs to fit the spaces and take them with you when you leave.

Fitted carpets are quite a "new thing" .... we didn't have them when I was growing up!

downstairs isn't wood, he has reneged on his initial plans of wood floors downstairs. Currently only the downstairs WC is tiled. As it is a renovation property, all floors are freshly poured concrete and we have to provide flooring for every room including family bathroom, stairs etc

*~Zephyr~*

Dinglehopper wrote: »

downstairs isn't wood, he has reneged on his initial plans of wood floors downstairs. Currently only the downstairs WC is tiled. As it is a renovation property, all floors are freshly poured concrete and we have to provide flooring for every room including family bathroom, stairs etc

He's taking the proverbial!

You haven't answered the question of length of tenancy...

Pixie5740

That's a lot of flooring to have to pay for when you only have a 6 or 12 month AST. Even if you got a fixed term for 3 years that's still an awfully big outlay for a property with above market average rent.

If the LL has run out of money how will he pay for any repairs or routine maintenance on the property?

I'd be tempted to give this one a wide berth.

Rosemary7391

I'd only consider putting down flooring I could take with me at the end of the tenancy... but that's so unusual you'd likely not need it in any other rented property.