Moving out during rental renovations

zippygeorgeandben

Hi everyone,
Just looking for a bit of advice/opinion really,
The flat me and OH rent is due to be renovated. Quote given to Landlord, and landlord agreed. Brand new kitchen, windows replacing, carpet changed, bathroom done and the decorators say it'll take 2/3 weeks and suggesting we move out.
Would it be unreasonable to ask the landlord to contribute towards the accommodation during this time? Or miss paying rent pro rata? After all we are paying rent when the place is inhabitable? We also have to think about putting Bertie (the cat) in a cattery during this time which is about £260.
It was us who instigated the renovations as we have been here for 7 years and had no work done in that time.
Thanks for reading.

G_M

You are paying rent and should receive accommodation in return.

If the property is genuinely uninhabitable then yes, the LL should provide alternative accommodation.

However there's a difference between 'uninhabitable' and 'suggesting we move out'. The contractors may be saying that because it makes their job easier, rather than because the property will be uninhabitable.

* kitchen - probably means impossible to cook so yes. But for how long?
* new carpets - you can live through that
* windows - probably done in a day, maybe 2. But they wouldn't be leaving a void in the wall overnight - you can live through that
* bathroom - depends. Unless the water is off you can live through it if they plan appropriately to ensure there's water every evening even if no tiles or flooring

So kitchen is the biggie and the actual period where cooking is impossible might be several days.

But rather than focus on legalities like definition of 'uninhabitable', just chat and reach an agreement.

LL is doing you a big favour renovating your home at considerable cost. True he's protecting/improving his investment too, but this is at your request and many LLs would do nothing till you left.

If you have friends/family you can stay with, or can take a holiday to coincide, I'd just ask for a pro rata rent reduction during the works, and be happy with the rent saving and the new house.

xylophone

I doubt it would be uninhabitable - I stayed in my house during kitchen renewal/rewiring/extension/new boiler etc.

It's true that the cat might find it disturbing - mine did and took a fancy to exploring under the floorboards......

[Deleted User]

Yes I had much the same kind of work done, with a suggestion I move out too. But it was just a suggestion. I was always left with water running, and even when I had a completely empty kitchen (no cupboards or equipment) for a week, I coped. Arrange to have showers/bath elsewhere if you have to. I still had a microwave or you can eat out. Its not nice for the cat, but I recently had to have my cat caged for two weeks due to an injury and she didn't like it but she coped. You can let her out when you are around in the evenings (it was a big cage so she had her litter and bed and food in there.)

FBaby

Are you on a fixed term? If so, how much longer? Has any increase in rent been discussed? How did the decision to renovate come about?

It is not common for a LL to agree to refurbished with tenants in situ as it makes more sense to wait until they go, refurbish and then increase the rent accordingly for the next tenant.

It sounds like you initiated the refurbishment since you say you gave the LL quotes, so it sounds like you are incredibly lucky that they would agree to it. It also sound like although very inconvenience, you could continue to live in the property during that time. It's up to you, but if you are not on a fixed term, or your fixed term is due to end soonish, I would be concerned that if you ask for too much, they might decide to ask you to go or to increase the rent significantly next term, so be careful what you ask for.

zippygeorgeandben

Wow - can I just thank you all for responding to my OP. I'll take the time to respond individually now.
G_M (think I stuck up for you on a thread elsewhere..) - Good point about the contractors, it was there suggestion. We don't actually really use the oven because it's pretty old and neither of us are big cookers, apart from throwing in the odd fish steak. We normally use our George Foreman/microwave.
xylophone - Hi. Thanks for your post. We live on the 3rd floor in a block of flats. Not quite sure I want Bertie exploring what's below!
deannatrois - Hi. Didn't think about the big crate idea. One of the rooms is just the windows and he can be put in there during the day as we are both out at work. We both leave in the morning at 0630 and neither back until about 5pm so they should be able to get quite a bit of work done.
FBaby - Hey. I'll take your questions one at a time;
Are you on a fixed term? I'll give you a brief history (and anyone else reading who wants to comment). We moved in 7 years ago. The carpets were new but nothing else. The flat was being rented out by a friend of the LL on his behalf as LL lives in Oz. His friend works for an estate agents but this property isn't part of their main portfolio. Each year we renew and in that time we have only had an increase of £100 in the rent. We both realise that this is about £250-£300 less per month than the current rental value for the area, however it does need a lot of renevating so if we were to moved out, they'd have to spend quite a lot of money. Our contract ran out on 4th August and it just seems to be rolling along. He's quite pragmatic our LL (we've never dealt with him) and he lets us paint it, do stuff, even get a cat and amend the contract so we're happy with him. I imagine he's happy with us as we never make any fuss. In fact when his friend came round, his friend said he'd spoken to LL and basically was to be guided by what we wanted and he'd realised we were loyal/trustworthy tenants.
Has any increase in rent been discussed? - No it hasn't. All I know is is that the builders came round, did the quote, gave it to LL and then builder got in touch two weeks ago to say all had been agreed. I'm presuming (big mistake I know) that if there was then goingto be an increase, we would be told before work was given the go ahead.
How did the decision to renovate come about? Because it just looks a bit shabby now. Condensation on all the windows, oven/cooker is an old model, the insides of the cupboard doors has wood exposed as the material has come off and i thought 'what's the worst he could say? no.' but he hasn't. When the contractor came round he actually laughed at our shower head and said he'd not seen one like that in a long time! He also noted that everything I was asking to be fixed was simply down to wear and tear and not being irresponsible tenants.

Hope that helps.

theartfullodger

See the experts, Shelter, advice, here....
http://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/moving_out_during_repairs

Get it in writing from the landlord that you may return on the same tenancy as before, which continues.

Wicked & bad landlords have tried to claim tenant had moved out so tenancy ended so bye bye tenant,,,