Can a tenant refuse renovation works?

coffeehound

Pixie5740 wrote: »

Who is your landlord? A Housing Association? A.N. Other?

What kind of tenancy do you have?

Has the landlord explicitly said you are expected to be there to allow access?

The LL is a Ltd company "a society registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014 registered number is xxxxxx and is also an exempt charity ..." if that means anything to anyone.

The tenancy is an "Assured Shorthand Starter" with apparently one week's notice either way...

Yes the liaison said it would be up to me to arrange access. The company is based in another city and are obviously reluctant to have anyone overseeing the contractor and subcontractors.

PersianCatLady wrote: »

Many HAs do not allow tenants to refuse refurbishment works.

HAs plan these works years in advance, why should a tenant demand that the plans are changed for them.

I do know of one case where a refurbishment was deferred due to one of the tenants undergoing palliative care at home.

Just out of interest, OP why is this inconvenient to you?

Are you working away from home?

You can always put your valuables somewhere safe and allow the HA full access.

What would be the penalty for refusing?

I don't think tenants should have to put up with this level or duration of disruption for elective work. The property was empty for around a month between tenants but they did nothing in that time.

I have a lot of stuff. Some of it is relatively high value and impossible to clean if it gets dirty or if dust gets inside. They will need to work in the loft too which will be filthy. There is always fine dust created with this kind of work and it gets everywhere. I don't want my stuff exposed to it.

There are also various issues around privacy, disruption, inconvenience and security as suggested in the first post.

I was thinking I could put a lock on the bedroom door and put everything in there but I know a reason for them needing access to that room would come up.

I just don't trust anything to be adequately planned, controlled o supervised to protect my stuff from harm. If something gets damaged or goes missing, will they pay to replace it? I very much doubt it.

seven-day-weekend

How do you think others manage? We all have our 'stuff'. Just make provision for it. If the work needs to be done, you should allow it to be done.

parkrunner

If you don't want it done just say no and see what happens. I live in an HA block and we had our bathrooms done a couple of years ago. I know of one resident who refused the work and that was accepted, I have no idea what the law is though.

Rosemary7391

I can sympathise with the concern about expensive things. I have several musical instruments that I would be equally concerned about. However it is likely that at some point you will have to manage with works being done in your home - this is a fact of life. This will be easier to manage since you have advance notice and can remove them to somewhere safe - but it is probably good for you to think about how to safely store them in case of emergency works being required.

ripplyuk

I think you can refuse. Unless it’s a safety issue or emergency, I don’t think any landlord can force a tenant to allow access.

I live in a council house and recently they replaced the kitchen. They wrote a letter asking if I wanted the work done, so I could have easily refused. My (older and wiser) neighbours both refused. You are right to be concerned about dust and mess. I was shocked to find dust literally everywhere. Every book, clothes in drawers, even my bed and pillows were covered in it. I’ve had all the windows replaced in my old house and that didn’t cause as much mess as these guys doing the kitchen.

I had workmen here for 2 weeks and like you, I was told I had to be in the house the entire time. They mustn’t be too strict about this in practice because my neighbours went to stay with family and left their keys with the contractor (who then lost them!).

Old_Git

I had a bathroom revamped recently .Day 1 they removed all the tiles ,the toilet and wash basin .Day 2 plasterer skimmed all the walls .
Day 3 and 4 man flu .Day 5 tradesman son in court no work .
Day 6 plywood floor fitted and shower base.Day 7 Sunday no work .
Day 8 Toilet and washbasin put in .I was starting to loose the will to live ,this was suppose to be a five day job .They got the wrong bath panel ect .Ended up taking two weeks .Now I was the landlord and I have to say my tenant was a saint .

AdrianC

Old_Git wrote: »

I had a bathroom revamped recently
Day 1 they removed all the tiles ,the toilet and wash basin
Day 2 plasterer skimmed all the walls .
Day 6 plywood floor fitted and shower base.
Day 8 Toilet and washbasin put in
I was starting to loose the will to live ,this was suppose to be a five day job

Well, it was a four day job to that point...

coffeehound

Sorry to hear of your experience ripplyuk, that is exactly what im afraid of. Think I’ll do as parkrunner suggests and politely decline and see what happens.

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

How do you think others manage? We all have our 'stuff'. Just make provision for it. If the work needs to be done, you should allow it to be done.

Says who? It’s funny, s-d-w, I got a certain inkling from the tone of your post, so had a look at your past posts and — surprise! — you turn out to be a landlord.

Thanks for your replies folks.

KxMx

We had kitchen and upstairs bathroom done last year at the same time. Everything including floors & ceilings were ripped out.

Yes there certainly was a lot of dust, but we covered anything precious and made sure all doors were shut at all times.

Didn't experience anything like ripplyuk posted.

trailingspouse

If the only reason you're refusing is because you don't want a bit of disruption, then I think you're wrong. If things get dusty - dust them. It's not rocket science. And - you're getting a free bathroom refurb! If you refuse it, I wouldn't be expecting much sympathy in the future when things start to go wrong with the old one.

Having to be there to allow access is a bigger issue, and I think you're right to have a problem with that. What employer is going to allow you to do that, unless you take holiday - and I don't think anyone would be prepared to spend that much of their holiday, even if their employer allowed it. There must be a way round that particular issue.