Renting flat with outdated kitchen

penguineater

I hope I don't sound like an entitled tenant by posting this, but it's pretty frustrating being fobbed off for years! Story goes:

Moved into 1 bedroom flat owned by housing association in 2014 - Ancient kitchen, radiators old fashioned etc. The boiler was very old as well and gladly it broke and was replaced due to parts no longer being sold.

Some time in 2014 or 2015 housing association contractors came to inspect the property for upgrades, they said the kitchen is now due as it's 15 years old.

Upgrades kept being pushed back each year, tried contacting them asking when they're being done and they keep saying there is no set date. In 2018 the property was sold/merged with a different housing association, and once again they sent contractors around and said the kitchen is due to get upgraded.

This of course has been pushed back, now they are saying 2019 and could take up until 2022.

I have emails of me asking the age of the kitchen/bathroom, but they replied via phone call about when the upgrades would take place, so I have no written proof of this.

The bathroom was very lousy when I first moved in, carpet floor, bathtub with no shower and 1 row of tiles. I installed tile flooring/shower over bath and tiles on the walls myself as they said it was at least 5 years until the bathroom would be upgraded. - Just to give you an idea of how outdated this property was when I first moved in (and currently).


So my questions are, is there any way to move this kitchen/radiator upgrade along? I'm aware they'll want a roll-out plan to upgrade multiple properties at once although to me it seems they are just delaying it for as long as possible.

More so the kitchen because it's ancient - I cannot fit my normal size fridge/freezer in the space provided, there's no space for a dishwasher etc. The cabinets are damaged and stained from previous tenants, floor and door too and there are nice holes in the wall from when they installed the new boiler, as well as cracked plaster along the ceiling.

Is there anything I can do until they provide the upgrades as promised? For example ask for my rent to be lowered?

Any advice is appreciated!

parkrunner

If it's all useable and not dangerous I doubt there is anything you can do apart from doing it yourself at your own expense. As for the fridge freezer I had to buy a small one that did fit in my HA flat. Remember also that a refit won't make the kitchen any larger so room will still ne minimal.

davidmcn

I doubt you can treat any forecasts of future upgrades as being enforceable, all a landlord is required to do as a minimum is keep what you have in working order.

diggingdude

I think I would move if it worried me that much

penguineater

Thanks for the replies guys, I hoped i'd have a bit of wiggle room but I suppose not!

diggingdude wrote: »

I think I would move if it worried me that much

Honestly the rent is really cheap and it's a town centre location so pretty great in that regard so leaves me in an annoying place to decide..

£228 rent per month, allows me to save to buy a house a lot easier than if I were paying normal private rent costs. :money:

pickledonionspaceraider

£228 rent per month?

Wow.

You would never get a one bed here for that

HampshireH

Most HA planned programmes have a kitchen at anywhere between 20-30 year lifespan and a bathroom and 30-35 years. Most due dates are dates due to be surveyed to plan into the program rather than actual replacement dates. Condition can be checked regularly thereafter

This is because some people will have components which do not require unnecessary replacement and it wouldn't be financially beneficial to replace perfectly good kitchens and bathrooms.

The boiler install team should have made good when they replaced the boiler. If they didn't you should have raised this.

Stained door - this is decorative & tenants responsibility. Grab a tin of paint & a brush

Cabinets - you can cover these id they are stained and npt to your taste.

Freezer spaces are either 500 or 600 as standard. HAs don't usually provide dishwasher spaces they would normally fit a kitchen to spec and a customer would have to request permission to modify. This is because it cannot be assumed tenants have dishwashers and cupboard space is generally seen as more valuable on relet.

supa34

No one is forcing you to live in there. You can move out into another place with a new kitchen. Remember behind you are more people who are willing to have that house with the current kitchen. It's usable and does what it's supposed to do and if I was the landlord I wouldn't touch it. Appreciate what you have. Your only paying £245 a month. A new kitchen will cost around 2 to 3 years rent!!

ashe

supa34 wrote: »

No one is forcing you to live in there. You can move out into another place with a new kitchen. Remember behind you are more people who are willing to have that house with the current kitchen. It's usable and does what it's supposed to do and if I was the landlord I wouldn't touch it. Appreciate what you have. Your only paying £245 a month. A new kitchen will cost around 2 to 3 years rent!!

Don’t think OP is ungrateful nor unmindful of anything you have posted tbh. They’re just asking the question, which is what this place is for.

Cakeguts

My bathroom was put into the house that I live in probably in the 1930s. It all still works as a bathroom. The kitchen is about 20 years old. It isn't in fashion anymore but I don't care it still all works. In your case if the kitchen is still servicable you just have to paint over anything that looks a bit stained.



Anything that is still usable here isn't thrown out to add to rubbish going into landfill.

penguineater

ashe wrote: »

Don’t think OP is ungrateful nor unmindful of anything you have posted tbh. They’re just asking the question, which is what this place is for.

Yep. The only reason I am asking for the kitchen is because I was told I was getting one 4 years ago and it kept getting pushed back, yet my rent goes up every year. And my rent is cheap because A. I live in a small town in the North and B. it's a housing association.

I'm not so sure the queue is as long as he may assume to get my place, when I registered with the HA I only had to wait 3 months to get it, and I was a young single working male which tend to have the lowest priority.