Carpeted bathrooms in rentals

LoveRaspberry

Hi

I'm currently looking for a new rental home and have noticed that a lot of the properties have carpeted bathrooms.

Personally I would prefer to live in a house with no carpets as I don't think they're hygienic (specially if past tenants had pets), they're harder to keep clean, they accumulate dust, mites and can affect indoor air quality, regardless of the room where you find them.
I've however accepted it will be impossible to find a house with no carpets and I can tolerate carpets in some rooms by taking extra hygiene measures and using a carpet cleaner.

Problem is that now I've been finding many properties with carpeted bathrooms which would otherwise have been perfect. I've never lived in houses with carpeted bathrooms, but I expect that it will be much more challenging to keep clean as it will be constantly exposed to water and moisture and it may also grow molds.

I've already rejected a few houses on this basis and it's getting difficult to find other suitable options. If this was my own house, I'd just remove the carpet, install new hard flooring and problem solved. But these are rental homes and of course I can't just do that.

I would like to ask if anyone has been in a similar situation before and if they have any suggestions for temporary measures that can be applied to a rental home that may mitigate the issues above?

Many thanks

kasqueak

I had a rental once about 20yrs that had a carpet in the bathroom. I asked the landlord if I could take it up and replace the flooring with Lino (at my expense) and he agreed. Think it’s going to be down to the individual landlord. 

But it’s strange if you’re finding several properties with carpeted bathrooms as I didn’t think anyone really did that anymore. 

hazyjo

I'm very surprised you're finding so many as carpet in bathrooms is now not very common.

Are you looking direct or through an agency? 

LoveRaspberry

kasqueak said:

I had a rental once about 20yrs that had a carpet in the bathroom. I asked the landlord if I could take it up and replace the flooring with Lino (at my expense) and he agreed. Think it’s going to be down to the individual landlord. 

But it’s strange if you’re finding several properties with carpeted bathrooms as I didn’t think anyone really did that anymore. 

Out of curiosity, do you know how much that kind of work costs for one bathroom? I may be open to proposing that, but I'm not sure if any landlord would entertain that idea if they have other people interested in the property who are happy to accept the property as it is. Also, my impression so far from my search is that this is a popular location where anything decent is just rented really quickly and there's really not much room for any negotiation.
I found that odd too, but it seems to be much more common than I thought, even in recently built properties (2000-2017).

LoveRaspberry

hazyjo said:

I'm very surprised you're finding so many as carpet in bathrooms is now not very common.

Are you looking direct or through an agency? 

Looking for properties mostly on Rightmove and Openrent. Vast majority of results come from Rightmove, so rented through letting agents.

Blue_bell_20

I had a duplex that had carpet in the bathroom, I put a bath mat where I would step on after the shower. This soaked up most of the wet (can replace the mat). In the 14 months I lived there the carpet was fine. I did find it strange but I liked the duplex so I just lived with it. 

Lino can end up being expensive, look up the size (and also ask for permission from the landlord first). If your on a short term tenancy <12m chances are they might say no, but if your looking long term 2+ years then they might be fine with it. Also it could be out of your own pocket, if the landlord is fine with a carpet bathroom then it’s your preference to change it.

AdrianC

Both the houses we've bought have had carpet in the bathroom.
Neither lasted more than a day post-completion...

Horrible, horrible, horrible.

Frankly, any landlord renting a place with a carpeted bathroom is not going to be on top of their game, and it's not the kind of property you'd want to rent. Think of it as a big fat clue towards the attitude towards the cleanliness and maintenance of the place...

theoretica

Have the towel where you can reach it from the shower/bath so you get most of the water off before stepping out.  Then a double mat system - one (possibly waterproof) down all the time and a second one that just goes down on top when needed and hangs up to dry after.

comeandgo

Blue_bell_20 said:

I had a duplex that had carpet in the bathroom, I put a bath mat where I would step on after the shower. This soaked up most of the wet (can replace the mat). In the 14 months I lived there the carpet was fine. I did find it strange but I liked the duplex so I just lived with it. 

Lino can end up being expensive, look up the size (and also ask for permission from the landlord first). If your on a short term tenancy <12m chances are they might say no, but if your looking long term 2+ years then they might be fine with it. Also it could be out of your own pocket, if the landlord is fine with a carpet bathroom then it’s your preference to change it.

I don't think it's the wet from bathing that's the problem,  do you ever have small boys or even quite large boys visit?

LoveRaspberry

AdrianC said:

Both the houses we've bought have had carpet in the bathroom.
Neither lasted more than a day post-completion...

Horrible, horrible, horrible.

Frankly, any landlord renting a place with a carpeted bathroom is not going to be on top of their game, and it's not the kind of property you'd want to rent. Think of it as a big fat clue towards the attitude towards the cleanliness and maintenance of the place...

It's quite disappointing because everything else about the houses seemed ok. One of the viewings I attended was for a house with 3 bathrooms and all of the 3 were carpeted! The carpet did look clean to the naked eye and in good condition, but who knows what is its real state of cleanliness. I would have definitely gone forward with it if it had at least one uncarpeted bathroom with bath/shower.

Blue_bell_20

comeandgo said:

Blue_bell_20 said:

I had a duplex that had carpet in the bathroom, I put a bath mat where I would step on after the shower. This soaked up most of the wet (can replace the mat). In the 14 months I lived there the carpet was fine. I did find it strange but I liked the duplex so I just lived with it. 

Lino can end up being expensive, look up the size (and also ask for permission from the landlord first). If your on a short term tenancy <12m chances are they might say no, but if your looking long term 2+ years then they might be fine with it. Also it could be out of your own pocket, if the landlord is fine with a carpet bathroom then it’s your preference to change it.

I don't think it's the wet from bathing that's the problem,  do you ever have small boys or even quite large boys visit?

No, my partner and I don’t tend to soak the floor when we have a shower, however I see your point. Depends what the OP’s situation is, maybe I missed that there’s children or water goes everywhere. In which case renting with a carpeted bathroom would be a no go.

Its just a way I mitigated the potential damp when I lived with a carpeted bathroom. I don’t  like carpets in bathrooms and I tend to avoid renting places that do. The duplex was worth the strange bathroom in my case.