Bath only, no shower in concil property

AmazonnRainforest4756

Hello all

I viewed the property today and there is only a mixer tap, no shower in the bathroom (even though on the advert it says shower over bath). I wasn't going to turn it down over that because you only get 1 offer and if you reject it, you are suspended for 6 months

My question is, do I have to wait 12 months before asking permission to change it to a shower? Or can you make adaptations before the 12 month period with permission? I'll buy one of those attachment things (hopefully it'll be enough pressure) 

I forgot to ask these questions and it's difficult to get hold of them on the phone so hoping to get some answers here

Tia 

propertyrental

No idea of the council rules - have you checked their website?

But why not just buy a mixer tap and either swop it over yourself or get a plumber in?

marcia_

  I installed my own over the bath shower after asking the housing association, they were not bothered said i could go ahead 

gwynlas

If there is sufficient water pressure you could have moxer tap replaced with mixer and shower head otherwise it is probably better to have an electric one fitted. Check with council as showers are more enviromentally friendly so they might be planning to install one anyway.

AmazonnRainforest4756

Thanks all. I'll ask if we can change the mixer tap to allow for a shower to be attached. Hopefully they'll say yes and not say to wait for 12 months

AlexMac

I’m willing to bet that you can virtually do what you like…

But your question evokes very fond memories of my family’s Council flat; in the early 1950s, where not only was there no shower (a device unheard of in those days) but no bathroom.

Yes, we had an indoor toilet, but the bath was in the kitchen, with a fold down timber table top. Water Heating via an “Ascot” gas burner, a “copper boiler” for washing clothes and a “mangle” to help wring out the laundry.  (younger readers may have to google some of this?)

Heating was provided by a single coal fire in the living room, and, because we were on the top floor of a walk-up block with no lift, the coal man had to carry a huge sack of the stuff up 60 steps and pour it into a coal-bunker, inside the flat, in the passage ( hall).  

But, my parents, having dragged me through a succession of really precarious and dodgy lodgings for the prior six years; a caravan, tied accommodations, B&Bs, rentals and HPUs… thought this was heaven. As indeed it was, in relative terms. 

So yes; either lean on the council to fit a shower/ mixer tap to the bath or fit this or a (relatively cheap and easily installed ) electric power shower unit over it, as we did in our grand daughter’s flat in a council block. 

deannagone

I am afraid I am in the same position with Gravesham council.  I live in a maisonette, with very strange plumbing (cold water connected to the mains, hot comes from a vented?non vented system (with boiler in the kitchen).  Hot water is very very low pressure downstairs but upstairs, the cold water pressure is very low.  I also had a very very small hot water cylinder (which has now been replaced) so even if I managed to get a shower/water pump installed, contractors told me I'd only be able to shower for a minute lol.

So check the pressure both hot and cold where you want the shower installed, just in case. Also bear in mind that some waterproofing will be required.


I had to put a low pressure tap in the kitchen (cost me a fortune as I paid for a high pressure tap from Ikea - not cheap), council contractors installed it but could get no hot water from it due to the low hot water pressure.  Its not brilliant flow even with a low pressure tap.  

My council is very very awkward about non standard changes to their properties.  I would have to submit a request to have a shower installed, giving details of the contractors and supplies that were going to be used.  Then I was trying to run a plumbing translation service (I am not a plumber obviously) to try and get the contractors to install what the council wanted - I gave up in the end.  They are more inclined to say no than yes.  I couldn't even put metal handles that were arthritis friendly onto my kitchen cupboards, they had to be standard council ones (its a partly adapted kitchen).  The council workers were laughing at me as I explained why I found it painful to use the council handles.

None of it made sense, the council employed contractors who installed the partly adapted kitchen got some basic things wrong (like cupboard doors that wouldn't open, because the cabinets were placed with no eye for if the doors would actually open, a drain pipe was left uncapped, I get water leaks too).  So the red tape the council employs doesn't translate to good quality installation nor useability.

But that was my experience.

Hopefully your council is a bit more helpful.  

Murphybear

AlexMac said:

I’m willing to bet that you can virtually do what you like…

But your question evokes very fond memories of my family’s Council flat; in the early 1950s, where not only was there no shower (a device unheard of in those days) but no bathroom.

Yes, we had an indoor toilet, but the bath was in the kitchen, with a fold down timber table top. Water Heating via an “Ascot” gas burner, a “copper boiler” for washing clothes and a “mangle” to help wring out the laundry.  (younger readers may have to google some of this?)

Heating was provided by a single coal fire in the living room, and, because we were on the top floor of a walk-up block with no lift, the coal man had to carry a huge sack of the stuff up 60 steps and pour it into a coal-bunker, inside the flat, in the passage ( hall).  

But, my parents, having dragged me through a succession of really precarious and dodgy lodgings for the prior six years; a caravan, tied accommodations, B&Bs, rentals and HPUs… thought this was heaven. As indeed it was, in relative terms. 

So yes; either lean on the council to fit a shower/ mixer tap to the bath or fit this or a (relatively cheap and easily installed ) electric power shower unit over it, as we did in our grand daughter’s flat in a council block. 

This made me smile.  My first husband and I viewed a flat in London in the 70s with exactly the same bath arrangements . We decided not to take it.  The rules for private lettings back then were virtually non existent.  

Zoe02

Should not be a problem quite a common situation.