What sort of standard of fittings can we expect from private L/L?

peachespeaches

This is our first private rent, we love the house and the location and dont want to rock the boat. We let through an estate agent, the landlords are elderly couple. When we first moved in the LL kept coming round because she was anxious. The previous tenant had a dog which chewed quite a bit and their kids made a mess, I think she thought we would do the same.

The carpets, the kitchen and the bathroom fittings are all very dated but adequate. They seem to date from the 1970s. I recently asked permission to change the gas cooker from an electric one of my own, and there was a bit of a problem which admittedly might have been due to a communication problem between agent and landlord. But they agreed, if I restore the old cooker at the end of the letting.

I am about to ask permission to change light fittings and to decorate one of the rooms. I dont expect this to be withheld but you never know. That started me thinking, how much should I expect the landlord to do, in terms of decorating, carpets fittings etc. and how much should I do myself?

My contract just states that I have to ask their permission to do anything.

subjecttocontract

When we first moved in the LL kept coming round because she was anxious.

Thats not allowed. Sounds like landlording is not for them. They have to make an appointment and must not spoil your 'quiet enjoyment of the property'.

I recently asked permission to change the gas cooker from an electric one of my own, and there was a bit of a problem which admittedly might have been due to a communication problem between agent and landlord. But they agreed, if I restore the old cooker at the end of the letting.

Thats normal.

I am about to ask permission to change light fittings and to decorate one of the rooms. I dont expect this to be withheld but you never know.

I don't allow decorating but I make sure my places are ok before the tenancy starts. Presumably you knew what it was like before moving in. I wouldn't want tenants changing light fittings as landlords are responsible for electrical integrity and I wouldn't want that affected either. I'd expect a tenant to ask those questions before they signed a tenancy agreement.

That started me thinking, how much should I expect the landlord to do, in terms of decorating, carpets fittings etc. and how much should I do myself?

That depends on the landlord, the condition of the property and how easy it is to rent.

My contract just states that I have to ask their permission to do anything.

Thats normal.

tr3mor

How long a contract do you have on the house. I'm wary of spending any money on decorating, etc, since I could have to move in 6 months.

sooz

I'd expect the same standard of fittings as when you saw and agreed to move into the property.

If anything breaks due to it's age, it should, of course, be replace by the landlord, but other than that why would you expect the fixtures to be changed?

If you wanted the landlord to change things, the time to ask would have been BEFORE you signed the contract.

If you really want to change the colour of the walls, or the carpets, you should put your request in writing, & make sure you get a written answer. You might well be asked to put everything back to it's original state when you leave (they might like their 70's retro look ).

peachespeaches

I dont want to change the colour of the walls, its just that the white anagylpta in the dining room is filthy and I want to give it another coat of white. Its not our dirt, just years of dust and non decorating. I didnt see it when I moved in as there were heavy drapes in this room. We had our initial 6 months renewed for a year, so we have another 9 months to go now. But we want it to be a long term thing.

moneysavinmonkey

it's a difficult one with renting nowadays as the law has changed so you have much less security of tenure and it doesn't make too much sense to spend time and money decorating.

The standard of decoration, fixtures + fixings is evident when you view the property. unless you have some kind of agreement with the landlord to do work then you shouldn't expect any level of work to be done.

If the property was in a poor state of repair/decoration then this was probably reflected in the rent charged.

You need to get permission to make any changes to the property but this should not be unreasonably withheld. so painting a once white wall white again is fine, painting it lime green probably won't be. but you need written permission either way.

The other thing to consider is if you are going to improve the property yourself you may find that when your tenancy comes up for renewal the landlord will up your rent, on the basis that the property is improved so he could get new tenants in who would pay more than you currently do.

cowbutt

For peachespeaches: your expectations would, from what I hear, be perfectly normal for long-term tenants renting in say, Germany, but sooz and subjecttocontract's posts pretty much sum up the expectations for the UK rental market, in my experience.

And this was a significant factor in my decision to buy, and actually start having a /home/ rather than just somewhere to live.