Landlord wants to refurbish

[Mark Benson]

freshmicropig said:

Thanks for all your replies, very much appreciated.

I'm not against improvements, it's just that it will cause a great deal of problems if we had no recourse to ask to be temporarily housed elsewhere. For example, my other half's office is an hour and a half train/tube journey into town, so she would struggle to make do if the shower was out of action for a week.

I have almost two years remaining on my tenancy and we're on good terms with the landlord. It sounds like it's time for me to dig out the tenancy agreement.

That's what you should say to your landlord, I assume this is why he's telling you what he wants to do - to give you warning of what he's thinking.

It could be the precursor to him selling or putting the rent up or it could just be that he wants to spend some money on the flat for tax reasons - money spent on the work is tax-deductable so he may just be thinking of doing it within the current tax year to maximise tax relief (we've done the same thing).

Open a dialogue with your landlord and don't quote the law/your rights from the start - save that for if/when he becomes unreasonable - chances are he'll want to keep a good tenant happy - I know I would.

[Ryvita]

I recently had my bathroom refurbished by my landlord at his/their instigation. We have a very amicable arrangement and 95% of the work was scheduled to coincide with a period when I was away on holiday, so there was minimal inconvenience.

In my case, the reasoning behind was that the entity that acts as my landlord had budget assigned for repairs/upkeep that had to be spent before end of financial year or risk a tax issue or similar problem. No rent increase, no intention to sell.

Whilst I appreciate that it's probably unusual to experience such random acts of kindness I thought I should just balance the negative views.

[Centurion07]

hornetrider said:

Centurion07 said:

Do you honestly believe OP's landlord, or for that matter, any landlord, wanting to undertake a renovation/redecoration would do so purely for the benefit of the current tenant who is already living there and would continue to do so whether those works were carried out or not?

Landlords do not spend money without getting something in return. Where's the return in this case? OP's landlord is either going to put the rent up or is getting ready to turf him out so they can sell the property.

So?

If you were the tenant about to be turfed out I doubt that would be your only say on the matter.

[Centurion07]

98elise said:

I'm a landlord and I'm current preparing my next rental property. Market rent for the area is £650. I'm putting in a new kitchen, new carpets, and its been decorated top to bottom. I'm also hoping I can get the gardens re-done before the tenant moves in. I'm going to charge £650 pcm.

The property before that got a new bathroom, new kitchen, carpets and decorated top to bottom. It also let for market rates.

Not all landlords are money grabbing slumlords! Some of use take pride in our properties, and will only let properties we would be happy to live in ourselves. It also means you can be choosy about your tenants.

Which is very commendable. However, to be doing those kind of works mid-lease, unless the place is falling to bits, then it's likely either the rent is going up or OP is going to be turfed out.