Landlord about to do major repairs

Mmol

We are a couple with two children. We recently discovered that there is rising damp in the ground floor of the house we have been renting, which the landlord is keen to rectify. He has explained that the repair work will take approximately 4 weeks. This will cause disruption to us, what with dust / noise / smell of chemicals etc. plus not been able to use the downstairs rooms while the work is carried out. The landlord offered for us to move out while the repairs are going on but there are reasons why this is not an option at the moment. He has indicated that we could ask for a month's free rent to ease the pain. Should we be asking for more? Any advice would be welcome.

pooch90

Mmol wrote: »

We are a couple with two children. We recently discovered that there is rising damp in the ground floor of the house we have been renting, which the landlord is keen to rectify. He has explained that the repair work will take approximately 4 weeks. This will cause disruption to us, what with dust / noise / smell of chemicals etc. plus not been able to use the downstairs rooms while the work is carried out. The landlord offered for us to move out while the repairs are going on but there are reasons why this is not an option at the moment. He has indicated that we could ask for a month's free rent to ease the pain. Should we be asking for more? Any advice would be welcome.

No. Your landlord sounds like a decent bloke who is promptly carrying out even major repairs.
My last landlord took 18 months to service a boiler and repair a crack in the fireplace and a broken grate (amongst other jobs which will never be done).

There are plenty of bad landlords to complain about without trying to take advantage of one who seems to be willing to do a good job.

convert

If the repairs are scheduled to take 4 weeks and he's offered not to charge you for a month's rent, then I think that's acceptable. If you were living in your own house you would have no option but to continue living there as well as paying your mortgage.

You could always chat with the landlord and ask him if it was possible that the rooms downstairs be repaired one by one, so that you wouldn't be losing all the rooms at once.

D3PO

I think the landlord is being very accomadating here. Hes promptly fixing the issue and to top it off hes not going to charge you work whilst the issue is being fixed.

The fact you even thought to ask should you be getting more disgusts me. I hate when tennants get f**ked over but equally I hate when landlords are being treated like doormats.

You should be ashamed of even thinking that your entitled to more.

subway

D3PO wrote: »

You should be ashamed of even thinking that your entitled to more.

the OP only asked the question, there is nothing to be ashamed of in someone checking what their rights are.

OS119

D3PO wrote: »

You should be ashamed of even thinking that your entitled to more.

balls!

if you lease a car, and it subsequently has to be repaired - particularly for a month - your leasing company won't just not charge you for that month, they'll provide you with a substitute!

the LL is being a decent bloke in knocking off the rent for the time when your home won't be your home, it'll be a building site with a bathroom - and the 'move out' option he gave might be as good - but you shouldn't be browbeaten into a forelock tugging, 'god bless you sweet master' attitude: you're paying for a service, you aren't going to be getting that service for a month or so, and whatever solution you decide, - whether to live upstairs for a month, or move out short term, or just end the tenancy - is going to be bloody inconvenient.

the big issue for me would be the kitchen (assuming the kitchen is going to be affected by this), if you've no kitchen you'll be eating take-aways for a month, and that'll get expensive - if that is the case i'd be looking for compensation, however if the LL has offered you alternate, suitable accomodation where you'd be fine (facilities, condition, travelling distances etc) but you've refused the offer, i think you'd be on sticky ground.

Victor

It can be impractical to live in what is in effect a building site.

Will some of the family be there when the builders are there?

Are people noise sensative?

Do you have insurance for your personal effects in case there is a break-in / fire when the builders are there?

Will 4 weeks stretch to 6? What about time moving out / back in?

Does the landlord / builder have insurance for this?

D3PO wrote: »

You should be ashamed of even thinking that your entitled to more.

There is no need to berate someone for asking a question. There are no stupid questions and all that.

ztoical

OS119 wrote: »

if you lease a car, and it subsequently has to be repaired - particularly for a month - your leasing company won't just not charge you for that month, they'll provide you with a substitute!

Car lease prob not the best example as yes they'll provide you with a new car but they'll charge you just the same. You might get lucky and get an upgrade in car model but they'll still charge your rental for that month unless it's a selling policy the rental company has to attract customers to offer free rental when a car breaksdown.

Without the OP giving details as to why they can't move out nor more details as to the repair working going on, not paying rent for the lenght to the repairs seems fair based on the information given.