to expect not to have to pay rent during damp proofing?

[OhMyTummyMummy]

My rent is enough to bring tears to your eyes; my choice I know, but I sold my place and had to find something short term in a hurry as I hadn't found anywhere to buy.
Anyway, just received an email from the agents saying the owner wants damp proofing done which will entail messy work like hacking off plaster on the chimney breast, coating with a damp-proof product and re-plastering.
And they are asking if I have plans to go away in the coming months as they "dont want to put me out".
This is what i feel annoyed about - to say the least. I will be "put out" if i have to move out while the work is done, go and stay with family, take my daughter out of nursery (family a long way away), especially as I am still expected to pay rent during this time!
And I definately dont want to stay in the house is it is a messy, noisy job as I dont want to subject my wheezy daughter to the dust and as I work from home it will make earning my crust really tricky!
I realise the owners need to fix problems but this is a problem they knew about before we moved in and I just find the whole "we dont want to put you out" angle too much to swallow....unreasonable?

I don't think they are unreasonable in what they are asking. To me it reads like they are wondering if you have any holidays planned and they will time the work round that. Not that they want you to move out and still pay rent.

If you don't how about telling them that you haven't any plans to go away but that you are happy to go and visit your mum for a week / fortnight or however long the work will take but that because you are doing this for their convenience and not yours that you wouldn't expect to pay full rent during that time and what would they suggest.

Can you start from the position that the owners are just trying to do the right thing and have asked if you have planned to go on holiday as that would be a good time for you and them to get the work done? Then move onto them being unreasonable when it actually turns out that they are being unreasonable?

I agree with Yellow, that's exactly how it sounds to me.

would you feel happier if they didn't fix the damp; or if they just chose a time and expected you to fit in with it? I think they sound as if they are trying to be reasonable. once you have agreed what will happen i would just ask nicely about rent reduction/free rent

Agree with the above, they are trying to find a time convenient to you. If you are not able to stay while the work is being done that us your choice and they could/should reduce the rent, but only reduce not totally suspend.

I agree with yellow,it sounds like they are just asking what your holiday plans are, not asking you to move out.

i think they should suspend for the period if the house in not habitable - and i speak as a landlord. it depends how much disruption there is going to be. if its just a bit of banging and dust in 1 room then reduction; if whole downstairs not useable then suspend. but i think you need to speak with them once you have calmed down as your outcome is likely to be better

Remembers when we had dry rot and I was pregnant and significant chemical spraying had to be done. Don't recall not having to pay the mortgate. DS and I went to my mother's for three days. They have tried to arrange the work when you might be away - try to compromise.

mortgages are different to rent. this is more similar to having a hire car - would you expect to pay if it was in the garage being mended?

It's not like a hire car as it would be totally unusable whereas some / most of the house may be useable.

Their enquiry about whether you are going away would suggest to me that you won't be able to live there whilst the work is going on, so no I don't think yabu to not expect to pay rent for that period.

The hire car analogy above is a good one and might be worth using if they get arsey about it! Th

wips it wouldn't be usable if the dust makes the OPs DD ill.

Also as a LL myself I agree with dreamingofsun.

What YellowD said.
They sound like very considerate landlords to me.

If you happen to be going on holiday, would you not prefer that they did the work then, rather than when you are meant to be at home?

I think the desire not to pay rent is understandable, but they would probably expect you to move out and to do it at a time of their choosing.

You should be given rent reduction, you need to ask. But it's up to you if you move out or not. They do have to have the work done, thats reasonable of them, but you should not have to pay the same level of rent.

if they're having work done on the house which makes it unusable (no idea who gets to define that) then they collect rent as normal THEN they are responsible for re-housing you. This could be a local b&b, hotel, weekly let etc, but will most likely be the cheapest option they can find. After all, they are having to pay for the work, and they are paying out extra to help you, so they want to save some money. it should, however, be decent enough to live in

Celebrate the fact that you have a landlord that gives a fuck about damp in one of their properties: they are few and far between.

I've rented flats where the water is running down the walls.