To ask for money off my rent (long)

[Blueemeraldagain]

I was wondering if you guys could help me decide if I am justified in asking for a discount on my rent, and if so how to go about asking.

My DP and I moved into our new flat in September.

On January 24th (Tuesday) the shower (no bath) broke. He replied on Wednesday and said he could get someone to look at it tomorrow. My DP and I were not available so we asked for Friday.

A guy came with the landlord on Friday and had a look. He said he would get the part and try to come back the next day.

We did not hear from him or the landlord again until we contacted the landlord on February 6th (13 days after the fault was reported). He asked for the serial and model number as the shower was still under guarantee.

The next day he messaged to say the engineer was coming on Friday. The repair company contacted us to say they would arrive between 12-3. My DP left work early and was home at 11:45. At 3:10 we rang the office and the woman on the phone said the engineer had arrived at 11:15 and left. We arranged for him to come back on Tueaday (yesterday).

He came and fixed the shower. He got the electronics wet while fixing it (didn't turn off the stopcock) so said to leave it a while before turning it on.

I left the shower for 7 hours, turned it on and it worked! Tried again an hour or so after that and it is broken again.

Spoke to the landlord and then the repair company again and the engineer can't come back until Tuesday 21st.

Phew.

Right, so we will have had no in house washing facilities for A MONTH! Luckily we both have gym membership and showers at work (we live very close to both) but that's not the point. My DP will also need to take another morning off work (we both work in schools so we're home yesterday).

I also realise the landlord doesn't control the repair company but he has engaged them to carry out this work and they are lacking.

Landlords are legally obliged to provide washing facilities according to The Landlord and Tenant Act from 1985 which overrules any tennancy agreements made.

AIBU to ask for a rent discount and, if not, how do I go about it?

Sorry for the (boring) essay.

When you have to take time off from work for an appointment, you may not get paid for it.

Of course it's ok to ask for a discount!

Regardless of what the bare minimum legal requirement is, you have agreed to pay for a property with a bath/shower and you are not getting it.

If I went to stay at a hotel for a couple of nights I would not be paying full price if the shower was not working. Same thing with renting.

Or you do, but you've lost some of your leave entitlement, which is equivalent to a financial loss.

When you have to take time off from work for an appointment, you may not get paid for it.

Not a given though. Many places would just expect you to make up the time.

Still worth mentioning, I would feel guilty!

OP are you renting somewhere very very popular?
I say that because my DH is a landlord and no way would it even enter his head to think about giving someone notice to leave if they were good rent-paying tenants!
Even if he didn't agree to a request, he definitely wouldn't cut off his nose to spite his face and evict the tenants.
Your request is very reasonable anyway IME.

Hope you get sorted!

I'm a LL and under no circumstances would I expect my tenants to wait a month to get a shower fixed.

I don't care if legally all the LL has to provide is running hot water, a month without a working shower is not acceptable.

Asking for something off the rent is reasonable imo, although I wouldn't expect it to be a large amount.

Yabu to ask for a discount on your rent but yanbu to chase this up and make clear to the repair firm that you want it fixed asap and make sure the landlord knows the repair firm have been rubbish.

You can ask, I'm sure the LL will refuse, but don't withhold rent.

Make sure you read this about revenge evictions after asking for repairs too, just in case. It is sadly very much a thing. There was a big special on BBC News about it last week.

Ok, I will make a request. I don't expect a huge amount. 10% (~£100) would be more than enough. The landlord runs the Indian restaurant below us so we see him often and have kept him updated on the delays verbally and via text. I don't have an email address.

I Iive in a "nice" part of South-East London (private school central...) and reasonably priced one bedroom flats are hard to come by. I guess I'm a bit paranoid having been stung by a landlord in the past.

There hasn't been any loss of earnings yet (not that the landlord knows that).

I have made it very clear how annoyed I am with with repair company but, as I wasn't the one who employed them, it all feels a bit pointless getting annoyed with them. Good point about making it clear how rubbish they are to the landlord.