Rental - disconnected fire

[mummyinmanchester]

Hi
We have rented a property for a few years, when we signed the tenancy in the summer we were just told it came with a fire, however when we went to switch it on in the winter and it didn't work, we messaged the landlord and was told it was a disconnected fire.
My question is, I find it quite an eyesore and pointless being in the house with no purpose. Our rent is double what mortgages are in our area and I was wondering if we were able to a) ask for a real fire or for it to be removed or b) ask of we can pay for it to be removed ourselves so we can use the wall to put a TV on rather than a defunct fire?
Thanks

It's a gas fire and we were never told why it was disconnected, only that it's old and it would need entirely replacing should they connect it again.

I'd say you can ask, but despite paying a lot in rent you're not entitled to make changes like that, so they'd be well within their rights to say no

You can ask for anything but they are under no obligation to do it; and as they haven't already, I suspect they wouldn't be willing to.

You could also pay to have it removed yourself but you won't see the value really; unless moving the TV means that much to you, so I'd weigh that up carefully. I believe it can be quite expensive to remove a gas fire.

If your contract says you have a fire then, surely, the landlord has to replace it.

My guess is that the fire doesn't meet regs and rather than pay to sort that out, the landlord has had the gas disconnected.