to ask landlord for a new bathroom

[Namechangedotcom]

I hate my bathroom in my rented house. I've been here for nearly two years and its just awful, its tiny, no storage, floor tiles are brown like a pub toilet and white wall tiles are done so badly there's grout smeared all over them that has gone grey over the years and the tiles are crooked and uneven. there's so many pipes going around the room that I don't see in anyone else's houses and they're covered in irremovable grime and rust. Also the skirting boards around the room are rotted, black and peeling between the wood and the floor that has been made worse by huge leaks that were happening last year. I understand that obviously they can't make the bathroom bigger and to be honest the actual toilet sink and bath are fine aside from the sealing starting to go but the actual room is in bad shape. do I have grounds to ask the agent to request that the landlord do something about it? I actually feel embarrassed having anyone in my house because of the bathroom. Should I offer to increase my rent to help pay for it or should I not ask at all? I am up to date with my rent and always pay well before its due.

Also the advantage of a scruffy house is the landlord may be happy for you to say put up a wall cabinet or shelf for storage.

We mentioned mould on the walls of our rental house, the landlord hadn't realised, and put central heating in shortly afterwards. He was actually glad that we had agreed to the disruption of having the system out in while we were there , and we were very grateful for the warmth!
If you don't ask you don't get, there's really no harm if you're polite

So was the bathroom like this when you first moved in? & op have you been opening the window & airing the room after your bath?
A good clean & wipe & use dettol mould cleaner (or similar) & a scourer perhaps a metal scourer (type for saucepans) clean rust on pipes & paint makes a big difference.
redoing whole bathroom if the bath, toilet & sink are ok is a bit over the top (it can cost more than your rent)

Ask Landlord if you can have a new skirting board & can he redo the seal.
I gave the tiles grout a good clean (old toothbrush & automatic wash powder & elbow grease) & than used a white grout pen.

hmm just re read - leak - presumably he fixed this? If it cause issues on the floor I think its fair enough to ask for a repair of floor if it was damaged
Out of curiosity was it a leak from behind the bath?

As a landlady, I think I'm right to say that this would be tax deductible. And it sounds as if it would be just be retiling, repairing and redecorating so not too pricey. And it would make it easier to rent when you go. I'd ask.

Sheepareawesome
£1,500 isnt a full kitchen. Its some inexpensive cabinets & worktops done by a mate, but you would never get

• good quality tiling

• new oven, fridge & other white goods
• any plumbing etc that needed replacing

Done for £1,500! My sister got a cheap kitchen done £8 years ago, it was about the cheapest basic option you could get and it was about £10k and it wasn't a big room.

I’m a landlord and I would not be happy at anyone living in those conditions
I would offer £1000 to put it right.
I would tell them they could have a choice. I’d be happy if it wasn’t outlandish.
If i had to pay a decorator it would come out of the money but if they felt they could decorate to a reasonable standard
Then anything over and above the cost of materials , they could keep

Put your request in writing either to the letting agent or the LL direct, depending on who is managing the property.

Advise them that the 'bathroom is in a state of disrepair' and you are requesting an inspection.

The term 'disrepair' is key here. Let them come out and look at it and then open up negotiations. Do not offer to pay for anything at this stage.
Have a good think about elements in the bathroom that disrupt your enjoyment of the property, not having people over because the bathroom is ugly is not one of them.

Be open and courteous but firm. You are not doing anything wrong by simply asking.

Ask them. If they say no,ask if you can pay for it yourself.

I wouldn't offer to pay at this stage. If they say no then asking them to come and look to see if they can "offer any suggestions" may help your cause. Also worth pointing out that if you leave they may need to improve the bathroom anyway and doing it with a tenant in situ means the landlord can claim it as an expense to the tax man. Doing it between tenancies they cannot.

You could also include that you are willing to live with the disruption of the work and facilitate access for tradesmen.

If they are really not budging on it then you could offer to pay something towards improvement works. That would be a final resort though and it would be worth checking first that you couldn't just rent somewhere local that is already nicer to live in.

To offer a contrary view, as someone who has never been a landlord but has been a tenant many times - don't ask! If the bathroom isn't actually malfunctioning in any way (leaks, etc) the landlord has no obligation to do it up for you. And some of my previous landlords have taken any requests from us as tenants as an excuse to hike up the rent and/or kick us out and get in someone who will pay more and complain less. Yes, I live in a very in demand area for rentals - they tend to go within a day or two - but maybe you do too. Your rent hasn't been raised for two years - great! Don't draw the landlord's attention and you might get even longer.

If you want the bathroom to look nicer you can do some inexpensive things yourself if you want to. Eg putting lino down as it's easy to take up when you leave, perhaps a spot of regrouping if you know what you're doing. There are a lot of small creative things you can do as a tenant to make a small room look nicer - plants, mirrors, a lovely scent diffuser - that you could try. But don't ask the landlord to redecorate the bathroom!!

*regrouting!