To ask Landord for a new kitchen??

[Hopingformydb]

Sorry long post... I have been in the property for almost 8 years.. I love it here and I want to stay. I have been an ideal tenant my house is like a show home in other rooms I decorate and upkeep myself and some minor jobs i'll just do myself. Never ever missed rent. In the 8 years I've probably only contacted my LL 3 times and that was due to a boiler leak, window leak and roof leak. All done no question asked. I've never even met him hubby has. About 3 years ago LL agreed to upgrade the bathroom as it was falling apart from age. It was like a 60'/ 70' bathroom (house is old.) All done and dusted cost about £1100 all in (tiny bathroom)

When I say the kitchen needs updating I'm not just saying cosmetic wise i'm not just after a new kitchen to look pretty. All the walls are old woodchip so hard to paint and look decent and always crumbling even when I clean looks dirty because of this. If I stripped them the walls would come with it or i would have stripped it myself. Literally holes/cracks in walls and ceiling cracked and bowed from water damage from bathroom. Cupboards from 60s all uneven and jagged edges etc no worktop is level. I've painted cupboards white because they were brown and tarted up as best I can. Fablon the worktops etc just to make it look half decent. But it's a joke now especially the walls they just crumble everyday. drawers don't open and pretty much off the hinges anyway. I've kept my mouth shut for a long time but now I think its only fair to have an upgrade. Its the only room in the house that just looks horrible. He did agree a few years ago to it but then said can you just tart it up for now. And we haven't mention since as we don't want to mither him. All appliances are my own so I just require new worktops & cupboards/drawers and plastered walls. Again I'm not after high gloss with an island i just want decent cupboards and walls AIBU to ask??

Can you send him some photos? The landlord might not realise how bad it is?

Yes you can ask. It doesn't sound like you want something extravagant. If your landlord is sensible, he will have a designated slush fund to fix things in your house (I am a landlady and keep a couple of thousand ready for things like a new boiler or sofa being needed).

All you can do is ask sounds like our kitchen when we moved into this house and now i have a new kitchen ( not top end went for what i liked not price) its so much better and after putting up with a crappy kitchen and paying rent for 8 years i think you have been pretty patient

Yep! I'd definitely ask him. As others have said, take pics, list the cupboards/drawers that don't work etc.

@bestbefore I am happy for him to come and look, he knows its bad as he did say yes a few years ago but due to finances he said can we just do what we can for now. But I had boiler service last week and his handyman even commented on the state of it and the back door which doesn't open unless you rag it he says its a fire hazard as we wouldn't be able to safely escape but the door again cause the walls to crumble. I'm just thinking does it sound like im being cheeky or not to ask?? In dont want him thinking oh sod this and kick us out. Don't want to shoot myself in the foot but also I pay high rent and think I should have a better kitchen

You sound like good tenants. He won’t want to risk losing you over a kitchen he will have to replace if you leave anyway. So just ask him, show him it’s no longer a fully function kitchen and you have done all the sprucing you can.

Absolutely YANBU.

Has the landlord ever inspected / generally been there to see it in the last few years? He might not realise how bad it is.

If you moved he'd need to buy a new kitchen before any new tenant would touch it. If the alternative is you moving, it's ultimately going to be cheaper for the landlord to put in a new kitchen and keep you in situ.

Yanbu you should definitely ask. I don’t think the work you describe just falls under a ‘new kitchen’ - walls should not be crumbling that is standard maintenance stuff. I suggest you take some photos, say you’ve been maintaining the kitchen room as best you can for some years now but the plaster in the walls is falling off and the cupboards and drawers are disintegrating due to age and at this stage the most cost effective thing to do is for him to replaster the walls and replace the kitchen units. Kitchen cupboards cost very little (you can see exactly how little on diy kitchens site that’s where I got mine), it’s normally the appliances that add the money. Worktops can be pricey but you sound like you would be happy with laminate which is v cheap (have a look at worktops express I got a £80 worktop am pleased with from there).

"...he did say yes a few years ago but due to finances he said can we just do what we can for now"

This really annoys me. It is the job of a landlord to keep his or her tenants safe and in suitable accommodation. This dude has taken your rent for years and hasn't had the sense to keep some back for repairs? He's the reason that people (on here and elsewhere) go on about landlord being awful.

@crucru @yearinyearout I think ill ask. No absolutely not I don't expect a fancy kitchen if I got a plain white one I would be happy. Its more the walls if anything every day it looks like I've had a volcano eruption black dust and just old plaster. Plus the cracks on ceiling just looks like its going to fall down anyday. Thanks for the input 👍

Plus the cracks on ceiling just looks like its going to fall down anyday

I would want all these checking out too.

Definitely not being unreasonable to ask, hopefully the handyman had fed back to him about the door being a fire hazard?

[quote Hopingformydb]@bestbefore I am happy for him to come and look, he knows its bad as he did say yes a few years ago but due to finances he said can we just do what we can for now. But I had boiler service last week and his handyman even commented on the state of it and the back door which doesn't open unless you rag it he says its a fire hazard as we wouldn't be able to safely escape but the door again cause the walls to crumble. I'm just thinking does it sound like im being cheeky or not to ask?? In dont want him thinking oh sod this and kick us out. Don't want to shoot myself in the foot but also I pay high rent and think I should have a better kitchen[/quote]
You're not even slightly cheeky. Crumbling walls are a health hazard in the kitchen - it's not physically possible to clean them.

If the landlord did choose to evict, he'd currently have to give 6 months notice before he could even apply to the civil courts. In other words, you'd have lots of time to find a new place.

Are you someone who would find it very difficult to find a new tenancy (eg housing benefits, multiple pets that sort of thing?) or is it just the inconvenience and upheaval you're worried about?

Evicting someone is expensive for landlords (court fees, estate agent fees, voids) and he'd need to install a new kitchen before the next tenant anyway, so I think a retaliatory eviction would be unlikely if the landlord is sane (there are some legal protections against retaliatory evictions, but they're weak)

No he's not inspected for a while he only comes if there's an issue when we phoned but always when hubby is there so I haven't met him. He's a nice landlord you know if we ask for anything which isn't often someone has been round the next day. But with it not being a big thing and yes technically we won't die if it isn't upgraded. I think he may think oh bloody hell you're asking for a lot. The rest of the house is amazing Mainly because we have nice things and he's very leaneant on what decor we have. Flooring isn't an issue my hubby is a floorlayer we put LVT down when we moved in as there was only ripped lino down.

I am a landlord and would love a tenant like you! I would pay for a kitchen upgrade under these circumstances, I appreciate all landlords are not the same, but I think you should ask.

@AvocadosBeforeMortgages no I don't have an issue about getting another house but I dont want to move. Rents have gone ridiculous and I could end up in a worse house with worse kitchen. The only room in my house thats bad is kitchen. And he doesnt care that we have a dog. I couldn't live anywhere without my chihuahua and every place now says no dogs.

Tell me to shut up if I'm being obvious () but have you had look to see what else is available locally?

I would also be prepared to do a rent holiday and do it that way if needed if he genuinely was struggling with money to pay X amount upfront. I know times are hard with covid.

Sorry just seen your update.

So other than the bathroom everything else that is/looks nice is because you bought it/decorated it?

We asked our old landlords.
The kitchen we had was a sink unit and a chipboard worktop about 4 or 5 feet long, held up with a single brass pole. The countertop was warped, sagging down in the middle and I held it up by squeezing pieces of wood between the washing machine and worktop from underneath. As long as we kept the loads light the washer wouldn't vibrate the worktop too much. Too much of a load and the microwave glass rattled so we had to take it out

Seems crazy to think it was ever rented out like that but we were desperate for a place and thought we could make do. Thankfully the landlord, after us proving that we were reliable rent payers and had made improvements to the other parts of the place, had a new kitchen put in when we asked if it would be possible. The new kitchen was nothing fancy but at least the units were flat and we had more than one cupboard afterwards.
It's always worth asking. They can only say no.

@thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter haha no good question. I have sometimes but I hope to buy next and would like to stay here in the meantime. I dont want to move its easy to get to school for my girl im near my mum and even though my rent isn't cheap its cheaper than the current market which is £800/£900 plus which im not prepared to pay

@thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter yes correct but thats because the other rooms were fine anyway no woodchip walls etc so much easier to decorate. We had no carpets moving in so we did it all. And floor etc but we had cheap rent for while with no inflation for year to cover this.

I'd put it politely in writing to him that you feel the kitchen has reached the point of serious deterioration. He knows this was inevitable and it is absolutely fine for you to ask. Include a list of problems and ask if he'd like you to send photos. Please do say about the door being a fire hazard too. That's likely to invalidate his insurance too! You're not being remotely cheeky to ask now. You sound like great tenants and he knows it!

First of you you need to get someone in to check the wood chip for asbestos if it’s on the walls and ceiling. The house sounds as old as mine and that’s what we had to do. Please don’t attempt to strip it till the test is done. Once tested I would get the landlord to re plaster then paint or wallpaper over it. Then I’d see about the new kitchen units. Sort the walls first. We had wood chip in most rooms of my house and it’s absolutely awful. We just got it re plastered and painted over.

@chunkymenrock I'm happy to get him round and show him he lives around the corner. It was just the initial asking i was worried about. His last tenants before us left it a right mess and it was never upgraded for us we just cracked on basically. We've probably done a lot more than we should really. But it is what it is I want a nice house. And I'm not hurting anybody. But such a job like a kitchen ik definitely not putting my hand in my pocket decorating is different and we've always done our own floor because hubby's job and we choose it rather than ask LL and get a shit generic cheap floor. I think ill ask him this week. Thanks everyone ☺

I don’t think you are unreasonable at all. Why isn’t the LL doing a check on the property? I always do because it highlights issues like this.

Appreciate with covid it’s difficult, but ask him to come and meet you and show him the units and back door. The back door sounds very concerning TBH.