To think / hope my Landlady would fix this?

[ElleBelleLou]

Hello all!

Posting in AIBU for traffic (and cause I couldn't find where best this would fit!!)

I'm a renter, renting from a private landlady, been here since February 2021. In that time I've never had an inspection, never needed to ask for anything from my landlady - the flat was unfurnished so 100% of everything in here is mine (down to the curtain poles etc). I just pay my rent every month and we're all happy.

When I moved in the place was a complete mess - cupboards were filthy, windows were gross, carpets were stained - from my understanding the previous tenants had done a runner and left it in a state, my landlady had just lost her mother and we were of course in full covid times but I loved the area and the property so I moved in, cleaned it all up and I've been really happy here.

My bath however has over time been slowly rusting or rotting? The outside of the top lip (I don't know bath language so I'm sorry) has been getting worse and worse - pictures attached. I only clean this with water and a diluted disinfectant, no bleach or anything corrosive or rough.

I did try fix it with an enamel repair kit from Amazon but as you can see it hasn't helped - I'm just used to fixing things myself here.
I want to ask my landlady if this can be fixed, but am I expecting too much? Should this be my problem to sort out? She's an elderly lady, renting out around 8 properties around me and has faced so much aggro with other tenants (that's a whole other story but 2 of my previous neighbours are now in prison) so I don't want to be a bother

On the flipside if I shouldn't raise this to my landlady, any recommendations of anything else I can try to fix this?

Anyone? Or any suggestions about where this would be better posted? 🧼

I would contact her, that’s why shes got house insurance. Also if the water gets in it might cause more damage

Something like that can't really be claimed on house insurance - it's general wear and tear and to be honest I'd say it's as a result of that gap between the lip of the bath and the bath panel so water is getting in behind that lip and eating away the metal underneath the enamel

Anyway- I had this exact situation - cost £150 for The Bath Doctor to come out and repair it

I replaced the panel and made sure there was bead of mastic in that gap

Also can be cussed by hanging damp towels or bath mats over the bath

When you get it repaired make sure you dry it down after each shower/bath

@TeamTea I did wonder about water getting in - we've stopped showering and only bath now as it's easier to keep that side of the bath fully dry that way

@onlylovecanhurtlikethis Yes I do think that gap is a huge issue - it's been there since I moved in it's like that side panel doesn't slot in properly, myself and my partner have never been able to get it in properly.
We don't hang anything over the bath and do keep it dry - it just seems to get worse and worse!

I think I'll pop her a text and some pictures, maybe if it's something I need to fix myself she would have someone she can recommend

Not sure why PPs are saying you could repair it . It's part of the fixtures and fittings and definitely down to the landlord .

You also say you've had no checks since you moved in. You're meant to have an annual Gas Safety certificate , obviously if you have gas, and a similar Electricity one [EICR] every five years, so should have been done before you moved in.

Have your smoke alarms been checked annually ?

It's definitely the gap - I had exactly the same issue - in fact it could be my bath in your photos! Is the panel one of the flimsy ones? If so even though I had put a bead of mastic in the gap the panel used to move and so water still got in. So I got rid of the panel and used tongue and groove floorboards from B&Q instead so it's rigid and doesn't move and then mastic - painted with a bit of a skirting board - cost me about £35 (much cheaper than a new bath panel)

And the cost of the Bath Doctor which was £150

If you do anything though you need to seal that gap as it will only get worse and get the repairs done as water will be getting in wear the enamel has flaked away as well and so the problem will spread and quickly and after a certain point it's not really repairable and you'd need to replace the whole bath

@butterpuffed Yes those have all been checked each year, the landlord's son arranged all of that - I've just never had proper inspections where they walk round each room and make sure everything's all good like I have in previous properties.

@onlylovecanhurtlikethis Thank you for your reply - yes it's so flimsy!! I wanted to seal the gap up but my partner said I wouldn't be able to as obviously I don't own the property / bath and if I seal it someone can't take the bath panel off if they wanted to. Do you think it's worth mentioning it to the landlady?

This is why you pay rent. Get your landlady round to look at it, and get it fixed.
It doesn't matter if she's an older lady; she is running a business, if it is a number of properties. She needs to get this sorted. You shouldn't be paying, or be inconvenienced.

It's absolutely not your problem to fix.
Whether your landlady sees it as important to fix or cosmetic, I don't know.

Tell her, with the photos, and see what comes back. Make sure you point out you aren't tdrying things over the side of the bath, or even taking showers (which I think you should actually showered you want to) due to the condition.

@HollaHolla thank you - I think I needed to hear that! I don't know why I feel like I'm a huge inconvenience but I know in my head I'm being silly.

@CatsOnTheChair I'm going to text her now - I love a shower as they're so much less time consuming than a bath so absolutely I'm gonna bite the bullet and just let her know.

Right I bit the bullet and texted - the landlords son is going to pop around in about an hour to take a look.

Will see what happens.

That is 100% down to the landlady to fix or replace. It's a fixture of the house and you don't own the house, she does.

Is that the lip on the outside of the bath? How are you getting that wet when you shower? Sounds like you need a better shower curtain.
It's cosmetic if your landlord is absent and a bit rubbish can't imagine they'll fix that.

@ElleBelleLou

You just do it with mastic....if you ever need to remove the panel you just use a Stanley life to cut through the mastic - very very easy thing to do

@Modifiedovipositor It's a glass shower door attached to the bath - it doesn't get too wet when we shower but the glass shower door doesn't go far along across so if you're vigorously your hair it can get splashed 🤣
My landlord isn't absent, more just we haven't needed anything from each other so no reason to have continuous contact - a welcome change I've had from previous landlords who would drop in with no notice and insisted on monthly inspections. She comes to the properties every Thursday to maintain the gardens and her son lives next door and always available if needed

The son came round, it's not rust as it's a fibreglass bath but he's not sure what it is - they're arranging for someone to come look and see if it can be re-enamelled so fingers crossed for something that looks a bit better!

I'm not sure he knows what he is looking at @ElleBelleLou - if it looks like black and rusty beneath where the top coat has come away (which It does) then it is an enamel bath which has a layer of metal beneath it

If it's fibreglass or acrylic then it only scratches or cracks