To think this rental property shouldn’t be advertised

[Curlyevie]

I am looking to rent a house and this has come up for private rent. Aibu to think it shouldn’t be rented out like this? The garden photos show it to be very overgrown too. That’s the fireplace in the living room

That's awful OP - as a project house to buy, then yes I would say that's fine, but to rent it out as is for £850 is taking the biscuit.

If the price represents then the condition then it’s fine. Some people look for places that are rundown so they can save money.

It looks dated but what would the target market be? Might attract tenants who want to decorate themselves? Or tenants with pets, it can be difficult to find properties that allow pets.

The regulations don’t require you to remove the old gas fire. If it’s unusable it will be safe at least.

To be honest, whilst the decor is dated, it looks like a regular house that many people live in. Presumably it has the required paperwork for renting (gas and electrical certificates) and is priced lower than an equivalent property with more modern decor. It's quite normal for landlords to request open fires aren't used, as tenants often neglect to get chimneys swept as needed twice a year, and so it's a fire risk. Many people have gas fires like that in their homes, and they work well. Not sure why the landlord would ask for it not to be used, but since there's central heating, it's not really an issue anyway.

I don't really see the need for all rental properties to be superficially modernised with cheap disposable fittings. If this house doesn't meet your requirements, then don't rent it! Many, many people happily live in homes like that though!

Living in an area where it's hard to find a one-bed flat for less than £1k a month (and HB/UC will only pay a max of £800), it looks like an absolute bargain.

The carpets are grim, and it would benefit from a redec, but if it has the relevant safety certs and someone's prepared to pay that for it, I guess it's ok.

I think the LL is taking a risk renting out a place with an "unusable" fireplace though. I foresee a tenant thinking how nice it would be to have a log fire, or a skint tenant thinking it would be a cheap source of heat, and ending up with a chimney fire. That's daft imo.

It depends on the area. Around here they are charging £900 for a single room, so any landlord offering that size property, at that price, would get trampled in the rush.

Its old fashioned, but doesn't look damp or completely manky.

I've seen worse.🙁

looks like someones elderly relative died and instead of selling they are trying to rent it out as is without doing anything

ffs

My fire place isn't usable (was safely disconnected from gas supplier by a gas engineer)... never needed to use it in 12 years here.

That looks better than many rental houses we looked at back before we got this one. One said they would add a front door (didn't have one at the time, was just open to the street) if we moved in.

People can rent out whatever they want as long as it meets the legal requirement. You don't want to live there then don't.

In fact memory unlocked but in in the 90s until 2001 I lived on a council estate (now gentrified) but there was one house, I never understood it.

'Foreign' families would often live there for short bursts (a few weeks or a month or two) and often didn't speak English. Sometimes it would sit empty for ages between these families and even left unlocked between families so we would dare each other to go in and look around.

Always assumed it was the council temporarily housing immigrants (no idea if that counts as 'rented' though).

Why am I mentioning it? because this house still in use in 2001 when I left... STILL ONLY HAD AN OUTHOUSE (no indoor bathroom, no bath or indoor toilet only plumbing was for a kitchen sink).

You had to go to a brick shed at the bottom of the garden than had 3 wood door toilet cubical in it. Like a public toilet but for the house.

Was weird enough that it fascinated us as kids.

It would need gas and electric safety certificate, and an EPC with an 'E' or better.

I thought so too. They haven’t changed the carpet since about 1975.

@Giard it was more the fact that the fireplace does not work, it states it isn’t usable

Thanks everyone for your comments. I have seen houses in the area rented out at the same price but have been newly renovated throughout so I’m not sure it’s market value. These houses go quickly though

For example there is a property on the next road, same type of property with same number of bedrooms, that has been decorated and has new kitchen and bathroom and that has been let recently for £100 less than this one

Gougers and cheapskates. From my far too long experience of private renting, you can just tell they won't do a thing to keep it repaired. It is not acceptable to have carpets in scrappy pieces like that. Prices these days are nuts, and unscrupulous, unprofessional 'landlords' like this know how desperate people are.

Many rental properties in my area are big old victorian terraced houses. Beautiful houses with big high ceilings. Many of them will be rated E on the EPC and under the plans they would need to be C. In order to do this one of the things is cavity wall insulation and in order to do that they would need another skin for want of a better expression to create the cavity. Can you imagine the cost and the mess and the inconvenience to both the landlord and tenant?
Look at your own epc rating for your own house and it will tell you what they suggest to improve and what it will cost and what the annual savings will be. One i looked at, the suggestion was something like£1500 and the saving per year is about 30 quid! It's madness.
So if they kept the new proposal in many landlords would just sell up because it's just not financially viable. And in the meantime where do the tenants live?
Some landlords have already sold up because they know it's just not worth it. I have a relative in a rental such as this. They've been there years, good tenants etc and pay below value. Landlord knows they look after the place everyone is happy. If this rule came in they would have to move out and move to a smaller place for what they are currently paying.
I'm not saying there shouldn't be standards. If course there should be. But let's be realistic about what is achievable and not make the rental market any worse than it is

www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate

It should have an EPC. There are no radiators visible so I'd question that.

The agent and/or landlord should have covered that as part of the Fitness For Human Habitation checks.

Ask the Agent. See what they say!

It's a crap hole but hardly unusual. Thousands of properties are rented out in this state. Usually to immigrant families.

If he's charging too much then he'll get no takers, and will either have to drop the rent or upgrade it.

As long as its had a gas check that means nothing... a turned off fire by an engineer is completely safe.

Theres zero requirement to have a working fire place in a house, many houses dont.

It looks like my nans house in the 1990s (she hadn't updated anything for 20+ years) I guess if it does have a functioning central heating system and meets all the necessary requirements it's fine. Just very very very dated. (I'd hate to live there though and I think it's shame some people have no choice but to take it)

It's disgusting and you are right.

I viewed so many horrendous flats when we were renting. Many of them unfit for human habitation.

A bathroom literally flooded, bare wires sticking out of light fittings, condemned gas appliances, rat infestations, walls wet to the touch with damp, huge cracks in the walls, toilet shared with upstairs flat, a shop illegally converted to a flat (you weren't allowed to be home during the day!)... the list goes on.

Well obviously it's a shithole but rental regulations are pretty lax in the UK so this is what you end up with.

As PP said it does scream "Granny's just died; let's rent out her house to make a bit of cash!"

BUT

Everything in the pictures looks cosmetic.

Does it have working central heating? (I can see one radiator.) Is it free from damp, rot, and mould? Does it have a good EPC and fully up to date gas and electric certs? Does it smell fresh and not like a litter of dead cats? This is what I would care about and not whether it looks like something out of a Taylor Wimpey catalogue.

You could slap on 50L of Wilko clearance magnolia or white emulsion, fit the cheapest "cat scratching post" textured beige carpets or flimsy laminate, remove the gas fire and replace it with a £30 white Argos value wall heater, and it would still be the same house.

If as OP says it's expensive for the area, then presumably they won't get tenants and they'll have to either reduce the price or improve the finish to make it more of a chic executive residence.

While I would be the first to agree that EPCs are often not informative for historic buildings, I must point out that properties such as those you describe only needed under the existing rules to make best efforts (up to a maximum - fairly low - cost) to reach EPC C.

In addition, there has always been an exemption for historic buildings that couldn’t meet EPC C due to their construction type or architectural interest. I deal with these types of buildings as my job.

What Rishi has done is scrap the requirements for modern rented homes to meet basic insulation standards. Homes like the one that’s being discussed in this thread.