Change bathroom before selling or not?

[Penguinpandarabbit]

We moved out of our house which is close to London and have already moved to a different area. We want to sell (or failing that rent out) our old house. It's a Victorian house, value around £650k.

Rest of house will be in good condition, replacing flooring and doing some painting, really nice kitchen and living area. Bathroom is small and there's just one. It's a white suite with light green/grey swirly tiles which I hate and to me look dated but they are tiles you don't notice that much.

I think we need to replace bathroom and DH doesn't. I am happy to find a cheaper solution but not if it will make house not sell. We can compromise on price but want to sell. Houses like ours in good condition seem to be selling but couple of houses on market requiring renovation seem to be sticking, however, they also appear way overpriced too and one is modern, one the location isn't great and is 2 bed.

Issues with current bathroom are no shower over bath, bath panel is broken, tiles are dated though fairly non-descript, there is mold on tiles and underneath shower screen which doesn't come off easily. This is due to poor ventilation. Bathroom is small so even done up its not going to be the selling point of the house. Flooring is old vinyl. Toilet is new. Suite is white but bath is jacuzzi bath, the jacuzzi bit doesn't work and the silver button silver is coming off. Not sure when suite was installed - between 10 and 20 years ago. EA hasn't been round but said to DH not just to leave the bathroom and do everything else either do everything in house or nothing. We are doing everything else but DH has translated this to the EA agrees with me that we don't need to do the bathroom when actually I think EA thinks we do.

Any views / ideas on how to do this? Thanks very much. DH has agreed we need to get mold off but that's all we've agreed on - I am not sure its possible.

I would not do it unless you were guaranteed to get your money back. Kitchens and bathrooms are all down to personal taste, many people would prefer to put their own stamp on those anyway. Just be prepared to be offered a price which reflects a new bathroom.

I would replace the bathroom. It will make your home easier to sell which means you'll get a better price.

Can you post a pic of your current bathroom?

I wouldn't buy a house with a new bathroom that I didn't like, as I wouldn't be able to be so wasteful as to rip it out.

Put it on but make sure the price reflects that a new bathroom is needed.

It doesn't need replacing. Or rather, do as little as possible. Spend as little as possible. A very good clean with lots of bleach. Then maybe if that doesn't work install a shower a screen.
Your husband is right. you can very easily spend thousands and not get it back at all - don't do this.

do the absolute minimum and then if that doesn't work do a little bit more and if that doesn't work do a little bit more.

And drop the price, and be guided by the EA.

I do agree with previous poster though, I don't like it if this are tatty/ neglected, because it shows a lack of care by previous owner.

So I'd get the silver button on bath repaired. Probably get jacuzzi bath repaired. It's really easily done. Even I could do it.

Get it on the market ASAP. Spend 2 weekends cleaning and repairing and then get it in. I really don't understand your wierd attitude. Why wait? Why are you talking about September?
Get cleaning and then get it on at the end of March!!

De-mouldify it and clean it to within an inch of its life, replace broken bits, price sensibly and put it on the market. Bathrooms make houses more sellable but don't add value imo - and given the brexit omnishambles I think time is of the essence here.

I wouldn't buy a house with a new bathroom that I didn't like, as I wouldn't be able to be so wasteful as to rip it out.

Number 1, how would you know it was new?; and 2. as a buyer how does this make any difference to you than replacing an old bathroom?

Sell the suite on Ebay/Facebook/Gumtree or give it away on Freecycle or to charity and put in something you like.

Would you really think, "I love this house, but I'm not going to buy it because it has a new bathroom I don't like but don't want to replace"? Like heck!

As PP said, if you would be embarrassed for guests to use the bathroom then I would replace it. If it is a small room then it shouldn’t be very expensive. Mould is very offputting as is lack of a shower - how on earth do you manage now on a daily basis. If it is fully tiled then it’s more of a nuisance to remove tiles and possibly replaster. I know you can overtile if they are soundly fixed but I personally wouldn’t.

Replace the broken old jacuzzi bath with a plain white one better shaped to fit your space and absolutely fit a shower. I think without one, many potential buyers will write off your house.

Flooring is not expensive and new tiling can be kept to a minimum. I think your idea to make changes in keeping with the style of your house is definitely the way to go.

I definitely think you should overrule your husband and go with your instinct to replace it.

Thanks very much. Sorry don't have a picture, currently couple of hours away. Its small - fits a bath, a sink and a toilet and that's all you can get in it. Very high ceilings - 10 foot or 11 foot and tiled to about 6 foot on all walls. White suite and green/grey tiles probably from c2000. Glass shower screen, heated towel rail, one small window.

Currently can only work on property at weekends as DH works full-time and I am also working and got 2 kids, one is ASD and needs me and school sends him home as no budget for TA. There's other work we are doing too on house and here we have a big garden. Sometimes we all need a break from it too and DS always needs me with him. No massive financial pressure but it is costing us £400 a month extra to have 2 houses than one which is wasted money. We have about a third house to clear, front and back garden to do, 2 rooms to repaint, new flooring on stairs and in 2 or 3 bedrooms. Haven't really got budget to pay someone to come in and do this all for us. So probably couple of months before go on market and a couple of weeks after that if do bathroom too and get someone in for that. That's assuming we do every weekend though one day. Only DH goes down as I need to stay with DS plus there's other things to do. We both just want it sold now but if we don't do these repair jobs probably would take a big hit on price and we've agreed on those. I was very ill last year in hospital a lot, still not that well, so things have accumulated there.

Think would cost around £5.5k to £6k to redo with what I want which is a traditional Victorian style white bath (Burlington Hampton) with rose head shower over and sand coloured vanity unit - may well leave toilet as its new and white. Flooring would probably do a sand/ cream coloured vinyl. Tiles if we can get them immaculate I am in two minds about whether to redo or not - redo would cost around £1.5k and would go for plain ones - maybe white or pale blue but not the current fashion of public toilet brick ones. Jacuzzi bath is badly fitted underneath so a bath panel will always have bit sticking out. It has past its sell by date tbh. Think we could do everything but tiles for £3k to £3.5k if keep toilet and towel rail and take things to skip ourselves.

I am very concerned about Brexit too for house prices though am glad ours is in a BTL area so could rent it out easily when refurbished for good price.

We do wash I use bath and DH uses the showerhead that's attached to the bath. No space for separate shower. Though in a different house now too with 2 bathrooms. DH doesn't have hair and DS is ASD and a bath avoider so one worked fine.

I would sometimes reject houses for having new kitchens I don't like - I dislike the gloss ones especially in a period property and if that was factored into house price would rule it out unless other factors made it better. Bathrooms I am not too fussy on, as long as clean and useable will do me and bonus if they are big, two and done nicely.

I'm hoping a traditional neutral bathroom would appeal to people who want traditional - the kitchen and living room are very much traditional - Victorian fireplace with tiles, kitchen is shaker cream with solid oak flooring and worktop. Though if anyone would hate that bathroom style please tell me as I would rather know now than after spending £6k. Thanks very much.

I would find a jacuzzi bath a bit off putting if I'm honest - I always imagine the pipes could be full of mould. For me as a buyer, just swapping that for a plain steel bath would be great. But that's just me, and you could well sell to someone who loves the aspirational feel of your jacuzzi bath (if bath panel ok)

It is really difficult to pick tiles that appeal to most. Light or white is popular and normally "safe", but some who favour a period look will say they need to be metro style and/or dark.

Also people can be snobby about sheet vinyl flooring. If you are doing it up to sell, I think plain charcoal tiles or something would be a better investment for a small area, if you have a fitter coming in anyway to do the bath panel etc. What about tongue and groove for the bath panel? It's not to everyone's taste but it's easy, neat and generic.

That said, it doesn't sound to me like you have the energy for a re-fit and there is no guarantee you'll even make your money back, let alone profit from it. Scrube it down, do the minimum and save your money and mental resources to sort out any issues in your new place.

Your ideas sound lovely and very in keeping but be careful you don’t overspend on getting the right period look. I do think you have to remember it is not for yourselves. I’m sure you could get the cost of sanitaryware and tiles down by shopping around. A nicely shaped steel bath is inexpensive and the shower needn’t cost the earth either. A period style basin vanity sounds like it could be the most expensive buy and I wouldn’t scimp on tiles if you decide to change them. I think cheap basic tiles always look cheap.

Any savings on the cost of fitments I would put towards a plumber/tiler. 2 or 3 days of a professional tradesman would be well worth it in your situation I think. It sounds like you have so much going on and with the best will in the world, work always seems to take longer than planned. I think getting the work done quickly with the minimum of stress and getting it on the market as soon as possible is the sensible thing to do.

See, you say public toilet brick tiles and I say metro tiles and love them! I also hate any shade of brown including beige and sand, so that’s what you’re up against. I’d clean and demould it within an inch of its life and leave it. The only thing against it is that it’s massively disruptive to replace a bathroom when you’ve only got one and that would put me off as a buyer.

Thanks very much that's very useful.

I hate anything brown too, not keen on green or grey. The room has very little natural light and is small so things would need to be light coloured or white.

This is the bath:
simply-traditional.co.uk/burlington/product/hampton-1700-left-hand-copy/
This is the shower: simply-traditional.co.uk/burlington/product/anglesey-thermostatic-two-outlet-bath-shower-mixer/?attribute_pa_rose=with-9-inch-rose&attribute_pa_deck-wall-mounted=wall-mounted&attribute_pa_standard-extended-riser=standard-riser
This is the vanity unit - the "sand" looks like cream to me but maybe different colour irl. Both DH and I like sand but is choice of grey, green, white or sand. simply-traditional.co.uk/burlington/product/hampton-1700-left-hand-copy/
Don't like grey, green is OK but would clash with current green, white is OK but looks a bit cheap to me.
We could also just do normal sink instead - the gap we have for sink is c.70cm but that goes right up to bath end.
We could do tiled floors - DH is keen on that but would raise costs.
Not looked at tiles in any depth - got some lovely ones before for kitchen but can't remember were from. Totally agree re jacuzzi bath.

On the positive side I seem to have much better paid work coming in very soon so we may have more spare money. We've got a £30k bill coming in on our current house in December though for new thatch.

In that case, I really would leave it. I don’t like the bath or the shower and I’m a big fan of grey! Your new bathroom would make me wonder how long it would take me to persuade my bloke to replace it all. I like clean lines and minimalist looks.

I’m really sorry to be so negative but it really does illustrate how personal these things are.

Thanks - I don't like minimalist at all but don't think someone would wanted minimalist would want our house full stop. It's very period, traditional and there's lots of modern houses with gloss kitchens and minimalist style not too far away. DH and I both hate grey, he calls is suicide grey. It is in fashion though but reluctant to put something in just cause its in fashion atm.

If everything else in the house is quite nicely done up then an old bathroom will really stand out (in a bad way!).

Next time I buy a house I would love for the bathroom to be in good nick as I hated the hassle of getting the bathroom redone in this house. Especially if there is no shower currently and a jacuzzi bath looks old-fashioned now...

I'd go for something very neutral but good quality and replace everything (don't leave the old tiles up!). Even if it's not perfectly done to someone else's taste, you will attract more buyers to consider your house if they can see the bathroom would last them a good 5-10 years.

Thanks very much. I agree it will stand out. I would prefer the tiles out as they look dated even if we can get them spotless. Plus its going to take a long time getting them 100% free of mildew or mould. I'm hoping DH will give up after an hour. We could make less tiles - no need for them on one wall.

I definitely want traditional, light colours and neutral. Tiles I could do metro ones if they aren't white though DH and I both dislike them but at least makes obvious its new. I do want something we like - or at least don't hate - too incase it doesn't sell. A nice, modern one could just work but any gloss is banned.

You could do fewer tiles but the plastering would be another trade to get in.

I think our tiler does plastering but will need to check.

I have to say I’m not a fan of the bath and shower combination you have linked. I can’t see the vanity unit as it also seems to link to the bath again. I think with only one bathroom that you say is quite small it needs to be very usable and appeal to the maximum number of buyers.

I am a fan of traditional and love your description of the rest of your house especially the kitchen but I think that bath and those taps are very old fashioned and clunky. We ripped out similar style taps 15 years ago! I do think you can get the traditional look with a regular steel bath, perhaps with nicely painted tongue and groove panel as someone else suggested and a simple bar shower with traditional shower head much more readonabky priced without alienating lots of people. I think for the sales market, in a family house with only one bathroom, that bath is a bit marmite and I would worry about access to clean and mop up splashes in a small area. Sorry!

I agree with HotGinger. Strangely, despite my minimalist taste in bathrooms, I love Victorian houses too. Sometimes the contrast of old and modern can work really well, our house is over 400 years old so compatibility with the age of the house wasn’t an issue when we chose our bathroom! If I were you I’d aim for neutral.

I’d leave it. The buyer will probably redecorate and rip out the kitchen and bathroom anyway.

Don't spend £600 on a shower.

Your market is not as limited as you think. Victorian with some original features has very broad appeal. I don't think you need to get grand fittings. If you're going to do it, just something simple that doesn't argue with the rest of the house, and isn't Value square white tiles.