LL installed new kitchen

[Casperthefriendlygh]

We experienced significant disruption despite the promise of no 'lack of function':

• 3 days no oven, 3 days no hob
• 6 days no dishwasher, 6 days no washing machine
• 9 days no sink, 9 days of high noise
• 14 days of reduced living space due to storage
• This has led to health risks, unlivable conditions, and a breach of the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, with issues like damp, drainage problems, and difficulty maintaining sanitation.

the effect on our wellbeing (both physical and mental)

oh come off it!

You complained about a leak. You complained about damp.

The leak couldn’t be dealt with without redoing the kitchen.

You’re really being unreasonable.

The landlord has increased the value of her property and put her tenants to considerable inconvenience while she did so.

Maybe you could sue for a future lifelong fear of sink plugs?

Yes, I think she thought she could avoid paying for storage for the second-hand cabinets she had bought, and took advantage of the report about the leak. It was cheaper for her to redo the kitchen now and not at the termination of the lease, but disruptive to you.

The water was likely turned off to allow the plumbers to work.

They had noise, dust, cabinets stored in the living room (we can't assume this is a large room, or that there were just one or two units). They wfh and the noise was disruptive during the day.

This landlord was taking the piss.

We had to do the same when we had a leak, replaced cupboards and part of the wall and floor, though ours has been going on inside the wall a long time, we only found it when the back of the cupboard collapsed. I don't think your request is unreasonable, you're paying for certain things and part of what you paid for wasn't available for 2 weeks, but unless you're willing to take them to small claims not much you can do if LL disagrees. It's strange they couldn't get the washing machine out without pulling up the countertop, usually built in appliances can be pulled out for very obvious reasons like fixing leaks or faulty appliances.

It's always a total coincidence health comes up when there may be a sniff of money

😂😂😂😂

When we had our kitchen installed the water was off for just a handful of minutes. They can do it quickly.

The LL met his or her responsibilities by maintaining the place for OP and making sure the health hazard that the leak was had been addressed.

I don't think OP has a leg to stand on. When you live in a house, work sometimes needs doing. It's a pain in the neck, but still needs doing.

What gets me is all the non landlords telling op she’s taking the mick when 3 landlords have told her she isn’t. Maybe the landlord will tell them to get lost. But asking for compensation is a valid request under the circumstances.

Why not?

@Casperthefriendlygh are you renting from the LL directly? Or can you approach the managing agent to broker a solution?

As a LL I’d find your language a little flowery (‘disempowering’ etc) but your request is not entirely unreasonable. You were told there would be no loss of functionality beyond one day (implied by the offer of a takeaway day one) but you are saying that the functionality did go beyond that. Simply state in an email to either the LL or agent that you understood that there would be disruption for one day (implied by the offer of one takeaway only) but that this disruption went much further and impacted on both your employment and reasonable use of the property (loss of the communal lounge, ability to wfh, WM, cleanliness and dual use of the bathroom as both a bathroom and washing up facility). Detail any damage caused by builders carrying out the work at the same time (I’d be amazed if there were no scrapes along walls etc). Then state what you want. I agree £500 sounds arbitrary so I’d be clear about what you lost in terms of time/use etc include receipts for additional commuting costs/cafe/launderettes/takeaways and then ask the LL/agent to suggest an amount which they feel compensates you. Your LL may feel they’ve done you a favour by fitting a new kitchen but unless you tell them how much the work impacted on you they cannot know. This is also not an unreasonable position to take. I consider myself to be a reasonable LL so I wouldn’t be offended by receiving an email like that and would want to resolve the issue if you are good tenants that pay on time.

OP, if I were you, I would chalk this up to experience and get on with your life. It’s a bit annoying but posting on here, quoting the landlord’s emails, doing the math, continually arguing - all of those things are winding you up more and are not actually helping the situation. The pursuit of compensation will likely lead to more misery and unlikely to bring about the result you want.

Enjoy your newly fitted kitchen and focus on the positives.

Take this leak-fix, mould-treating, new(ish) kitchen-fitting landlord for all you can get, OP. Absolute scumbag.

Bit seriously, re the £500, if you've been that badly effected, what is £165ish each going to do exactly? How is it going to compensate for all you say you've through? And what difference is it going to make to three women who earn enough to afford to pay £1000 each in rent each month? Seems to me, similar to most tenants, you begrudge paying your landlord money and are looking at a way to hit back.

To be fair, I think some level of compensation would have been appropriate but she did suggest a couple of things and you knocked her back. She may have been thinking of what else she could do and there was more to come. She was in a tricky position herself, having a property that needed work with three people living and working in it and had to find the best way through.

But yeah, she's a landlord, so scumbag.

86% of us are telling you to suck it up @Casperthefriendlygh so I think it’s pretty clear you & your flatmates are being unreasonable.

Just enjoy the new kitchen with no more leak & don’t cause unnecessary drama with your LL over less than £200 each. Who knows, you may wish to extend the tenancy in future (or at least one of you might want to).

I would have accepted the free takeaway as the good will gesture your LL surely intended it to be.

Greedy?

Her rent is nearly £3K a month bloody hell

So what? That is obviously the going rate in the city she is based in.

I'm surprised you can manage actual real life if a kitchen refurb sends you into such a spin.

I guarantee that if/when you get your own house you will happily cope with much worse when you want to renovate it.

All the "problems" you describe are easily fixed by launderettes, takeaways, microwaves, noise cancelling headphones, and a bit of normal human resilience.

Don’t be so daft! How has a kitchen refit affected your physical and mental well-being? You were inconvenienced no doubt, but could have eaten take out or cold food, washed up in the bathroom sink, saved up the dirty laundry until the washing machine was back working and spent time in your bedrooms instead of the living room.
In whose universe would someone not expect to be inconvenienced when a kitchen is being replaced? I would have sorted out the rent issue beforehand - “LL, we would like a rent reduction for the duration of the refit as a result of the inconvenience”
”Don’t worry, there won’t be any inconvenience”
”in that case we would like you to agree to a retrospective reduction should we be unable to cook, do laundry or have full use of the living room”
“Ok, if that happens I’ll knock £100 per tenant off”

@Twiglets1 how would you know what the going rate is?

£3K is bloody ridiculous for presumably a 3 bed house

More likely there isn't a lot to rent so rents have been going up

If you're paying three thousand pounds every month for a house, you are not greedy

Look at all these wealthy people calling the op unreasonable

Bet none of you rent and a lot of you own your own BTL.

I don't think you're being unreasonable OP

Oh cmon, who thinks a kitchen can be replaced in a day,

I know OP isn’t complaining about the rent being 3k a month ( 1k each) but only about the kitchen refit.

3k a month wouldn’t be excessive for a 3 bed house in some expensive cities like London. @Casperthefriendlygh & her friends have chosen that house so presumably they don’t think the rent is “bloody ridiculous” compared to other 3 bed properties they could have rented instead in that area.

I don’t but I’m not her LL and I wouldn’t have implied that it would either.

If this was one of my kids (early/middle twenties) they’d know how long a kitchen takes to fit because we have a property business. But not all young people do - and it does sound like the OP is from a younger generation IMO.