UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi all,I have a 3 bed semi detached house with one bathroom and tenants are complaining there should be a bath to meet current regs.
There is a shower only along with basin and wc,would anyone know where I stand Thanks in advance

Which regulation are they quoting? If they can't point you in the direction of the legislation then they're probably talking out of their arses (which, to be fair, is easier in a shower than in a bath).

I take it the shower and other sanitary facilities are in good working order and there wasn't a bath in there when they moved in?

Nice 1 yes when they viewed the property it was exactly the same(shower only)everything is working correctly in the bathroom,only problem I might have is I have no contract with them and have now learned never to do this again

How come you have no contract? You can do that now surely? The stuff about the bath is nonsense.Some of mine only have showers,and there would be no space for baths.

Unfortunately was a bit new to the game but are in process of getting one signed up,thanks for the info on the shower,must be a bit of BS....

Thanks Simon and Heavy

Quote from: Matt Smith on July 04, 2020, 11:20:49 AMHi all,I have a 3 bed semi detached house with one bathroom and tenants are complaining there should be a bath to meet current regs.

But you need to tease this out of them... only when they are convinced, either way, will this be put to bed... or bath. And you should share what they tell you with us... it is of interest.

Do you disagree Hippogriff that the shower is sufficient,I will share the outcome later Thanks

I'm saying, thus far, you only have opinions (likely valid) to go on. The Tenants have obliquely referenced "current regs"... best to find out (and not from a forum, ideally) what that might be... as the Tenant raised it, get them to clarify what they meant - you can't guess. Once you see something in black and white then you can assess it. If the Tenant fails to produce anything... well... that's a good answer.

Yes fully agree,I'm yet to find anything in black and white to help the situation tho,which would suggest a shower is fine and within the regs
Thanks Hippogriff

Am I talking a different language to you? I'm genuinely wondering if that's what's going on here. I'm saying your Tenants have suggested to you that it's not meeting current regulations (and you can either accept that or reject it, but you want to take a position that's right!)... so why are you searching and running around and trying to find something in black and white? Put the ball back in their court and get them to provide you with the text of the current regulations they're referring to - then you're all looking at the exact same thing and you can collectively argue the toss at that point. The absence of something being specifically prohibited doesn't necessarily mean that it's, therefore, acceptable, right? I know we had the Ten Commandments and all that...

All that's happened at the moment is someone has made a claim saying something is a certain way, and you have no proper comeback to that assertion. In that case - don't you effectively agree with them? 

Even these aren't as black and white as you'd hope... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments

Your the one who mentioned black and white brains,if you can understand the same language

Quote from: Matt Smith on July 07, 2020, 02:52:46 PMYour the one who mentioned black and white brains,if you can understand the same language

What?

Let's cut to the chase... in the last few days have you made any progress in understanding what "current regs" your Tenant is referring to, by asking them what current regs they're referring to?

None of the landlords on here who have responded have a clue what these so-called regs. are.I would take quite a bit of pleasure in pretending to take his claim seriously,and asking him to please urgently provide chapter and verse,as you take your responsibilities regarding health and safety very seriously. It will come as a nasty shock to the builders of some new sheltered flats near here who have only installed shower rooms.I must let them know.

The rule of thumb I go by as that people who say "I know my rights!" ... generally don't.

Having said that, if they come back with Section 15(c) of the Horizontal Ablutions Act (England & Wales) 2019, we're going to look like a right bunch of Charlies!

I dunno, because that Act would be quite new, and very specialised, and it's hard to keep on top of everything. I do hope the OP isn't furiously Googling as I type this...

The intention behind asking the Tenants is not to challenge them... it's to find out what they believe and how they came to believe it. Obviously they decided to rent it as-is... it wasn't like they missed the absence of a bath - so something has changed... most likely in their attitude, right? But buyer's remorse usually comes on quickly... and I'm inferring they're new in... so could just be trouble-causing, or there may be something deeper here - angling for a rent reduction? A gesture...

Thank you men,asked the current tenants yesterday to give me something regarding the legislation they've seen regarding the holy bath,and yes in black and white

Good stuff, let's react to what comes back...