UK Landlord Forum / Life

Good evening all!

Newbie here.
Purchasing our first rental - ex council house with 3 good sized bedrooms, kitchen and through lounge/diner. All needs modernising of course and new flooring etc etc.

The issue we mostly have is the incredibly tiny bathroom. It is only 1700 x 1372 and you can't even open the door. It currently has a shower in there and sink but the WC is across the hall.
Had the plumber in to confirm the most we can do is put a bath in place of the shower with a shower overhead.
The door will have to become a bi-fold or french door as you can't turn it around and have it opening into the hall as it's at the top of the stairs. No room for a pocket door either.
It adjoins the smallest bedroom which is a solid wall so we can't really pinch any from that room to make it larger.

The only other option is to add another single shower room and sink next to the WC room from the second bedroom. It would still leave it an ok size (small double - fine for kids) but my question to you much more experienced landlords, is should we even be worried about the fact the bathroom is so tiny??

We want to renovate it with the hope of a longer term tenant, so we want to make it as comfortable as possible.

Downstairs there is only one place for a 2nd WC but it's currently plumbed for a washing machine and has a low sloped ceiling (as it's under the stairs) so it's not an obvious choice.

Shall we just leave it tiny - maybe try and add a small sink to the WC room or add another single shower room and sink ?


thank you in advance for your thoughts....

I grew up in a house with just such a bathroom - an afterthought of a glorified cupboard at the top of the stairs. We went through the double-door years: the only ones my father could get in the right size were louvred jobs in orange pine. (This was back in the eighties). They were a bugger to dust an' all. Then there were the bi-fold years. To this day I still haven't encountered a bi-fold door that I didn't want to rip out and hurl in the nearest skip. They sort-of work when you first put them in but, unless you spend a fortune on them, they always seem to require regular fettling to work anything like properly - not ideal for a landlord, I dare say. In the end we just went back to a normal door that doesn't open all the way but is perfectly adequate. Inside there's a shower cubicle, WC and washbasin. My parents still live there and are perfectly happy with the layout: having the extra WC more than makes up for the lack of a bath, as far as they're concerned.

I think the very minimum you'd want is a WC independent of the bathroom (which you've got), including handwashing facilities (which you haven't, as yet). Ideally, people like a second WC but there are still plenty of properties around without one. I take it you've had a nose at the competition on Rightmove etc to see what properties in the rental range you're aiming for have. A good source of information is the rest of the street. Get talking to a few people and see how they've solved the problem, or even if they've found it a problem at all. Have a look along the backs of the houses and see how many have felt the need to extend.

Hi Simon,

thank you for the reply.
Indeed bi-folds seem to be a bit of a nightmare in terms of keeping them closed as well. I remember the louvre doors well, ha ha. Not very private!

I have read a blog where someone made slimline french doors - kind of like the louvre style but solid and with a proper closure. They are popular in the USA with en-suite and walk in wardrobes etc but I can still see an issue with them closing tightly so I will have to speak to a carpenter to see if they would really work. Pocket doors would be great but it has nowhere to slide into unfortunately. It's definitely a head scratcher!

We do want to add a second basin in somewhere so will sort that then at least 2 people can brush their teeth in the morning as you an only really fit one person in that bathroom.

Looked at other houses - many similar to this one and they have just left the bathroom as it is. I suppose the only other option is to take the second bedroom and put the bathroom there by the WC (where the soil pipe and drainage is anyway) then make the second bedroom larger by removing the old bathroom to compensate for making the third bedroom a box room. I wonder if families would prefer a larger bathroom and a smaller 3rd bedroom though over a good sized room and small bathroom. Guess we will find out when we come to put it up for rental and if it doesn't go quickly!

Kitchens and bathrooms sell houses. Whether 'sell' means to buy or to rent... those rooms are the focus areas. Other rooms are just... rooms. I would sacrifice what I could to either get a bigger, or another, bathroom.

My pet peeve is downstairs bathrooms. I zoom past those in the listings when I find that out.

Ask the neighbours what they've done.

Ok thank you all. The house hasn't gone through yet but I will ask the neighbours if I see them.