UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi. I have recently rented a room in London through the spareroom website. I have rented one bedroom within a 3 bed house in London, taking over the tenancy from one girl. I did view the room in person before moving in but at that time it was still occupied by the previous tenant. There was no obvious smell of cigarettes as I think they just made sure the windows were open and sprayed air freshener. The room was advertised by one of the housemates as a non smoking house - the options 'smoking not allowed' and 'housemates are non smokers' were selected. I decided to view the house based on these factors. Now I have moved in to the room and it stinks of cigarettes. The housemate who advertised the room who still lives here has now told me that the tenant whos room I have took over was a smoker and smoked in the room regularly. Ive deep cleaned everything in the room that I can and it still stinks. The bed in the room is a divan bed and I think it is the bed and mattress that the smell has clung to
Am I unreasonable for being really annoyed at this? I feel trapped in a room that stinks and I feel i've been misled. I'm trying to figure out what my options are. Would asking for a new bed be unreasonable?

Thanks

Nothing is unreasonable, if done in the right way... are you dealing with an Agent or a Landlord? Is there someone who can come and assess the situation along with you? The trick is in asking / requesting rather than demanding or kicking-off... or getting technical - "I know my rights..." etc. - you might be able to see, quickly, how reasonable the other side is then. I would ask you to remember that the 'rules' of the house say "no smoking"... so the reality here is that the Tenant who left was the one that broke the rules, and the owner of the property (Landlord) or their Agent could easily be unaware of this, or the after-effect, certainly the impact it is having on you... so start-out being nice, it is not a weakness to be nice, but avoid being threatening or overly fractious... it doesn't mean you have to be a doormat, though... and the best thing about renting is that you can vote with your feet. You'll need to decide - what's the best for you if you can't get satisfaction... accept the situation and move-on, or even invest in a replacement bed yourself (if that will immediately make you feel better and cost you a lot less than moving). Pragmatism is what we all need and what many of us lack.

I undersstand what you're saying completely and I agree that the landlord or agency are not to blame (its the agency i'm dealing with). My issue is that the housemate who advertised the room advertised it as a no smoking household and advertised that smoking is not allowed. As soon as I move in the first thing she acknowledges is that she knows the room smells bad as the previous tenant smoked all the time in it.
I just feel like it was quite misleading as I specifically looked for a non smoking household.

Smells linger in carpets and soft furnishings.I would have the windows open all day if you can bear it,then go over all with Febreze for Fabric.Include the mattress,then pop on a new mattress protector. Cigarette smoke is far easier to erase than curry in my experience,and don't get me started on uncastrated tomcat pee! If that is not enough,you would be advised to move. 

Quote from: Lucie101 on October 07, 2019, 11:58:09 AMMy issue is that the housemate who advertised the room advertised it as a no smoking household and advertised that smoking is not allowed.

Think about this...

It could all be true.

It could be a non-smoking household. It could be now. It could always have been intended that way.

It was advertised that smoking is not allowed. That could be true too. Smoking is not allowed. Either now or always. The previous Tenant could've left because of their inability to follow this rule.

There could be no deception here, as such... the reason we are allowed to do viewings before taking on properties or rooms is to check we're happy with it. It may be that this is a learning exercise for you - doesn't help you now - but when viewing rooms in the future you could sniff more aggressively, or even ask the question - "was the previous occupant a smoker?"

Sometimes there isn't a smoking gun.

See what I did there?