Short-term Tenancy question

My eldest daughter has completed her first year at University and during that period was a joint-tenant (1 of 5) sharing a house on a 1 year tenancy. The property was advertised as 5 bedroom/2 bathroom etc.

However for the whole period of their tenancy, they have not had use of the shower in one of the bathrooms. When they initially moved in, they advised the letting agent and a plumber was sent round - his diagnosis was that the system would never work properly due to the low mains pressure (or similar). The shower either didn't work at all, or when it did, there was just a trickle of scalding hot water for a few seconds. This issue dragged on, with the tenants writing (emails) to the letting agents over a periods of weeks/months - however as nothing was done or even attempted, the tenants got used to managing with just 1 working shower between 5.

Horse, stable door comes to mind but now they have come to the end of their tenancy, is there anything they can do?

More than anything, they are concerned that this property will be rented out to another group of unsuspecting students who will fall into the same trap. (Due to the property's location and proximity to the campus, it is very likely that it will be rented by students). My daughter and her housemates have found another property and have hopefully learned a lesson from this episode.

Any advice or suggestions would be welcome. Thanks.

I think the short answer is "no", unfortunately.

The tenants presumably could have (and probably still could) make a claim for damages but not sure whether it would be worth it.

If it's squirting scalding water you, it's a health and safety matter. The council should be interested but probably won't be. I'd report to the student union housing people and send a recorded delivery letter of complaint to the agent.

Not sure you can achieve any more.

Those lessons learned living in shitholes as a student are quite important.

What she should have done is be really organised, really proactive, wrote letters, reported to relevant bodies, withheld rent etc.

But she didn’t because a, she was studying and having the time of her life like a normal young person and b, it was her first foray into this sort of thing and she probably (if like me at that age) didn’t have the knowledge or the confidence about how all this works.

What I’d do? Put it down to experience and move on. Make a claim now and you run the risk of teaching that the small claims court is there as an alternative to dealing with contentious issues at the time.

P.S. learning to put up with something that’s not ideal for a short space of time because it’s not worth the hassle is a brilliant life skill in itself.


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If the house was on an approved list provided by the university (which is a common state of affairs) there should be a feedback option to raise their concerns about the quality of the rental experience. That is the best way to reduce the likelihood of other students renting the house.

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Thanks for the feedback. Much as I thought, and another one for the "life experience" tally.

Yes, the lessons have been learned and will hopefully be used when it comes to any issues with the next rental.

Yes, seems a bit late now. Should have done something like withholding some of the rent at the time.

If you think that the availability of the shower was plainly part of the deal, why not bring a small claim for breach of contract?