Decision report 201103719

Summary
Mrs C was unhappy because the housing association who own the property where she lives were installing new kitchens as part of a refurbishment programme, but were refusing to do so in her property because she had installed a range cooker which was not a standard sized appliance.

The association had also told her that they would not continue to maintain the existing kitchen that had been installed 15 years earlier, as they would not be able to source replacements parts. She was particularly unhappy as she said that other tenants in the area with range cookers had had new kitchens installed.

We found that the association had notified all tenants that as part of the forthcoming kitchen replacement programme, the minimum requirements were to ensure space for standard sized appliances. We found that Mrs C had removed a cupboard and part of a worktop to install her cooker and had not obtained permission to do so, which was in fact in breach of her tenancy agreement.

The association acknowledged that in an earlier phase of the kitchen replacement programme their designer had met with tenants and developed individual layouts but said that this had led to difficulties with new incoming tenants. As a result, the association had decided that in all future phases, only standard appliances would be accommodated in the new kitchen layouts.

We found that the association had acted reasonably in this matter and we did not uphold the complaint.