Curtain Rail for a Recessed WIndow

[Matt]

Hello. I'm moving into a new place that has two windows set back from the bedroom wall. As I'm renting the landlord is not keen for me to put up a curtain rail over each window as it will need ot be screwed into the wall.

However, he suggested getting an extendable curtain rail that has an internal spring so it can go inside the recess and hold itself up by using the two sides inside the recess as support.

The curtains I own are fairly heavyweight ones (I have always ended up with south-facing rooms, so I like curtains that keep early morning sunlight out in the summer), and the only extendable curtain rails I have found are designed for lightweight curtains.

Now as the windows are small-ish, one of the curtains can go over each window, so that should reduce the weight somewhat.

However, if this is still too heavy, will I be able to find a curtain rail that can support my curtains but won't cause any damage to the current decor?

Kind Regards,

Matt

[mark.hannah]

IMHO the landlord is being unreasonable - if they making an issue over something so trivial I don't think you will see your deposit again!

Mark.

[Martin Pentreath]

I have to agree - that's utterly ridiculous! No curtains in the bedroom? He's mad.

The place is YOUR home for the next six or twelve months, it's not a hotel room. If he had any sense he would see that putting up curtain rails would be an improvement. In any event, I'm quite sure that no adjudicator would regard properly mounted curtain poles in a bedroom window as amounting to a basis for a deposit deduction.

By the way, he has put the deposit into one of the deposit protection schemes, hasn't he?

Cheers!

Martin

[Mary Fisher]

A hotel room would have curtains fitted.

I agree with everything which has been said. It's ridiculous. It could even be argued that curtain rails of some kind should be one of the fixtures.

Mary

[jgharston]

Tell the landlord to put curtain rails up. He's selling you a product of nonmerchantable quality.

(...and if my tenants are reading this, yes, the curtain rail's downstairs, I'll fit it over the weekend!)

-- JGH

[Matt]

I should point out that he does have some of those wooden blinds up at the moment, so there is some form of provision in that area. The problem is I'm somewhat of a light sleeper, and the blinds will let plenty of light in.

Kind Regards,

Matt

[stuart noble]

Exactly

[George]

Tell he's an ass.

What a load of bollocks,its been suggested you might have a right old ding dong getting your deposit back when you leave? my suggestion to you is photograph the place before moving in and make sure you photograph every wall and floor or better still video the place all over.

[George]

Why should you provide these? he should provide these and you hand them back when you leave. What a bleedin tosser he is.

[fido]

Why not just drill holes in his wall. When you leave take down *your* curtain rails and fill the holes with Polyfiller.

[Martin Pentreath]

Point taken, but what neither most landlords nor tenants seem to understand is that it is in the nature of a tenancy that the place

*ceases to be his* for the duration of the tenancy. He has no more right to dictate the interior decor than he does to tell you what to eat for dinner or what to watch on the box! So long as you let him have the place back in good nick at the end, subject to reasonable wear and tear, he (or in fact the deposit protection scheme) must return your deposit. There is absolutely no need for you to ask him or even tell him that you're putting curtain poles up.

It's the same with clauses about no pets or no visitors without the landlords consent. They're unenfoceable. How you live in your home is up to you. If the cat ruins the carpets or your guests trash the kitchen then you are fiancially responsible for it. But it's not open to the landlord to prevent it.

Cheers!

Martin

[Owain]

Then you need something lightproof but lightweight - some blackout blind material held to the wooden blinds with clothespegs or bulldog clips perhaps.

But I agree, he should see that properly fitted curtain poles are an improvement to the property, if you agree they will be left when you leave.

Owain

[Anne Welsh Jackson]

If the windows open inwards - as many do - and a curtain pole is fitted, then the chances of the outside of the window ever getting cleaned are negligible, short of dismantling the curtain pole...

[PJ]

If the blinds provide adequate privacy then

be a cheaper alternative.