Wall cleaning - end of tenancy

milliebear00001

Hiya

I rent a new build and have already repainted a few walls that just got unbearably filthy (I have two kids). Cleaning the walls has proved nearly impossible due to the cheap paint used by the builders! My house is all magnolia so not too difficult to colour match - the paint is usually a good match if you paint the whole wall, which is what I did. I plan to repaint the hall and kitchen completely before I move out and expect any other marks to be put down to fair wear and tear.

poppysarah

You could clean the walls and if paint comes off then it could be considered fair wear and tear and then the issue really is that the paint and surface have not been prepeared properly.

Paint that rubs off really easily isn't very practical in a house to be used by human beings.

Doozergirl

As a veteran of wall cleaning!

Paint often does come off with wall cleaning but if it coes off easily then it generally means it's cheap and they've had to use lots of layers to get it to coat properly, meaning that if you use a sponge and water, despite paint coming off, I've not had it have a major difference.

If it does come off then just touch up those areas which really must be considered fair wear and tear.

If it's not been bad then we have painted the walls with another quick coat, without cutting in, to freshen it up. If it has been bad, we've paid to have it done properly ourselves - it's going to cost me less than it costs when the LL has added their cut :mad:

barnaby-bear

milliebear00001 wrote: »

Hiya

I rent a new build and have already repainted a few walls that just got unbearably filthy (I have two kids). Cleaning the walls has proved nearly impossible due to the cheap paint used by the builders! My house is all magnolia so not too difficult to colour match - the paint is usually a good match if you paint the whole wall, which is what I did. I plan to repaint the hall and kitchen completely before I move out and expect any other marks to be put down to fair wear and tear.

The paint in new builds is specifically only supposed to last 6 months - it's a special powdery temporary paint designed to let the plaster dry. They tell you when you buy one to expect to repaint in 6 months.

poppysarah

S'funny my plasterer told me to let it dry properly (Up to 6 weeks if you can) and then dilute the first coat of paint and then when thats dry paint properly over it. Scrubs ok now.

we painted my study "chocolate milkshake" which looks remarkably like the colour of plaster when it's wet...

orangeslimes

back when i was in a flat at uni my friend touched up our walls with tippex- which worked quite well - although i think it helped the wallpaper was textured and needs to be white paint.

Doozergirl

orangeslimes wrote: »

back when i was in a flat at uni my friend touched up our walls with tippex- which worked quite well - although i think it helped the wallpaper was textured and needs to be white paint.

Do you think that being off your faces may have helped?

kunekune

We're in the same boat. We'll do what we can (children, hands, etc, not kind on new build paint) and then prepare for a battle. The paint on the woodwork has just sort of worn off from people holding bannisters! There might also be a battle over the carpet, which was very poor quality. We'll get it cleaned professionally, but it's not going to look new any more.

Lip_Stick

Would you really lose some of your deposit because of dirty walls and the fact that they needed a lick of paint?

Walls need to be painted every so often, so it's general wear and tear, it's not damage. I read or watched something where a landlord wanted to go through the courts for money because her house needed painting after tennants left. She got told to take a flying leap because giving the place a re-paint should be standard.

milliebear00001

kunekune wrote: »

We're in the same boat. We'll do what we can (children, hands, etc, not kind on new build paint) and then prepare for a battle. The paint on the woodwork has just sort of worn off from people holding bannisters! There might also be a battle over the carpet, which was very poor quality. We'll get it cleaned professionally, but it's not going to look new any more.

Yes, our glosswork is pretty poor quality too, and has chipped in places. I might 'touch up' the worst of these. Our carpet isn't too bad as it was a good quality one, but it's cream so I've had to pay for it o be cleaned every six monthsish. It definitely doesn't look new anymore, but why would it - it isn't new anymore! The LL shouldn't expect to get the property back in the same sate - fair wear and tear needs to be taken into account - but obviously, that's a bit of a grey area!