Re-decorated private rented property without permission

ineedsomeinfo

Moved into a flat 4 weeks ago and asked the day we were moving in if we could re decorate the spare room as were are expecting a baby in sept. I had phoned about 3 or 4 times and the reply i kept getting was that the landlord was still thinking about it. Now my fiancee is due in two weeks and i was about to start back at work after taking time off for the house move, so i went ahead and decorated the spare room and put a fresh lick of paint in the living room. Now i told the letting agents when i asked about re decorating that i would, at my own expense return everything to how it was when we moved in, when the tenancy agreement expires. I even offered to sign a contract saying this. Now i have been told that the landlord wants to visit the property next week as he hasn't seen the flat in 2 years as he lives abroad. Now my tenancy agreement states the permission should be asked for and if not, then the tennent will incur charges to revert the property back to original condition at the end of the tenancy agreement. Now i took this as meaning exactly what i had stated to the letting agent when i asked about decorating in the first place. Don't get me wrong i know it was wrong to do it without permission, but i'm sure people can understand that my first baby is due in two weeks and i was having to go back to work, so if i didn't do it at that point then i wouldn't have been able to decorate the room at all. The house looks great and all done to a high standard, only painted the walls btw, nothing else. Now what can the landlord do if he isn't understanding about it, can he evict us? Please can someone help. Thanks

sharpee

If you just painted the walls the same colour he might not even notice.

I have to admit when we moved into our current rented hosue I gave most the walls a fresh lick of paint as they were badly scuffed.

I think most LL are concerned that tenants might either do a bad job or paint the property really hidious colours.

I'm sure you'll be fine.

Ankatden

Showed you post to DH and he said would love you as a tenant, he had someone recently who repainted a room and made a bit of a mess on some door frames but was a good tenant and he looked on it as having to redecorate anyway so he let it slide.

Its let through a letting agency and both him and them apply a reasonableness test as if tenant has generally been a good one, pays on time and doesn't take the P with spurious call out for tiny trivial matters then he wouldn't comment on it. In another house with same LA he said the tenants removed the carpert and put down a pretty decent wooden floor, LA was annoyed because permission not asked but tenants have been there 3 years and do look after the place and improves it so tenant got told they should have asked but that was it. Most LLs act reasonably with reasonable tenants is his comment.

kerri_gt

We were in a flat for 8yrs and in that time I repainted the bathroom (from pink :eek: to a nice neutral natural), the hallway and the bedroom (again...loved the wallpaper boarder at the top of the wall...but ...:eek: lol!) I also repainted the living room the same colour it was and replaced the curtains and venetian blinds in the bedroom. I did take the curtains with me when we moved, but replaced them with some equally as acceptable. In that time, the landlord replaced the bathroom floor due to a leak, the fridge/freezer as it broke, and the sofas as one arm broke - we did all the leg work choosing the new ones to an agreed budget, made the inital payment for them (were reimbursed of course!) and arranged for the old ones to be taken away.... when we moved out LL actually said thank you for leaving the place in such good order.

So long as you have done a decent job, and haven't painted anything a truly offensive colour I am fairly sure it will be fine. After all, LL has just had two rooms painted for free and with the rental market so competitive atm, LL need to keep properties in good order and any free decoration is seen as a bonus I think.

Best of luck with the new arrival

clutton_2

As a LL i often cannot recall the colour of the walls in various houses as different tenants have decorated and i dont always need to redecorate in between..

if your lL has not seen it for 2 years he may not even remember what color it was .. see if he notices...

Ankatden

clutton wrote: »

As a LL i often cannot recall the colour of the walls in various houses as different tenants have decorated and i dont always need to redecorate in between..

if your lL has not seen it for 2 years he may not even remember what color it was .. see if he notices...

We did remember the scummy tenant who painted the bedroom pink and never paid the rent

tbs624

If you are a "good" T and you have done a decent job of the painting, I agree with the others that it's unlikely that the LL will be over concerned. Take the opportunity to point it out to him and seek his retrospective agreement.

jroberts1962

so long as the landlord is reasonable then i doubt they will mind, I have had tenants do the same in one of my flats. I was annoyed that they had not asked but it looked great and the couple were very apologetic so I told them it was okay but that they should ask me about things in the future. Legally though if the landlord does want to be difficult you will probably have to submit as its in the agreement.