Am I obligated to paint my rental house?

N79

kitty-kat wrote: »

I'm pretty surprised to hear that I may have to paint whole walls, or even whole rooms! Isn't there any law here stating that a landlord has some obligation to repaint at certain intervals? I know in California (where I'm from) landlords have a responsibility to repaint every few years, and there is some assumption that they will have to repaint and replace carpet. Surely a landlord can't paint a house once, and then through various tenants, have it painted to a new standard forever?

You misunderstand. If you had not damaged the walls by making holes in them then you would have no obligation to paint anything. Your obligation is to return the property in the same condition less fair wear and tear. You have no right to put up picture hooks in a property without the LL's agreement and without making good if that is what the LL wants.

You have made holes in the walls. If the LL requires it you must make good the damage. That means returning the walls to a solid condition and all painted in one colour. If you can do this by simply spot painting then great. If spot painting makes the walls splodgy then tough - the whole wall will need repainting.

And no - the LL has no obligation to repaint the house as that is not one of the LL's repairing obligations. Of course, it is hard to relet a property without paint on the walls.

kitty-kat_5

Don't people normally put pictures up? That is part of living in a place, and not an unreasonable thing to do. Actually the landlord did say that we could hang pictures, but this was a verbal agreement. Does that change anything?

N79

kitty-kat wrote: »

Don't people normally put pictures up? That is part of living in a place, and not an unreasonable thing to do. Actually the landlord did say that we could hang pictures, but this was a verbal agreement. Does that change anything?

Its not unreasonable to put pictures up but if you do so in a way that damages the property then it is also not unreasonable for the T to put the damage right.

As for the agreement, it only changes things if your LL agreed that you did not have to make good the damage.

nikki_angel

You may want to check your contract as it may already have a clause in there to say no changes to the wall. Verbal agreements are tough as some unscrupulous LL may not like the look of the picture hooks etc and deny ever having the conversation. Check your contract and see what it says.

Chris2685

Even if they said you had to paint it, you would probably be better off just paying someone to do it. If you do it yourself, they would probably just moan it wasn't done properly and all your work would be for nothing anyway...

olly300

kitty-kat wrote: »

I'm pretty surprised to hear that I may have to paint whole walls, or even whole rooms! Isn't there any law here stating that a landlord has some obligation to repaint at certain intervals? I know in California (where I'm from) landlords have a responsibility to repaint every few years, and there is some assumption that they will have to repaint and replace carpet. Surely a landlord can't paint a house once, and then through various tenants, have it painted to a new standard forever?

There is no such law in the UK.

You should never repaint, change carpets or change anything in a property that includes putting in picture hooks without getting the landlords approval in writing.

That way if there is a dispute you can prove the landlord agreed to it.

Nixer

kitty-kat wrote: »

Don't people normally put pictures up? That is part of living in a place, and not an unreasonable thing to do.

I agree, but we decided not to when we first moved to rented in 2005 because we knew we would have to fill in and repaint and it would have been too much hassle. I do miss it though - our pictures (plus most of my books and ornaments as we can't put shelves up for the same reason) are still packed up in the spare room. We go and look at them occasionally as we've forgotten what we have.

madeupname1

kitty-kat wrote: »

Don't people normally put pictures up? That is part of living in a place, and not an unreasonable thing to do. Actually the landlord did say that we could hang pictures, but this was a verbal agreement. Does that change anything?

Understood, but it does cause damage to the walls, particularly if you have successive tenants putting up pictures in different spots. This cannot be covered up properly with the odd touch up and quickly looks shabby. I put up some picture hooks around the property and ask tenants to stick to these positions. If they wish to put up further pictures and it damages the walls / decor they will have to compensate for that. However, if a tenant is in situe for a long term (i.e. years) this sort of things tends to matter less.

LillythePink

Surely it depends on what is in your lease.

We have lived in three rental properties, the first needed decorating when we moved in - so we did it in colours that we liked, and when we moved out, we just cleaned it - there was nothing wrong with the decor or state of the walls.

For the last two places, we have painted from top to bottom to brighten it up - the houses were done in magnolia anyway and we didn't change them, so a few cheap big tubs of paint from B&Q, a bit of work and they were done. The management company of the first place we freshened up was surprised that we did it, but grateful!

In all of our leases, it has been written in that we have to get the carpets cleaned - we did get people in, but that was for ease rather than cost - not that it cost a lot anyway (£90) each time, so the money spent was well worth it.

We did have to make good any damage - and that did include filling in any picture hook holes etc

tbs624

N79 wrote: »

Talk to your LL first.

OP - here is your best advice. Invite the LL round at a mutually convenient time a fortnight before you are due to move out so that any issues such as this can be discussed. After you have had 4 and a half years in situ the LL may just say that he'll be redecorating anyway.