Landlord refusing to allow us to paint

p_joker

poppy10 wrote: »

Even so, what are they going to do? I have always put pictures up and painted/wallpapered in rented properties even when the contract stipulates this is not allowed. If you are paying your rent on time the LL is unlikely to do anything about it, particularly if you have actually improved the property.

does your LL ever come for a nosy about? we painted our bathroom a red/orange colour wouldn't be to every ones taste it was dark blue before and kept growing mould on the walls so we bought some bathroom/ kitchen paint and I didn't want to go with the same colour, I was sure they would hate it but they said they liked it on last visit makes a change lol

princeofpounds

The big problem here is that you have no idea why the landlord has said no. The agents have been less than helpful as intermediaries by refusing to ask for or give a reason. If it were me in your situation, I would contact the landlord direct to understand what their concern is. It maybe be addressable, or it may be totally unreasonable, but at least then you would know where you stand. I'm sure that half the time agents don't pass on messages, or even the right messages.

happy35

I rented a house about 16 years ago that was all magnolia, we werent allowed to change the colour of the walls or paintwork. I went on to purchase a house that needed complete overhaul and the 70s fashion coloured paint was a nightmare

In my experience most rental agreements dont want you to paint walls etc, bright colours are very hard to cover when you do leave the property and would slow down getting new tenants in

N79

princeofpounds wrote: »

The big problem here is that you have no idea why the landlord has said no. The agents have been less than helpful as intermediaries by refusing to ask for or give a reason. If it were me in your situation, I would contact the landlord direct to understand what their concern is. It maybe be addressable, or it may be totally unreasonable, but at least then you would know where you stand. I'm sure that half the time agents don't pass on messages, or even the right messages.

Excellent advice for PoP here. We don't know why the LL has concerns. It could be that they allowed painting in the past and the property was damaged. It could be something else. Whatever it is, with a discussion with the LL it may be possible to address the issue.

For what it is worth, and as a possible guide for current and future LL's reading this thread who are unsure how to approach this issue, and following several Ts whose idea of painting was very different to my own (not painting behind furniture, woodwork covered in marks, ceilings and carpets covered in marks and dark colours which take at least 3 and sometimes 5 coats of paint to overpaint etc) I no longer allow Ts to paint my properties.

However, I do allow long term Ts to select the colour when I am painting their homes as part of my maintenance cycle (although I retain a right of veto over their choice - which in reality means they are limited to soft / neutralish colours - no bright reds or dark browns / black).

If a T wants new colours at any other time then I also allow any T to pay to have the property decorated by my decorator as and when they wish (subject to the same colour veto above).

Some may consider this approach harsh and unfair to Ts. Tough!

dizziblonde

After years of renting I never want to see a magnolia wall again!

Seriously though - when I rented I had landlords who had a point blank ban on painting (and magnolia hell) and ones that were fine as long as it wasn't anything outlandish - people vary. Also had one very dark lounge that the landlord had put really dark wallpaper in and it wasn't doing the property any favours (took him a long while to relet it when I moved out and I'm sure it was part of the reason) but his property - his choice.

Generally I've found a few nice pictures (I had some very colourful wall hangings and the like) were enough to get over the magnolia or white in any room - and at least the decor goes with whoever moves in's furniture I guess.

Incidentally since I moved and bought - own house still has fairly pale neutral walls (vanillas and biscuit - but not anything named magnolia!) - but with feature walls painted to break it up, so I haven't exactly gone ballistic with the paint pots when given the chance!

Had a cracking house as a student - magnolia (of course) but she'd had new windows fitted and they'd mangled the walls putting them in... she said she'd pay for the paint to patch them up, but not to repaint the house totally - so we were left with (and expected to do - how naive we were back then) a dirty magnolia wall, with a clean magnolia stripe around the windows... this was the same house we ended up with carbon monoxide poisoning, was infested with ants, had doors that closed in the middle but were so warped they were 3 inches open at the top and bottom... awesome place!