Wallpaper in rented property

anotherpaul_2

Hi,

I did a search and didn't find anything to help, though I may have missed it.

My wife and I are currently looking to move to another rental property. Some of the places were considering have wallpaper in some of the rooms, and I'm worried that our 2 year old might damage it. I don't really have experience of mixing wallpaper and small children, so I don't know how much of a risk this is, but it certainly needs considering.

Obviously, if she significantly damages it, it would be our responsibility, since it's clearly beyond wear-and-tear. Presumably, the landlord would be within his rights to expect us to pay for re-papering the whole room (or rooms) - assuming they were in good repair to start with?

Is it likely to be prohibitively expensive to repair - much more than repainting, say? Should I not even consider renting these houses?

I guess this is one of those questions that's difficult to answer, but I'd still value people's thoughts on the issue.

ETA, in case it's relevant, we're talking about Wales.

Regards, Paul

laurel7172

Small children don't generally damage wallpaper in good repair by picking at it...but the slightest lift or curl and it becomes irresistible. The other risk is drawing...washable crayons are a wise investment in any case...whether they'd wash off paper would depend. Vinyl paper, probably yes. Paper paper...I doubt it.

niceguyed

I suppose there is more of a risk with wallpaper in that it is hard to wipe clean or repair when damaged.

It comes down to what is wear and tear and what is not. Wear and tear to me would be minor scuff marks, maybe a few small nicks in the wallpaper or plasterwork. Stuff you do yourself at home. As a landlord I would expect this wear and tear and budget for this as part of a normal maintenance cycle. I wouldn't want to be decorating every year though so would expect the tenant to look after my property as well.

As you have a small child accidents do happen. If he/she graffitied my newly papered wall then yes I would charge for it. Then again, I'd only maybe have a feature wall and the rest painted so it would be just one wall. However, if on leaving you'd been good tenants and the wallpaper was a few years old, then no I wouldn't charge.

If you had a good relationship with the landlord and the wallpaper and walls had taken a beating (beyond wear and tear) then if you offered to repair yourself and spend a few quid on some new wallpaper and was fairly skilled in putting it up then that would do.

It really is down to interpretation. The landlord can't claim betterment, but the occupiers can't mistreat the property.

It may be hard to limit your search based on how the rooms are decorated. A conversation with the landlord (if possible) prior to signing a tenancy agreement may be useful so you could get their view.

tbs624

niceguyed wrote: »

It comes down to what is wear and tear and what is not.

If the OP wants to get an understanding of fair wear and tear and how to deal with potential deposit disputes , he could look on the tenancy deposit sites under guides and documents (see mydeposits for example. All 3 schemes have had input to these guides)

niceguyed wrote: »

A conversation with the landlord (if possible) prior to signing a tenancy agreement may be useful so you could get their view.

Some LLs may of course view such a query as meaning that the potential T had a 2 year old who was specifically prone to scrawling on walls or ragging the paper off the wall. Even 2 year olds can understand the word "no" and "we don't do that" and, yes, I am a parent

If the worst comes to the worst just be upfront with LL - "sorry, my DD/DS has done x. Can we discuss how you would you like me to rectify this?"

Obviously when you move into a new rental you should ensure that any inventory represents an accurate record of the condition of the property at the start of the tenancy *before* you sign it ( and keep a copy). Take your own date-evidenced photos and number them to tie in with the relevant parts of the inventory for ease of reference.

fflump

children and pristinely decorated rental flats are a risky combination. When we were renting we had a 3, 2 and 6 myth old and while they did not draw on walls there were scratches from toys, mucky finger prints, dents from prams, toy cars, foreheads of frustrated parents, you name it. But we chose a flat which had not been decorated in years and was definitely of the 'shabby chic' style so a) the LL would find it impossible to track which damage was there already b) he didn't much care anyway and c) as a result we were able to relax and enjoy the property (a lovely victorian tenement.

So my advice is choose your rental carefully!

ognum

Many people moan and groan about landlords and magnolia walls and this is exactly the reason for both landlords and tenants that magnolia or another light colour is easy.

Tenant damages wall, quick coat of magnolia and it's sorted, I even leave the paint at the property then if the tenant wants to do the cover up they can and get their whole deposit back. if I have to do it then that is cheap and easy too and they get the majority of their deposit back. Whole house one colour, no messing.

same with boring carpets, may look boring but easy to replace one area!

anotherpaul_2

Thank you all for your comments. It sounds like we should avoid anything that's too pristine and try to make sure that the landlord isn't going to be too upset about it.

tbs624 wrote: »

Some LLs may of course view such a query as meaning that the potential T had a 2 year old who was specifically prone to scrawling on walls or ragging the paper off the wall. Even 2 year olds can understand the word "no" and "we don't do that" and, yes, I am a parent

I agree that they can, but it only take 30 seconds of distraction for something to happen. She drew on our patio doors with crayon (fortunately, easy to remove), even though we regularly tell her that she can only draw on paper. My wife says she remembers being proud of drawing on her bedroom wall, aged 6, even though she knew she wasn't supposed it. I'm not going to assume it'll never happen. I'd rather risk not the landlord getting the wrong idea then have them feel misled.

tbs624 wrote: »

Take your own date-evidenced photos and number them to tie in with the relevant parts of the inventory for ease of reference.

How would you date evidence them? I can think of ways to show that they are newer then a particular date (say, using an identifiable newspaper in the picture), but not to show that they are older than a date.

fflump wrote:

But we chose a flat which had not been decorated in years and was definitely of the 'shabby chic' style so ...

ognum wrote:

Many people moan and groan about landlords and magnolia walls and this is exactly the reason for both landlords and tenants that magnolia or another light colour is easy..

Yes, this is what we usually go for. Unfortunately, properties are sparse and good ones go quickly in the area we're looking (catchment area of a good school), so we may not be able to be as choosy as we might prefer.

Kind regards, Paul

tbs624

follow the guidelines on photo evidence in here

rentergirl

If the landlord knows there are kids in the flat, they might be more reasonable anyway (it's something to hope for.) But hope needs to be confirmed by discussing the situation. She will grow out of the drawing thing (when she understands that it causing problems) but landlords and tenants always have a different idea of wear and tear. If you stay for a long time (ie more than two years) the place is more likely to be redecorated. But landlords now seem to want tenants to leave behind a pristine surface of beige. Ask to paint it, then agree to put it back (although again, landlords used to give rent free weeks for tenants to redecorate.)

ognum

rentergirl wrote: »

If the landlord knows there are kids in the flat, they might be more reasonable anyway (it's something to hope for.) But hope needs to be confirmed by discussing the situation. She will grow out of the drawing thing (when she understands that it causing problems) but landlords and tenants always have a different idea of wear and tear. If you stay for a long time (ie more than two years) the place is more likely to be redecorated. But landlords now seem to want tenants to leave behind a pristine surface of beige. Ask to paint it, then agree to put it back (although again, landlords used to give rent free weeks for tenants to redecorate.)

It appears as usual nothing a landlord does is quite right for renter girl. offer to leave paint there, that is wrong,she expects a rent free time to redecorate!

At some point she will get to understand that even good landlords are running a buisness not acting as social entrepreneurs.

J_i_m

I would delete the issue of wallpaper completely. With the best will in the world with young children about then nothing is going to stay prestine be it innocent mishaps or deliberate naughtiness.

If probable extra wear n tear from younguns is an issue for you then you should ask the landlord/letting agent for their position on kids whist viewing the property.