Landlord demanding we need to have walls professionally painted

jelajelavic

Hi,

I live in a shared (with friends) private rented house and have handed in our notice after a year and 3 months as one of us is buying. There are some black marks on the wall caused by people brushing the walls as they've walked past. There is no damage to the walls except these marks and the odd scrape and everything else in the house is in the state as when we started renting.

The landlady is asking us to have the walls professionally re-painted but I'm not sure if we have to or if the above is covered by "fair wear and tear" (which is allowed as per the tenancy agreement). So basically I don't know what is considered fair wear and tear which seems judgmental and if were obliged to have it professionally repainted.

Our contract says:

"(5.1) Not to damage the Property and Contents or make any alteration or addition to the Property without the written permission of the Landlord not to be unreasonably refused
(5.2) To keep the interior of the Property and the Contents in at least as good and clean condition and repair as they were at the commencement of the tenancy, with fair wear and tear excepted, and to keep the Property reasonably aired and warmed "

Thanks for any help in advance

pawlala

sounds like professional wear and tear to me.

moromir

Black marks and scrapes to the wall are damage, not fair wear and tear in my opinion.

Fair wear and tear would be say, an area of paint bleaching in the sunlight.

chappers

pawlala wrote: »

sounds like professional wear and tear to me.

Depends on the marks, to be honest I would expect the walls to be mark free, if they can't be washed off I would consider that damage.My hall stairs and landing haven't been painted in 5 years and have no black marks on the walls.
The next question is was the house imacculate when you moved in did it look like it had been freshly painted and more importantly was there a signed inventory taken.
Your LL can't ask for betterment. this means for example if there was something in the property that had a 5 year life span and you damaged it 3 years into it's life , your LL could only claim against you for 2/5 of it's value as you had only deprived him of 2 years worth of use.

BitterAndTwisted

"There are some black marks on the wall caused by people brushing the walls as they've walked past. There is no damage to the walls except these marks and the odd scrape".

That's damage and your landlord could be fully justified in charging you a proportion of the cost of redecoration if you choose not to do it yourselves. I suggest you wash the wall/s down with Sugar Soap and see if you can remove the marks first before you contemplate painting.

What did the original dual-signed check-inventory have to say about the condition of the paintwork?

jelajelavic

I need to double check but I don't think an inventory was ever taken in the end. The house was newly refurbished and painted so the walls were clean and unmarked and is unfurnished.

We will try to clean the walls first but we have the paint that was used so if they needed repainting we don't mind re-painting, but I don't think the LL can demand it to be professional as that is not stated in the contract?

chappers

jelajelavic wrote: »

We will try to clean the walls first but we have the paint that was used so if they needed repainting we don't mind re-painting, but I don't think the LL can demand it to be professional as that is not stated in the contract?

That is correct, contract or not, just make sure you do a good job, they could justifiably come after you if you do a sub-standard job or make a mess of anything else such as the carpet.

The fact that the place was newly refurbed and decorated would probably stand up even in the absence of an inventory

jelajelavic

Yes we're fine with repainting ourselves (over refusing on the basis of no inventory) and would do it carefully but we'd rather not use a professional painter if we don't have to.

It seems that what I have described is above fair wear and tear so just wanted to see where we stood on re-painting ourselves vs a professional.

DRP

jelajelavic wrote: »

I need to double check but I don't think an inventory was ever taken in the end. The house was newly refurbished and painted so the walls were clean and unmarked and is unfurnished.

We will try to clean the walls first but we have the paint that was used so if they needed repainting we don't mind re-painting, but I don't think the LL can demand it to be professional as that is not stated in the contract?

Get your mate to repaint it.

You know, your mate who is a painter by trade (just started up his business last week ) and who will give you a receipt for doing the work to his 'professional' standard.

ognum

In houses I let I always leave a tin of the paint usually magnolia!! The tenants always need to touch up and I'd rather they did it than we got into an arguement about repainting.

Check the colour with the landlord first!

maninthestreet

Were the walls painted professionally before you moved in? The landlady can insist you make good any 'damage' to the paint on the walls, but cannot demand 'betterment'.