Decorating rental properties - who does it?

Snow_Dog

It depends on the tenant the landlord and the length of occupancy.

I know a student let in Bournemouth that gets redecorated pretty much top to bottom each year by the LL, ready for the next years intake.

I know people who rent long term who do their own decorating.

Others who mix it up and they do some but rely on the LL to do more major redecoration.

I dont think that there are any hard and fast rules, it just depends on the tenant/LL relationship.

Gorgeous_George

kingkano wrote: »

Think of that from the tenants view now. They might never have done any painting before. Why should they provide labour if they dont know what they are doing? Never realising the whole while that 1 drip of paint and their LL will keep the deposit....

This is basically why its rare that these kind of deals happen. Tenants don't trust LL and vice-versa. Instead tenants live in a magnolia prison.

No-one said the tenant should do the painting. If they are not competent with a paintbrush, they can hire a decorator just as much as a LL can. It is their home that wants the work.

The deal is quite straight forward. You rent the house and agree to return in the same condition that you enter (minus fair wear and tear). If you cannot agree to that, ask the LL for a revised agreement or go elsewhere.



GG

lynzpower

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

No-one said the tenant should do the painting. If they are not competent with a paintbrush, they can hire a decorator just as much as a LL can. It is their home that wants the work.

The deal is quite straight forward. You rent the house and agree to return in the same condition that you enter (minus fair wear and tear). If you cannot agree to that, ask the LL for a revised agreement or go elsewhere.



GG

You seem tocontracdict yourself there GG- or maybe im missing something

either the property needs/wants work at the tenant can do it to thier cost

or they rent it and return in the same condition. ( ie not repainted, new bathroom etc)

Id love to spend a bit on this house (garden mainly) but the LA ids having none of it.

mind you i read oncee on here once about someone who had put in a new bathroom and repainted ( ages ago now) and then the LL saw theyd done it, gave them notice and sold it - obviolsy a brand new bathroom and refurb made it muhc more marketable.

Mrs_pbradley936

Guy_Montag wrote: »

One of the things I find most depressing about renting is having to live in a painfully magnolia flat. The point of neutral colours is that a prospective buyer can look on the place as a blank canvas for their own ideas, but since I can't impose my own ideas on the place I live, it's just bland.

There is a reason for that. It means that when you have a change over of tenants you can just whip around the rooms with a roller and not have to cut in the ceiling, skirting, light switches etc.

I redecorate at tenancy change overs and one chap who has been renting from me for 5 years had his done after 3 years when he went away for a week. It suited us both.

lynzpower

magnolia is clean and generally inoffensive. Im perfectly fine with it. Much better than if LLs had jumped on the bandwagon of black which was all the rage last year.

Guy_Montag

lynzpower wrote: »

magnolia is clean and generally inoffensive. Im perfectly fine with it. Much better than if LLs had jumped on the bandwagon of black which was all the rage last year.

Mrs p. that's what my landlords did apparently - floor to ceiling, doors, even the bathroom tiles have been painted magnolia. I'm not suggesting anything rash like black, but maybe an off-white blue or green or even a slighlt darker colour.

olly300

silvercar wrote: »

Landlord decorates before tenancy, tenant during tenancy.

If the tenancy went on for 5+ years, landlord could pay for redecoration.

Tennat needs to return the property in same condition less wear and tear, so odd coloured rooms painted by tenants would cause a problem.

I lived in two properties where I redecorated.

The first one had odd coloured rooms so far as in one room had a wall 2 shades of green, another wall that was 70' orange and a third wall that was yellow. My flatmate, a friend and myself repainted the entire flat in colours we liked. We chose light and deep blues, and deep reds because of the large size of the rooms and the light in the rooms. The letting agents weren't bothered and in fact when we both moved out they got replacement tenants very quickly.

Another place I just painted my bedroom cream (that's what it said on the tin) due to the fact the window was surrounded by trees and bushes which gave the room a green glow. The landlord actually checked before I painted it what colour I was going to use as a previous tenant had painted their bedroom brown.

In both cases I paid for the paint myself and the LL and LA asked if someone had done some painting before hand, and checked the results.

I do have a friend who painted a house they moved into and the landlord paid for the paint. The paint was magnolia by agreement. A housemate painted their own bedroom yellow but they had to pay for that paint themselves and again the landlord checked the colour before they painted the room.

Lots of landlords use white paint and this is actually harder to live with than magnolia paint especially if you are renting a large place with lots of light as it can be quite cold.

BTW white and magnolia paint are very cheap and you can get it in large amounts which is obviously why most landlords use it.:D

franklee

Well so long as the place is clean and neutral I'm happy. I rent unfurnished so by the time I've moved my furniture in it feels like home anyway. Like a previous poster, I'd rather pay for my own soft furnishings, curtains, rugs, lamps etc. to make the place homely that way I can take them with me. My main priority is that everything should be in good condition. If it wasn't clean and fresh on viewing I wouldn't take it in the first place.

A holiday from DIY is a perk of renting IMO so I wouldn't consider painting. It's nice not having to be bothered with it and I certainly wouldn't want the landlord's decorators in.