Painting in rented property - Decorators accidentally painted skirting board!

tomcusack

Hi everyone,

I've a mini problem, and was wondering from people's experience what I can do in this situation.

When I moved into my rented property, the agency said I could paint the house whatever colour I wanted within reason - no pinks, etc.

The only condition was to not paint the skirting board due to LL's wishes. Anyway, lo and behold the decorators have done exactly that.

Now, I don't know how dear the unpainted pine skirting was to the LL, but I sense some trouble coming my way.

Does anyone know of repercussions that I will face for this accident? Will I face losing deposit. Worst case scenario - Eviction? Does anyone know what might come of this.

I've let the agency know of this via email this afternoon, but I was hoping for a little bit of advice in case things go south in relations with the agency/landlord over this.

Can anyone offer any pearls of wisdom? It was just the skirting board in the hall, so not an entire houses worth of skirting to sand down if necessary.

It's odd because the rest of the house has had it's skirting (using the same wood) painted.

Many thanks,
Tom

fairy_lights

Did the decorators paint it even though you'd asked them not to? If so I would think it was their responsibility to fix the mistake and would expect them to come and sand it off again.

[Deleted User]

If you were clear the skirting board should not be painted, get the decorators back and they can deal with it. If you weren't clear, depending on the type of paint, you need to either wash it off (if water based) or get the white spirit out.

You have to return the house to the way it was when you moved in when leaving. The LL specifically asked for the skirting boards to remain unpainted. They are now painted. Paint needs removal.

tomcusack

That's great - Thanks. So basically, the buck either stops with me or the decorators. I think it's really fair to say that I'm at fault for not being clear enough. I was out, didn't leave a note, etc.

So let's say for the sake of argument, I'm going to move house in 3 years time, it's the kind of thing that can be cleared up when I leave the house?

Spend a weekend painting, stripping, filling walls, etc, etc?

Thanks again!
Tom

[Deleted User]

It would be a lot easier if you did it now Paint unlikely to be completely dry). You're going to have a lot of things to do when you move out. We get posts on here saying 'I thought I'd do it before I moved out but didn't have time, the LL's charging me hundreds to do it'.

dgtazzman

Sounds like it's only one room and not the whole house, so it shouldn't be too hard to replace the skirting board in that one room in due course with something similar to the original, unpainted skirting, that is if you can't get the paint off.

Just talk with the LL/agency, it might turn out not to be as big an issue as you think, especially if you're clear it was accidental.

tomcusack

That's a very good point! Thanks a lot for your help/advice.

LEJC

I personally would rectify it sooner rather than later...that way you will be able to let the skirting boards "age" a little prior to you moving out.


I guess the worst case senario would be replacing them but ideally with some sanding and possibly varnishing they should come back to how they were on your check in inventory.


Just one room ...or the whole house?

tomcusack

dgtazzman wrote: »

Just talk with the LL/agency, it might turn out not to be as big an issue as you think, especially if you're clear it was accidental.

I couldn't agree with you more. I'll just work with the agency. In my minds eye it's not that big a deal, so hopefully they will see it like that too, and just shrug it off and accept that it's happened.

But as other people have mentioned, if they are adamant about it being exposed then I guess I'll set aside a weekend to get it stripped.

fairy_lights

dgtazzman wrote: »

Sounds like it's only one room and not the whole house, so it shouldn't be too hard to replace the skirting board in that one room in due course with something similar to the original, unpainted skirting, that is if you can't get the paint off.

I don't know if replacing the skirting board is a good idea at all, if the Landlord was so firm about it not being painted it might be the original Victorian skirting, or newer but expensive stuff that would be difficult to replace.
Replacing it rather than just stripping it off might cause even more problems, though it might seem like the easier option.

tomcusack

Just the hall (and stairs too I think?), so not actually too bad! I'm kind of worried about sanding though, since I might ruin the carpets. Would it be easier/better for the carpets to just buy new skirting?