Painting when leaving rented accommodation

ftb2015

Hi, just after a bit of advice. We've just moved out of rented accommodation, we were there 3 years. When we moved in the house it had been refurbished to a good standard all, plastered, painted walls, though all word work was just glossed. During the time there we had repainted and decorated all with landlords permission. Anyway as we've been there so long, the paintwork could do with redoing, some of the painted walls have marks on as you'd expect from a family of 4.

The house is clean, but just wondering what you think our landlord should expect in terms of decoration...should we repaint all walls again? Or should he accept some wear and tear? Our deposit has not been held in a scheme.

Thanks for any responses.

ftb2015

*wood work

kinger101

If it's just a few marks here and there, it's quite easy to touch them up.

sniggings

wear and tear is fine, I would wipe with a cloth and not repaint, as it's not your job to paint the house, you have already done it once anyway.

you may have to point out that you can take the LL to court for not protecting the deposit anyway, so if they get fussy, take them to court and claim 3x the deposit.

stator

Marks on the wall from kids might not be seen as wear and tear. I'd just repaint the walls and be done with it. It's easy enough to do. Damage to skirting boards would be more wear and tear, so I wouldn't bother with them.

audigex

Deposit protection schemes state something along the lines of "Wear and tear arising from normal use", specifically looking for that which a "reasonable person" would agree with. Basically, if you asked a group of 10 neutral people, what would they say?

The key phrase there is "normal use" - if the landlord is aware you have children of that age, he should be aware that a "reasonable person" would consider that marks on the walls are to be expected from normal use of the residents.

You've also been in the property for 3 years, so more wear and tear is expected from that duration than if you'd been there for 9 months.

And by far the most important point - as sniggings said: the landlord can be as funny as they like, you haven't been given the above protection by the deposit scheme as the landlord didn't place your deposit in one. You can therefore apply for your entire deposit back regardless, and may be awarded up to 3x the amount.

In short, your landlord has been an idiot and you shouldn't pay a penny. Frankly I'd do so on principle even if I felt that he did have a reasonable claim, because he's tried to take you for a ride.

ftb2015

Thank you so much for the replies, that's really helpful. I'm going to paint over anything I consider unreasonable and leave the woodwork. I didn't know that about the scheme, very interesting and will be a good back up if he decides to be funny. Glad we've finally bought and won't have to deal with landlords again!!

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Sugar soap is brilliant for removing grubby marks on paint. Have a wipe round with that first before you think about repainting everything.

benjus

As a rule of thumb landlords should expect their properties to require redecoration every 5 years with adult tenants. If they accept children and/or pets they should expect to need to redecorate more frequently. So they shouldn't be expecting it back in pristine condition.

lxpeanut

Repainting has never been expected in any rental I've lived in. If you've been there more that 2 years the landlord would probably be expecting to repaint between tenants anyway. I have gone round and done some touching up before moving out but only to hide where I'd put poly filler in holes I'd made hanging things.

ognum

ftb2015 wrote: »

Hi, just after a bit of advice. We've just moved out of rented accommodation, we were there 3 years. When we moved in the house it had been refurbished to a good standard all, plastered, painted walls, though all word work was just glossed. During the time there we had repainted and decorated all with landlords permission. Anyway as we've been there so long, the paintwork could do with redoing, some of the painted walls have marks on as you'd expect from a family of 4.

The house is clean, but just wondering what you think our landlord should expect in terms of decoration...should we repaint all walls again? Or should he accept some wear and tear? Our deposit has not been held in a scheme.

Thanks for any responses.

I have always agreed to tenants redecorating their homes they rent from me to their taste but the agreement is that they will be returned to me in same decoration as when they took possession when they leave.

Mostly my properties are white or bland colours, if you want red walls and feature walls that's fine just give it back the colour it was so it depends on your redecoration and what your arrangement with the LL is.