Wet paint, no warning clothes ruined

flatulantyounggoat

Where do I stand, please.

Came home after work with some groceries, unlocked my door and pushed myself through the door (my door has a heavy spring on it)

Lo and behold, I'm absolutely covered in white oil based paint. I simply cannot get the stuff off and my work clothes are basically ruined.

There was no warning or notice of wet paint...Thoroughly !!!!ed off.

marliepanda

I am confused.

Who painted your door without your knowledge? Do you live in a flat with a communal entrance?

theartfullodger

Are you owner, tenant, lodger or living with mum?

flatulantyounggoat

Living with mum?! lol.

No, I'm a tenant privately rent the flat. The building is shared with other tenants in other individual flats.

The LL had a contractor instructed to do repainting of the upstairs and downstairs halls. I saw him in the morning but I had no idea he had painted my door.

marliepanda

flatulantyounggoat wrote: »

Living with mum?! lol.

No, I'm a tenant privately rent the flat. The building is shared with other tenants in other individual flats.

The LL had a contractor instructed to do repainting of the upstairs and downstairs halls. I saw him in the morning but I had no idea he had painted my door.

Were you informed that someone was coming to paint the door?

00ec25

classic case of I need to blame someone else for my own incompetence.
Oil based paint?
Smell?
Wet sheen?
I always press myself against any door I meet
I am blind and have no sense of smell

elsien

00ec25 wrote: »

classic case of I need to blame someone else for my own incompetence.
Oil based paint?
Smell?
Wet sheen?
I always press myself against any door I meet
I am blind and have no sense of smell

That's a bit harsh. If you know there's painting going on elsewhere in the building you'd presume the smell was from there, in the absence of the usual wet paint signs on the front door.

[Deleted User]

I would have rushed out and bought some white spirits first. Applied and seen if the clothes can be restored with lots of white spirits and washing. You need to put washing up liquid on the white spirits once you have removed as much of the paint as you can as white spirits are oil based (I would wash dry clean only clothes in this situation as quite often you can, better than having to throw them out)/ If the paint has stained your clothes, you should have been able to remove most if not all of it. Might be too late now though.

Yes, there should have been wet paint signs up but yes you should also have been able to smell something somewhere had been painted and acted cautiously lol. If I saw someone getting ready to paint, I'd have spent a minute finding out what he's painting or what any workman in my building was doing.

I am not sure you will be able to get the contractor/LL to co-operate with a refund for the clothes or that its worth taking him to court.

I know you said its 'all over' your clothes but unless you like rolling yourself 360 degrees on your door, it should really be just couple of not too large areas and perhaps a bit of sleeve.

I know you will take this post as a knock back again, but if you can get back to facts (which are rarely as bad as the picture our imagination is supplying), you can find solutions. If the situation is exggerated it will be overwhelming and unsolvable.

Norman_Castle

There was no warning or notice of wet paint.

Common sense should instruct anyone decorating a communal area to put signs up, its neither difficult or expensive. Contact the landlord and complain, there may be a contract specifying notices, if not at least the painter may use signs in future.

moneyistooshorttomention

Did you take photos - to demonstrate the missing "wet paint" signs? (ie where they should have been put - but visibly weren't).

If you did - then I guess you might stand a chance of getting any costs covered by whoever employed the painter.

If you didn't - then I guess it might be too late to do so?

Though there is always the chance that the signs were put there - but someone played silly b&ggers and removed them.

InterestedParty2018

Sorry, no legal expertise to offer, but I would have thought that an oil based paint would be rather smelly. Whilst the smell does not automatically "tell" you that your individual door frame has been painted, did it not alert your senses that you spotted decorators in the morning and that there may be wet paint in the common parts?
I am guessing that whilst there may be statute or regulations in place about risk and H&S to the users of the area (during/post decorative work), Im not sure this would extend to damaging clothes.

I also suspect that if the matter was taken to a small claims court the judge would how much are you responsible for the result (seeing decorators, smell, leaning against a door frame) and what action did you take to mitigate the loss. (what attempts did you make to clean it)

I dont know if the above is right or wrong, but it was my thought pattern.

If it was me, I would let the decorators/agents/landlord know of the issue - draw it to their attention that "wet paint" signs would cost pennies, but saved a lot of hassle. For all you know, they may make a voluntary contribution for dry cleaning - or simply change their methods and ensure signs are on display.

If they dont', I would put it down to experience, and move on.