Landlord asking for something to be changed back last min

Floopy2009

Hi there,

Some advice. So been renting for 6 years at property. The outside drive gate was white rusty and a few years back a little girl ripped her coat and got rust on her hands. Because of the fallout from this i decided to paint them black, and the appearence of the gates was alot better.

Now when i got a six month notice this year as he now wants the property back. I asked the rental company straight about the gates and what had happened, had no response from the landlord.

Anyway two weeks before i go and in the  middle of a move, the rental company have come back and said the landlord has been in touched and has asked for it them to be put back to white.

Now my question shall i push back on that and due to the delay and time frame i wont have time and buy and leave him some paint for him to do it, or will i need to paint them even though he has provided so little time. My only concern os the landlord might moan about the way i have done them and claim more back off the deposit.

Thanks in advance

saajan_12

Did you get written permission to repaint the gate AND confirmation you would not need to revert when you painted?

If not, the need to revert it to the original state came from the tenancy agreement that you signed at the start. Most will state the property needs to be returned to how it was at the start, which includes colours. The LL doesn't need to remind that at the end, that's the default position unless they say otherwise. 

So it doesn't matter how late the message was or even if he just left it to deposit return time. Its up to you to revert or face the deposit deduction. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

A long term tenant willing to leave their home when requested and they want to argue over the colour of a gate that was rusting away? Seems insane to me but there you go. 

Grumpy_chap

Frankly, after 6 years of continuous rental, the LL should expect to have to redecorate throughout and that would include the external gate.  In fact, if the gate was in a rusty condition at the start of the tenancy, this should have been maintained by the LL during the tenancy period regardless.  This is simply the LL trying to get the T to pay for maintenance that the LL should be doing.

I think the LL is being unreasonable.  However, from a practical perspective, the OP might find it is all just simpler to paint the gate than argue.  Is this the only point of contention?

propertyrental

'Betterment' might be relevant here. If re-painted white the LL will get a newly painted white gate in place of an old, rusty white gate.

So if the T leaves the gate as is, and the LL deducts the cost of re-painting it from thw deposit, and the T raises a dispute, the arbitrators are unlikely to award the LL the full cost of repainting.

But this really should have been agreed at the time the T re-painted black. Making changes, even perceived improvements, to a rented property require the LL's consent.

Floopy2009

Thanks for your comments. Yes the landlord is unbelieveable so many issues i have raised and valid ones and he has always ignored them and not wanted to pay for it. The list is endless. Then he throws petty stuff like this is. Also a gate lock where the latch broke during the heavy winds a few years back. Blamed me for not having it secured. I offered to put a new latch on which he rufused saying the gate cost him thousands apparently. 4 years on the gate is got wood rot and is fallen apart. Again raised this and again the landlord did nothing about it.  However he is asked the rental company to for me provide the broken latch, good job i kept it lol

Floopy2009

propertyrental said:

'Betterment' might be relevant here. If re-painted white the LL will get a newly painted white gate in place of an old, rusty white gate.

So if the T leaves the gate as is, and the LL deducts the cost of re-painting it from thw deposit, and the T raises a dispute, the arbitrators are unlikely to award the LL the full cost of repainting.

But this really should have been agreed at the time the T re-painted black. Making changes, even perceived improvements, to a rented property require the LL's consent.

@propertyrental i can confirm these gates have not been touched since 2011 as google maps show same rust spots etc, so surley he cant take much from me about 20- 25 pound ?, which to be honest will be the cost of the paint if i purchase it from the shop

km1500

is your deposit in a protection scheme ?

Floopy2009

km1500 said:

is your deposit in a protection scheme ?

@km1500 yes it is

saajan_12

propertyrental said:

'Betterment' might be relevant here. If re-painted white the LL will get a newly painted white gate in place of an old, rusty white gate.

So if the T leaves the gate as is, and the LL deducts the cost of re-painting it from thw deposit, and the T raises a dispute, the arbitrators are unlikely to award the LL the full cost of repainting.

But this really should have been agreed at the time the T re-painted black. Making changes, even perceived improvements, to a rented property require the LL's consent.

Yes of course - any tenant work to revert or replace parts of the property will end up in a 'new' for 'old' for the LL, but that arises out of the T's choice to change the colour and their responsibility to revert it. They can't exactly do a second hand paint job. 
Often that's still cheaper for the T than the LL's depreciated cost of getting a professional to do it and leaves the T in control of the cost. 

Floopy2009 said:

propertyrental said:

'Betterment' might be relevant here. If re-painted white the LL will get a newly painted white gate in place of an old, rusty white gate.

So if the T leaves the gate as is, and the LL deducts the cost of re-painting it from thw deposit, and the T raises a dispute, the arbitrators are unlikely to award the LL the full cost of repainting.

But this really should have been agreed at the time the T re-painted black. Making changes, even perceived improvements, to a rented property require the LL's consent.

@propertyrental i can confirm these gates have not been touched since 2011 as google maps show same rust spots etc, so surley he cant take much from me about 20- 25 pound ?, which to be honest will be the cost of the paint if i purchase it from the shop

Well that's the big question.. how long would outside gates be expected to last and what's the cost of reinstating the paint job. If its iron gates, then a long time (30+ years?) whereas a wooden gate might be shorter, eg 5-10 years. Plus how long and hence what's the cost of paying someone to paint it? The result of that estimation may well be over the £25. 

Herzlos

You can always ask the landlord if they want the rust restored as well and see what he says.

But it's ultimately up to you as to how you do it, worst he can do is deduct some arbitrated percentage of the cost of a repaint.