Our members-only forum is a fantastic place for members to ask questions and share experiences with each other.
One member recently asked a question on our forum related to re-decorating their rental property.
The situation
The landlord currently rents a property to tenants who have been living there for just over three years. They are good tenants and have always paid rent on time.
The tenants had approached our landlord to ask if they would consider repainting the interior of the property and have the carpets professionally cleaned.
Our landlord explained in the forum post that they usually have the property repainted and professionally cleaned upon the change of tenant but not during tenancies.
They were keen to ensure their tenants were happy and wanted to stay at the property, but they were concerned about the cost of doing all the work and logistics of painters and decorators working around the tenants. They took to our forum to ask for opinions and advice on how best to proceed.
The responses on our forum
The responses on our forum were mixed.
One landlord, a frequent poster on the forum, started off by saying that they always make sure their ASTs clearly state what the landlord is responsible for. They said that their AST states that redecoration by tenants is possible, with prior permission. Their AST stipulates no extreme colour schemes or if so, the rooms must be returned to the original colour scheme when vacating.
In terms of carpets, this landlord explained they typically replace these after 10 years or so, but that the carpets are professionally cleaned (at the landlords’ expense) upon the change of a tenant.
Another forum user contributed to the thread with a different view. They said they would just agree to the tenants’ request under the circumstances, and foot the bill for it. They also reminded our landlord of the importance of signing an addendum to the inventory, if they do decide to redecorate and/or opt for the carpet clean.
One of the other landlords to comment echoed the first response, in that they would not expect there would be a need to repaint the entire property after just three years. They also agreed with the concerns of our landlord around it being more complicated to redecorate if tenants are indeed in situ, because painters would need to work around them.
However they added that if our landlord strongly felt redecorating would keep their good tenants happy, it may be worth doing. They also recommended our landlord either carried out the decorating themselves or hired a professional to do it, instead of allowing tenants to do it themselves.
- To read the original forum post, click here.