As a landlord, you need to manage your tenant’s needs and expectations as well as thinking about your costs. A very popular question that landlords ask is should they let their tenants decorate?
On one hand, you don’t want to be stuck with a potentially poorly decorated property after their tenancy is up. But on the other hand, you want tenants to feel comfortable in their home. If given a chance to personalise their property it can hopefully make them want to stay longer.
For rental properties, homes that rent better are those with a neutral, minimum design. You need to keep the layout of the rental simple so that it appeals to everyone and you can easily get new tenants in the future.
The last thing a landlord wants is an orange wall that includes statement pieces in the living room; this will make it very difficult to find another tenant, as this unique design may only appeal to a niche market.
By letting your tenant personalise the property, this will hopefully make the tenant want to rent for longer. This therefore results in landlords not needing to find new tenants as frequently. Less time looking for tenants lowers the risk of vacant properties and rooms.
Letting the tenant decorate can be a win-win situation for the landlord and tenant. However you need to ensure you are both clear with what you want otherwise, it can go horribly wrong.
Landlord Protection When Letting Their Tenants Decorate:
Ground Rules
You need to establish ground rules. This means agreeing on variables such as paint colours. In addition, ensuring no damage or extremely difficult to reverse changes.
There may be scenarios that you do not like the colour the tenant has chosen. However, to combat this, you can always come to an agreement with the tenant for them to paint it back to the original colour afterwards.
Keep A Written Record
As alluded to above if you and the tenant have agreed to a change to the property, then make sure it’s written in a tenancy agreement. You need evidence for anything that you have agreed on. In this agreement, it should include paint colours, wallpaper, shelving or wall fixtures.
Also, it should be written down if the tenant should return the property in its original condition when the tenancy ends. This will go a long way to prevent any future arguments.
When finding a letting agent, be sure to check out their detailed services list. Many include inventory keeping as part of basic packages.
Conduct A Good Solid Inventory
Landlords need to do a visual and written inventory at the start of the tenancy. This includes taking pictures and writing down the condition of the property, any specific details and the decoration.
This will document any changes the tenant makes and will back up anything that had been agreed in the tenancy agreement.
Conditions
Before agreeing on any rules for decorating you should make sure the tenants have been in the property for at least 6 months. This will give you confidence that they’re staying.
Another condition is to ensure the quality of the work completed on the property is done to a high standard. For example, make sure they hire a professional to paint the walls.
An amateur paint job can damage furniture, carpets and fixtures & fittings. Later on, it will be time-consuming and expensive for you to correct any mistakes.
Restrict The Amount Of Change
While painting walls can go wrong, it’s not the biggest issue that can occur. There’s far more damage to be done during structural change and fixtures change.
Skirting boards, bannisters, doors, light switches etc are all other areas that tenants can ask to change. Plus you have safety risks to worry about too. If doors are being changed, they may need to be fire doors to comply with regulations. Light switches will need to be checked to ensure there’s no danger of electric fires.
Advice is to generally reject this sort of change. There is too much scope to go wrong and the expense of actually doing the change, or fixing issues, as a result, is far more than repairing a paint job.
Who Pays, Tenant Or The Landlord?
The bill should really depend on the current state of the property. If the property is run down and outdated, then it’s fair to say the landlord should cover the cost. However if the property has had a recent upgrade, then the landlord is within their right to not want to fork out more.
Therefore if the tenant wants to update the property in line with their preference, it’s reasonable to pay for the work. Other ‘softer’ factors should be considered, however. Has the tenant always paid on time, do they generally take care of the rest of the property?
If life is easier with this tenant and you’re avoiding potential issues you may get with other tenants, meeting halfway may be a good idea.
Who Does the Work?
A safeguard for landlords is to use your own contractors for the work. Using a tried and trusted contractor gives you the reassurance that the work will be done in line with your expectations.
In Conclusion….
Overall, by following these tips you can allow the tenant to decorate the property while protecting yourself as a landlord. Keep agreed on changes to a minimum and ensure agreements are documented, as well as any reversal decisions.
Landlords should factor in how valuable the tenant is and their past behaviours when deciding the cost split. Finally using contractors you have used, as opposed to letting the tenant find someone themselves, reduces risk.
About the author
Raj Dosanjh is founder of Rent Round, a letting agent & property manager fee comparison site. Raj has a background in banking & finance alongside his property business. He also has a passion for martial arts & runs his own Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy.
