UK Landlord Forum / Life

Hi, our tenants have left and just patched up the paintwork with the wrong color paints!  Is there any legislation or literature that we can quote to say they shouldn't have done it?

Thanks

I don't think there is mismatched paint legislation, however it should be put back to how it was ergo rectification should be able to be conducted from the deposit monies.

If it's truly mismatched - and I'm assuming you've let the Tenants know how to match it, not just left them to guess? - then they should not have just patched-up with another colour, it would really call for the whole wall / room to be painted in the new / unmatched colour. This would be quite easy to show as a bodge job to anyone who was judging this objectively... pictures are your friend.

For the future, you may consider what I do... I paint most (not all) rooms in a specific paint (for me, it's Ivory Cream, by Crown - no advertising intended). I leave the paint that I have left in the tin at the property and talk to the Tenants about it. I then have a clause in the AST that says all redecorating must be agreed by the Landlord and returned to its original state on departure (unless agreed). This means that the Tenants a) have exact matching paint for touch-up work and b) know what to get if they need to redecorate a whole room they've decided to paint pink! Unless I like the pink (insert other colour here) and decide it's not going to be detrimental to re-letting, then I let it lie.

Can't work 100% of the time, but it's not done badly in the past.

We left them paint in the shed, a Dulux brand. They asked to paint and wallpaper and they agreed to put it back, we also have a clause in the AST........but they seem to be above the law!  I will certainly not let the next tenants paint! It's more hassle than it's worth!  I just wish this site let me post a picture, it's just laughable

Well, I'd say you seem sorted then... if you were to claim a deduction from the deposit for redecorating and it eventually went to adjudication because the Tenants disputed it, then it should be very simple to demonstrate the unmatched approach they've taken, even though you provided the right paint and even said it must be returned to its original condition, very hard for someone to objectively say it doesn't require redecoration - wall or room.

I have thought long and hard about having a clause that simply says "no decoration", but I always decided to have "no decoration without Landlord approval" because it's still the Tenant's home, of course, and if they're good Tenants then I'd ideally like them to think of it as their home and do good decorating and stay there long term. I ask for approval for everything they want to do and let them start on one first, I then inspect... if it's done well, no problem for me... if not, time for a grown-up chat.

Hope you get the result you want / deserve.

Quote from: Landlady1977 on April 07, 2014, 01:09:27 AM
  I just wish this site let me post a picture, it's just laughable

It does let you post pictures but doesn't allow you to upload them on here.

Put them on photobucket or similar, copy the IMG code that they supply and paste that here and the picture will show.

This?