Back in my university days, I rented a house with a couple of my friends. It was close to uni, but that was just about its only redeeming feature. The carpets were swirls of brown and orange, the walls had diagonal stripe wallpaper, and the bathroom was an unknown colour, as it was covered in layers of mould. This was pretty normal for student housing back then, and fortunately a lot has changed.
We asked the landlord whether we would be allowed to decorate, and he agreed, even covering the cost of the paint. I must have property refurbishment in my blood, as I was a perfectionist even back then, and went as far as stripping the woodchip wallpaper, hanging lining paper, and wallpapering a feature wall, while making certain that the repeating pattern lined up perfectly.
The landlord got back a house after 2 years that was in a much better condition than when we had moved in. We were 3 art and design students though, which by default meant an above average design sense and technical skill level.
What about your average tenant though? My feeling is that tenants that can customise their space fell happier, are more attached to their home and stay longer. In our family lets we’ve allowed tenants to decorate, and in most cases it’s worked very well both for then and for us. I do love walking into a property which has started out as a blank canvas, and seeing how a tenant has made it their own. Sometimes this is just in simple ways, like the furniture, curtains and accessories. One girl did an awesome job of customising her living room with removable wall stickers, which looked great with her beaded lampshades and coordinating curtains.
Sometimes tenants will go a lot further with the decor. In a couple of our properties that were dated or the decor wasn’t up to scratch we agreed incentives for tenants to decorate in return for a reduced rent. In a couple of cases this worked very well. We had one young couple who went as far as changing the living room carpet in addition to repainting, which looked great. In the bedroom however they went with a rather dubious choice of leopard print wallpaper for a feature wall!
Another couple did a lovely job of decorating their home, even putting in a feature electric fireplace, and laying new laminate on the floor.
Sometimes tenant decorations don’t go quite as well though. One tenant who moved in with her daughter to a freshly refurbished, painted and carpeted property wanted to do a feature wall in each room. We agreed, on the condition that it should be painted back to white when she left. She did lime green on the kitchen and fuschia pink in the bedroom. It actually looked good while she was there, however at the end of her tenancy she had her grandad paint over, and in addition to painting the wall he went over the switch plates and outlet covers, while still leaving pink and green showing through. We now ask that tenants use neutral colours, or either arrange or pay for a professional decorator to paint it back to neutral at the end of the tenancy.
We’ve only had one decorating disaster, and it was memorable. Two girls moved onto a house that had been customised by the previous tenants. We agreed that they could put their own stamp on it. The girls stripped the wallpaper, but clearly had no clue how to put new paper up. They came up with the genius idea of using sellotape to stick it to the wall! They also had no clue how to cut it to go around doorframes, and just stuck the stripy paper horizontally above the door!
Lessons learned from this experience:
– have the tenant clarify what they plan to do ahead of time.
– Check who will be carrying out the work. Are they getting in an experienced decorator, or are they doing it themselves?
– If they are doing it themselves, do they have experience, and can the standard be verified?
– Set clear criteria on how the property will be returned. Can their decor stay, or should they reinstate original decor?
– If they need to reinstate original decor, agree the standard, or a fee for a professional decorator.
– Avoid wallpaper. It can bubble on the wall, hold moisture, and damage the wall when being removed, so paint is a safer bet.
Even if the tenants decor may not be to my personal taste, I still feel that as it’s their home, they should be able to customise it to some extent, and paint is an easy way of doing so.