Neighbour insisting on something

Of course he wants professionals to do the job. They will hold insurance incase they cause any damage. Are you insured to work on other people’s properties?

But the entire wall needs to be repainted because of the splash marks

Did it have splash marks on the wall before the ceiling was painted? No? Then you need to deal with it! Not him!

Splash marks IS something wrong with it 🤷‍♀️

It might cost him a bit but it'll cost the OP a lot more because his insurers will pursue the responsible party. And they'll want to dictate the remedy and the contractor.

If I am being honest, I think you are being unfair on several counts.

Firstly, its a taken that it was an accident, you didn't purposefully create but nonetheless the leak in your flat damaged his flat so you need to put it right.

Now if I have a leak in my house, I might just tough up the one small area, if it was newly decorated as I might get away with it but if the paint on the wall had faded (as most do) then really you should do the whole wall and if that shows the other walls up, then you need to do them too.If you are an interior designer, you should know this. Its not your neighbours fault and they should not have to bear the expense of rectifying it.

Personally if I was your neighbour and you tried avoiding it, I wouldn't claim on my household insurance as it would put my premiums up but they would claim against your insurance so you will get hit with the costs of the decorations and the increase in premiums. Personally I would get three decorators quote to rectify the issue, and submit a claim against you in the small claims court to recover the costs.

Just cough up and move on, you could be neighbours for years.

The wall with paint splashes needs to be paid for by you.

You can argue the toss over the other wall, but is it really worth it? You're the one who has to keep living in the property. Better to have good relationships with the tenant and landlord.

100% this.

But inform them it was the celing and wall/s, nothing else.

How do you ‘fix’ paint splash marks without painting over them? You can’t only touch up the splash marks, it would be very obvious

But if they only painted the wall with splash marks, it wouldn't match the other wall properly (unless it's very recently been painted).

I don't think he's being particularly cheeky... you damaged his property and he deserves to have it fixed properly, not to be left with mismatched walls.

Can you not just wipe off the splashes using a damp cloth if it’s Matt or turps if it’s gloss.

my builders painted his entire ceiling) he then complained that the builders had left some splash marks on one wall and marks on another wall too. He now wants the splashes touched up AND his other entire wall painted…. I feel like he’s taking the piss… I’ve seen the wall and it looks fine. Yes there are splash marks on the other wall.

Jeeez, make your post clearer. I couldn't tell if you meant splash marks on the other wall from the leak or your painters. If they're from something else altogether, it's your job to explain that to us. Are your communications with him this unclear? If so, I can see where you might be running into trouble.

My advice, for what it's worth, is to decide if you want to spend time and energy fighting this battle with a neighbour (and probably lose) or just suck it up and get the painting done properly. I know which I'd choose.

You can’t just paint one wall , if one wall is damaged then the whole kitchen should be repainted

Am I misunderstanding? How is it possible to fix the splash marks without painting all the walls to match?

Maybe he wants to make sure all the walls are the same colour

Yes that's great advice. He claims on his insurance, they hear the story and come after the OP for the costs of the people they appoint (who will be much more expensive).

I think your mistake @Niceeyes was getting your builders to paint your neighbours ceiling. Builders are best sticking to building in my experience of several home renovations. As a landlord does your neighbour not have decorators he uses for his properties? I would have sucked up the cost of the ceiling painting by his choice of decorator. This would have avoided the issues that have now arisen from letting your builder do what sounds like a bit of a slap dash job.

You need to use better contractors; if he’d gone through your insurance it would cost you more and they’d have done a proper job.

The poor tenant. Fix your error, OP.

get a better painter next time

You admitted yourself there are splash marks!

Either there are paint splashes on it because the builders did a sloppy job or there aren't - which is it?
I would've thought as an interior designer who's done your fair share of painting you would be understanding that having paint splashed down your wall isn't acceptable and a bit embarrassed that your builders have done this

Have you seen some of the car crash interior design makeovers on television? 😂

That was really lovely of you.