Does anyone live in a flat and had their close decorated?

[Plump82]

I'd love to get our close repainted but I'm worried ill get a big shock when I possibly get quotes and was wondering if anyone has had theirs done? We have a ground floor and one floor up and its not particularly big but the paints pretty flaky and I'm guessing itll take a bit of work.

I have no idea what a close is!

What is a close?
Closet?

What's a close? All I can think of is a closet but why would that be relevant to living in a flat?

Do people really not know what close means?

If it's something external and it's a leasehold you'd need to speak to the management company, you can't just do your bit of the building.

No, never heard of it ?

We call it an entry. It's the communal corridors/passageways that lead to each flat.

I've never heard of close used that way before. Is it regional?

I think I've read of "close" being used for the common parts of flats but only in Scotland. I have also heard "close" used in England to mean a cul-de-sac road arrangement. Either way, I have no experience of having one decorated, sorry.

Communal entrance? If so, in a leasehold property that would be the responsibility of the management company.

You can't decorate the entry - that is something the management company are responsible for. If your neighbours agree then you could pressurise the Freehold owners/management company to do it.

Eek im sorry i should have explained that better. A close its the communal part of a block of flats. So the entrance and the stairs. Apologies. I'm from Glasgow. It's the name used in the West coast of Scotland. There is no management company and its not factored. I own my flat. I know one of the others is rented but I'm not sure about the other 2.

Are you a leaseholder or freeholder?

We got our close painted. It wasn't too bad split between the flats. I can't remember if we had to go through the factors, but at the least we had to tell them in advance that we were doing it.

First step is to call your factors. If you don't have one just get quotes and take it from there.

You’re getting replies from English folk, OP, which won’t be particularly helpful as flat ownership is different - they generally don’t have commonhold.

Can’t help you with the quotes, though, my mum’s stair was last decorated a few years back.

Getting the money from the other owners can be a pain, especially if some are rented.

If you don’t have factors, you’d probably be best to get three quotes then get agreement from the other owners (colour as well as cost!). But see note above about that!

I'll get some quotes in. Id just hoped I could get an idea of the price to see if it's something we could even consider. I reckon id have an issue with the rented one as he rarely answers his door and I'm having issues with his dog making a mess of the garden. One of the other residents might be up for it but shes an o.a.p so i dont want her to feel under pressure

Might be worth having a look on the Money Saving Expert forums.

(Btw, I got my terms wrong, it’s not commonhold in Scotland, is it? But not leasehold/freehold either, it’s ownership with common areas eg the close/stairs, that the owners are jointly responsible for.)

RE the rented one, you need to contact the owner not the tenant anyway.

We got ours done recently and don't have factors either (phew!) and was worth it. Hundreds rather than thousands each. Get three quotes, and ask friends/social network for recommendations and money upfront before committing. The biggest price differences were between those who wanted to use scaffolding or not. Worth finding out options. It's so much nicer to come home to now. Good luck!

We did and we were in a block of 8 flats. No one wanted to pay the money so DH and I did the entrance hallway/ downstairs exit to the gardens ourselves. A few neighbours chipped in for the paint. It looked much better and cost a fraction of what a factor would have charged.

There definitely won't be any need for scaffolding and in fact we could probably do it ourselves. We just don't want to. But would maybe consider it if the quotes were too high.

Well I've just learned that close is regional! Was actually racking my brain trying to think of another way to describe it

In Edinburgh I think they just call it the stair.