Was I unreasonable to redecorate?

[wlevrta]

We have been in our rental property for almost three years.

However, we will be moving out in January/February.

We have redecorated the rental and I'm just hoping the landlord is going to be okay with it.

For context. The landlord bought the property as it was and made no improvements himself when he purchased it. The dining room wall was bright green! There was gaps between the laminate and the skirting board in the hallway. The bathroom taps were rubbish and water didn't come out very well. The toilet flusher didn't work properly.

It's not his home that he rents. He has numerous properties he rents out and it's his full time job.

Everything we have done to the property, imo, has improved it and everything has been done neutral.

We have put in a brand new bathroom and flooring.

Painting in the rest of the house, etc.

Do you think this will be a problem? He seems like a reasonable guy

This is going to be an excellent thread to point to next time a tenant complains about inspection visits, though! This is why they are necessary, a chance for both sides to point out any issues!

OP don't mind the drama on here. Clearly you LL doesn't give a tiniest shit about this property so will most likely just be thrilled you've made it look better.

It was however extremely silly of you to invest into new bathroom without putting your issues across to the LL in the first place. Lesson learnt, right?

And yet you still rented it despite all the horrid stuff you’ve now listed.

Did you even read through your signed contract? Have a read. It will be there in black and white, in the contract you have agreed to.

I’d be making you pay for a plumber to come out, rip out stuff and check it’s all plumbed in correctly, then putting it back again.

It’s not the cosmetics, it’s the huge amount of damage that could be caused by bad plumbing and water leaking into foundations/walls for years!

Never mind his invalidated insurance!

Some dramatic responses on here I know, seriously!

Have you killed someone OP?

If not then I reckon you're good to go. As you say, the landlord never lived in the house and it was bought as an investment property, so you haven't ripped out a bathroom with great sentimental value or anything.

PPs have detailed your numerous sins and made it sound like you have caused the landlord ENORMOUS inconvenience and upheaval. Possibly so but I think the word they're really grasping for here is - dare I say it - insubordination?

Look it was a mistake but you won't be going to jail, I'm pretty sure of that . Speak to the landlord (without grovelling) and get it sorted between you. With any luck this will be the worst thing that happens to him today

On the subject of nightmare tenant renovations, a friend of mine rented her UK house out to a German couple while she was working abroad. Because the terms of rental are different in Germany this couple didn’t think anything of knocking down walls between rooms and replacing windows! The problem was the building is listed and it caused huge problems for my friend! The legal battle rambled on for ages, But in the end she did win damages back from the tenant as it was clear in the tenancy agreement they should not have done any of this work.

Because the terms of rental are different in Germany this couple didn’t think anything of knocking down walls between rooms and replacing windows!

They were massively taking the piss though. I live in Germany and I can assure you that while many social housing properties allow you to do things like remove walls and so on, you get a very long and detailed explanation of what you can and can’t do, what you can do as long as you notify them, etc. You can't just rip out walls in private rentals. And we have plenty of listed buildings here too!

When we were buying this house the LL showed us around with tenants in situ. We'd seen previous photos of the house and most walls were quite garish with an orange lounge and yellow kitchen.

Walked in and was relieved to see tenants had painted it all white. LL not so impressed and actually commented about the change in colour. Decorating for me wouldn't be an issue, you're making it your home after all. Bathroom is a bit far though.

I guess it depends how easy going your LL is.

Blimey! I’ve been wondering how to approach our LL about our very old kitchen carpet. Maybe I should just replace it?

Something about this doesn't add up...

Yes, OP, you say he was a shit LL who rented out a property in apparently poor condition, but equally you viewed it in that condition and decided to apply to rent it anyway -- so either you're simply a fool or you considered it worth it for the price. Indeed, you also explain that you foresaw living there for several years until at least as recently as six months ago, and after 2.5 years of living there already. If the property was so awful and and the landlord so terrible, why would you pu up wih it for so long, much less imagine staying there for long enough in the future to justify spending your own money, and jeopardising your deposi also, on extensive and expensive building work? Why not move?

The mind boggles.

Because the terms of rental are different in Germany this couple didn’t think anything of knocking down walls between rooms and replacing windows! The problem was the building is listed and it caused huge problems for my friend!

Spangran, is that you??

If you have a decent landlord, I expect you'll be fine as long as the work is to a good standard. You may be charged for an inspection.

If your landlord is a dickhead, I expect they'd try and keep your entire deposit anyway. If it wasn't the bathroom or the paint they'd find some other excuse.

Our tenancy agreement expressly makes us responsible for interior decoration, but that's a housing association. We received the property in a similar state to yours - rooms had either peeling and graffitid wallpaper or the HA's shoddy repainting, and the kitchen (since replaced by the HA) and bathroom were dilapidated.

Lol at Spangran.

Did that thread (or rather loooong series of threads) ever get resolved in a satisfying way?

@Medea13 I didn't say the LL was awful.

He seems like a nice guy. Although, I've never actually spoke to him so.

Rental properties are, imo, hard to come by. In my area at least.

We couldn't afford to be picky about it. If we had made a list of demands about what we wanted LL to sort before we moved in, he'd have just chosen another tenant who was happy to move in as it was.

We needed somewhere to live.

It's that simple.

It will probably be fine, but be prepared. I know of someone that did this and they had to return the house to the original state when they left. That might have been a council owned property though, the details escape me

Given what you have said about him, & the property, I would say nothing. If he does the inspection himself and it all looks clean & tidy he might well not notice, or if he does, care.

He sounds too lazy to do any more than keep your deposit anyway, but if he does want to sue you or whatever, I dare say you’ll win.

As a LL I’d be beyond furious, BUT, that’s coming from an entirely different position of renting out places that are freshly decorated, up to date kitchens & bathrooms etc and any (rare) issue sorted immediately.

I’d be furious from a ‘quality of work/future issues’ and insurance either way though. You really have been very negligent from that POV, but hopefully you’ve learned that lesson now (as a broader life lesson, as hopefully you’ll buy soon and not be eating again) that if something isn’t yours, you can’t treat it as though it is. Ask the person it belongs to.

Good luck with your house buying.

I don't understand why you wouldn't ask, and think you are odd too.

But I also think others on the thread are silly to think you have to 'live with crappy decor' if you rent.

You don't. You just need to ask first!

We moved into a house that needs a lot of cosmetic work. The rent is low because of this. We are perfectly happy to do the work and have the house to our taste, because it's nicer than spending a few hundred more per month to live in something that's already been done up. But, each time we do something, we ask the lettings agent and we make sure she agrees with what we're doing.

There is no way I would do anything as substantial as putting a bathroom in! I just don't see how you could get the value.

He probably won't give a shit. Don't worry until you have something to worry about.

I wouldn't worry OP.
You've added value and he will no doubt, be pleased about that.
You should have asked, but that ship has sailed.
I'm sure it will all be fine.
If it was my property, I'd be well chuffed.
I'd think you were mad, but I'd be happy you'd done it so I didn't have to.

I am wondering if it as bad as you say why on earth you rented such a property in the first place?

If you'd asked him if he was ok with redecorating, he might well have paid for the paint.

And putting a new bathroom in someone else's house! When you only had a one month contract!

Are you made of bloody money?!

Perhaps you should have told the landlord of all your plans for improving, but if you think he is a reasonable guy, I am sure things will be fine.And you do sound quite optimistic about all things anyway.

Bloody ipad. RENTING again, i hope you will be EATING again!

Some people are really minimising the impact this could have on a LL insurance and costs if there’s an issue in the future. It’s really not ‘dramatic’, ‘stupid’ etc to explain there are reasonable reasons why you can’t, when you don’t own the house, undertake replacing a bathroom etc

...and ‘redecorating because it’s your home’ ...I’d be furious because I take a lot of time getting a GOOD finish on the walls and use GOOD quality paint etc, I don’t want someone else slapping some cheap, multi coloured paint on the walls. IF they want to stay long term and want a bit more colour I’m happy to come to some compromise that we are both happy with.

However, I can understand some LL’s just see their properties as ‘the rentals’ and don’t care if you paint o whatever, but then I think that follows through to their attitude re boilers, heating, and general standards/repairs ‍🤷🏻‍♀️

The house sounds horrible, I’m surprised they can be rented out in that condition. I would just tell him, hopefully he won’t care.

As an aside I didn’t realise that people that rented properties are not capable of decorating, getting bathrooms or anything else fitted or choosing good workmen to do these jobs and that people that own properties are all experts at all this.

Ah relax op, I bet your landlord won’t give a shit! He’ll be delighted that you’ve improved the place. We’ve dumped the couch and 2 beds from our rented house and we will replace them when we move out(no way am I leaving my nice ones behind🤣) but we will replace like for like and he won’t say a word.
He paid for the interior to be repainted at my request but I chose all the colours, he paid for the curtin’s, I chose them, we keep the house very well and he knows that. He probably doesn’t even remember what the couch looked like(it was hideous) but we will tell him when we move out, he’ll say no problem, we’ll get our deposit back and that will be that.

I think pp who are claiming that other pps are being dramatic are missing the point.

No the OP hasn't killed anyone but she is in breach of a legal contract she signed, for which she can be sued. You can't sign a contract and then ignore it. Obviously, if the contract is outside the law that's a different matter but it's normal practice for these types of contracts not to allow for changes to be made without permission from the LL.

From the sound of the LL I doubt he's going to be at all bothered but he could be bothered and be very difficult about it.

If the bathroom was as bad as the OP is saying then it's high likely he'll be delighted she's wasted so much of her own money. However, she had no right to do it. She is in the wrong here. You cannot go around altering parts of other people's property without their permission whatever the circumstances or however tatty they are.