To not put the house back to what it was?

[QuantumDog2]

I've rented the house I live in currently for nearly 9 years. When I moved in it was a new build and we were the first to live here, so obviously a buy to let. The walls were all trade paint magnolia and the carpets were cheap, exactly the way new builds are presented as standard.
Over the years I've decorated it and made some improvements like extending the patio and I spend £1400 on new flooring for the lounge because the carpet was worn out by that stage and looked grotty.
Now I'm leaving as I've bought somewhere with my partner, but contractually apparently I have to return the property the way I found it. I'm 6 months pregnant now and don't fancy donning my overalls and climbing ladders to paint. What would you do? I feel like after 9 years here and the time and money I've spent on the place (although my choice totally) I shouldn't really be penalised, but I expect I will lose my deposit?

@moynomore

Don't acquiesce to the landlord. They will need fight to keep your deposit and you can dispute it. Especially if they have done nothing in 9 years. Just because a landlord says they are keeping your deposit doesn't mean they are entitled to. Don't give in until the arbitrator says you have to.

Thank you, this is what I intend to do. 😊 Landlords up and down the country can tell me till they're blue in the face that I'm a cheeky piss taker, but I'm standing firm on this. I know I'm not.

You can make a house a home, you just return it to the state it was in on leaving because you don't own it

No. This is a total misconception. No-one can return a house that has been lived in for 9 years to a brand new house. Even if OP painted the whole house now, that would be a big improvement from the builders finish she got on moving in. OP has improved the house, with permission of the landlord, and they can't ask her to do the impossible, which is to return a brand new unlived in house.

OP if you appeal any deduction for this to the deposit scheme, I am very confident you will win. As you should.

@TheWoleb

But you weren't expected to put money into their property. You chose to do that. No expected it of you, or asked it of you or forced you.

You chose to do it. And you've have years of enjoyment from it.

Now you're leaving, you must return it to the neutral colour it was. Just because you decided to add expensive features (you were not made to do that) does not mean you can ignore the contract you have, and were reminded if when you asked if you could decorate.

And the rent you've paid... so? You were paying for a place to live. You had that place. You got everything you paid for. You are not entitled to more, you are not entitled to decide to ignore your contract because you paid rent for years. You've already received what you paid for (living there). You dont get to use that as an excuse now for more.

You complain about paying their mortgage, but that's how rentals work. You'd rather rent from a corporation?? Fill their coffers?

You agreed to put the walls back to magnolia, you say that many times. Get a decorator in! simple, will be cheaper than your deposit.

Can posters not understand that someone who has lived somewhere for 9 years is vastly different to a temporary 18 month tenancy? They still didnt own the property, and signed an agreement to leave the property in a specific state. Sure it might look nicer now, and if OP shows the LL photos, they may say - nice, lets keep it - but they dont have to

He's saved on new carpets for years to come.

Did you ask him if this is what he wanted for his property? No. Did you discuss this with him? No. Ugly or tired, the carpet was part of the existing features - many people prefer a carpeted room for heating retention, etc.

You are really sounding like a rental CF. Normal procedure would be to tell the landlord what you'd like to do - remove carpets, replace with flooring - and see if he is amenable, or indeed wishes to reduce the rent for X weeks to compensate for the expenditure, or contribute to the cost. I think you know all this.

If you’d left my house like that I would have been overjoyed!!

Same!

Has the landlord seen pictures OP, or do they just have your description? If they saw it they might think it’s lovely and not want it changing? They’ve had a pretty sweet deal so far if they’ve not paid for any maintenance for 9 years plus had a much nicer flooring and an extended patio laid. I can’t believe they’d go to the bother and cost of changing a nice floor and patio! 9 years is a long time, yes it’s not yours but there should be some kind of common sense approach here, it would seem very unfair for you to lose money over this.

OP if it was unpainted do you have any pictures of that? And when were you given permission to repaint, with the agreement you would return it?

I think pictures and copies of messages will be key here. If I were you, I'd gather everything you have historically, then see how the check out goes. (But first make sure you take time stamped photos of the whole place the day you move out in lots of detail, especially any changes you made)

If they send you a message charging you for repainting, I'd reply detailing the reasons you don't think you should - not that you're pregnant and can't be bothered!

But - all changes were improvements

• when you first moved in, the house wasn't painted but only had undercoat (it would be great if you had an exchange to show they agreed this at the time)
• when you agreed to repaint it was X years ago, but maintenance has not been done on the property since then when you would have expected it to have been repainted in that time frame

Also, my memory is they can't just get an arbitrary sum, they need to provide receipts of work they've done.

We rented a house that was in terrible shape: landlord had been letting to students and wanted to switch to professionals without making any improvements. We were ok with it as it was cheap and short-term, got them to remove a load of broken down furniture they'd left there. Took extensive photos moving in (when it was so disgusting I had to hire a cleaning team of three because I could not face it). When we moved out I literally mopped us out of there, however it was a rainy muddy day and there were some footprints in the porch from where we collected the last suitcase which there was literally nothing we could do about.

They tried to suggest they were keeping 300 quid off the deposit for cleaning. I sent a calm (seething) email showing them my before and after photos, outlining in slightly official language why I thought they were full of it, and saying I was very happy to take it to the deposit scheme. They put all the money back in my account in a week. (Well, they notified the deposit scheme to release it). The main thing you need is evidence, if you'd been there longer I'd think differently, but honestly, its your HOME. You aren't borrowing a house. That's not legally how its viewed at all. You've paid above and beyond a mortgage interest repayment for more than just use of the house: landlords are required to do safety checks and a basic level of maintenance. They clearly didn't do the maintenance.

You may be unlucky, and it is possible they may try and get more money than the deposit out of you, but if you're buying Iwoudln't be so concerned about a reference and I think in reality they're not going to spend any money repainting, or at least not above what they should have spent over 9 years, even if it is twice as hard/expensive to paint over darker paints they should have painted twice in 9 years, particularly considering it wasn't properly painted in the first place.

I'd chance my arm OP, but I'd get all my documents ready.

I hope you can come to an arrangement where you can get a decent percent of your deposit back

No, it was actually unpainted. As in freshly plastered walls that had a watery layer of paint on them. I lived with that for a year because I was told that the plaster needed to dry completely, then I requested permission to paint, which was approved.
Did you actually ask them to paint? I think that's what I'd have done.

If you leave without painting back to magnolia they will likely charge you a premium for the decorating via your deposit. They have in writing that they asked you to return it back to magnolia so you couldn't dispute it either.

So if you can be arsed I would pay someone local to repaint yourself as it'll probably be cheaper. If you can't be arsed just let them take the money out of the deposit and put it down to convenience.

PS your colours looks lovely by the way and it seems a shame to return it to horrible magnolia

@Goingdriving

Also what you consider value added might not be what the landlord or estate agent considers value added.

This, I know of a landlord who when he got the house back all of the expensive cream carpets had all been replaced with cheap sparkly blue carpet, professionally done kitchen tiling had been replaced with badly done DIY tiling and the garden decking had been painted an unusual colour with the wrong sort of paint, is much much more, the tenant hadn’t paid the rent for the last three months and still had the cheek to ask for his deposit back to cover the “improvements” he’d made to the property. It cost thousands to put right.

My priority as a landlord is that the house is in good condition and attractive to renters.
For me, that doesn't mean magnolia, but the house had been done in different colours as our home and was all recently decorated prior to moving on and renting. It's rented within a fortnight 3 times because it stands out from the sea of magnolia.

Our last cohort had been there 8 years. They asked and were given permission to decorate the lounge, and it was fresh enough to rent on. Long-term there is the issue that we now have an unknown shade of grey to maintain and can't touch it up- it has to be a complete job.

Long-term it probably will have to go magnolia as it will need decorating after our current cohort. We have the original colours, but for a larger scale redecoration it is an additional complication and expense.
(New year 2021 was not a good time for redecorating and we found ourselves overnight suddenly having issues buying essential replacement bathroom flooring as the shops were shut down over night!)

OP, I'd be weighing up if the effort and bother of doing it yourself is worth the hit on your deposit. I've had SPD and it really isn't decorating friendly, so I understand the reluctance. I got to the point where I'd drop coins with my swollen hands and it was not worth the pain and effort to bend and pick them up.

I will never understand people that enter legally binding contractual agreements, with the full intention of breaking them in the future.

@SunshineCocktails

I will never understand people that enter legally binding contractual agreements, with the full intention of breaking them in the future.

It's not a legally binding contractual agreement. Not least because they asked for an impossibility.

It's not a legally binding contractual agreement. Not least because they asked for an impossibility.
They've just now (yesterday) asked for the walls to return to cream 🙄

@milkyaqua

He's saved on new carpets for years to come.

Did you ask him if this is what he wanted for his property? No. Did you discuss this with him? No. Ugly or tired, the carpet was part of the existing features - many people prefer a carpeted room for heating retention, etc.

You are really sounding like a rental CF. Normal procedure would be to tell the landlord what you'd like to do - remove carpets, replace with flooring - and see if he is amenable, or indeed wishes to reduce the rent for X weeks to compensate for the expenditure, or contribute to the cost. I think you know all this.

I did discuss it, yes. And it was approved.

I am a landlord. I would probably ask you to pay to get the kids bedrooms repainted UNLESS one of the viewers has requested they remain the same colour. But I would probably only ask you to pay 50% towards the cost. Have you sent pictures of everything to the landlord? If my tenants asked to repaint the house, I would ALWAYS ask that they return the house to the original colour. However, it I LIKED what the tenant had done, then I would ask it remains the same.

Communication is key.

So he rented it with a watery undercoat?

He's now including your improvements in his pitch for reselling?

I think he is a CF.

Definitely take lots of pictures and I would be looking to see if you can reuse that flooring in your new home and similarly with the patio.

That colour in your hall is lovely too.

I probably wouldn't bother. But then i wouldn't have asked - we had a flat that we had permission to paint and when we left i didn't seek out clarification as to if we could leave the feature walls. We just did it and the agent said they were lovely and that was that. If i'd contacted the LL and they'd said we had to return them to the original (horrible greyish cream) then there's no way i would've then turned round and said i know i asked but actually i'm not doing it anyway!

Also if he's being a dick about the decorating, stop allowing access for viewings, you don't have to let them in

@GreyhoundG1rl

It's not a legally binding contractual agreement. Not least because they asked for an impossibility. They've just now (yesterday) asked for the walls to return to cream 🙄

But they weren't painted cream when she got the house. Hence, that wouldn't be returning the house to the original condition (which can't be done).

Just had a call from the agent to arrange a few more viewings. I told them about my issues with the redecorating and my conversation with the landlord. They were actually really pleasant about it and said that the property manager will contact the LL today to discuss then get back to me. 'Hopefully something can be worked out....you've been there a long time and clearly looked after the place'.
Fingers crossed.

then there's no way i would've then turned round and said i know i asked but actually i'm not doing it anyway!
Well, you could have, and risked losing your deposit, of course you could.

@TinnedPotatoesRock

Also if he's being a dick about the decorating, stop allowing access for viewings, you don't have to let them in

I think I will do this. After all, why are they showing it with the intent of renting it out of it needs an overhaul? Surely the right thing to do would be wait until it's back to magnolia before putting it on the rental market, because I'd be gutted to get a magnolia house after viewing a nicely decorated one.

@QuantumDog2

Just had a call from the agent to arrange a few more viewings. I told them about my issues with the redecorating and my conversation with the landlord. They were actually really pleasant about it and said that the property manager will contact the LL today to discuss then get back to me. 'Hopefully something can be worked out....you've been there a long time and clearly looked after the place'. Fingers crossed.

Hopefully it'll all have been a storm in a teacup and they'll agree it's fine.