Neighbour insisting on something

[Niceeyes]

i recently renovated a flat and there was a small leak from my kitchen to the kitchen below. The owner if the flat requested his ceiling to be painted (really only a patch was needed but 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.
He is the landlord and has a tenant living in the flat.
Im an interior designer and have done my fair share of painting. (He doesn’t know this)
He said he wants proper painters to avoid a bigger issue…
I just feel like he’s taking absolute liberties … one because im a single lady renovating my flat and two he wants his kitchen painted for free.
he said he’ll get someone in if I don’t… and I know he’ll try to charge me some stupid price.
what shall I do?
I feel like he is bullying me.

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).

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

100% this.

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

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.

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.

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.

Splash marks IS something wrong with it 🤷‍♀️

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

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

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?

When I had a leak from a bathroom down into the breakfast room LV, my insurers, paid to have the ceiling and walls of the breakfast room and kitchen repainted because it was open-plan though both rooms and they said they couldn’t guarantee an exact colour match otherwise. The ceilings were white! So it’s seems reasonable to me that the whole room needs decorating; no one decorates part of a ceiling or only some if they want a quality, matching finished. And why should he have to put up with mismatched paint?

As an ‘interior decorator’ would you be happy with that finish on one of your projects - highly doubt it.

Presumably he has photographic evidence of the damage originally caused by your building work and of the shoddy paint repair job?

YOU need to make a bigger effort to negotiate a resolution that is acceptable to your neighbour.

Being arsey after your attempts at fixing the initial problem caused him further issues isn’t going to help you. If he goes ahead and fixes the problem himself and sues you for the costs, you’ll likely lose.

You might be happy with a half assed painted wall but you can’t demand your neighbour accept your lower standards just because it saves you money. You’re a cheeky fucker if you genuinely believe that!

I wanted to be Team OP but I'm lost now too - splashes of what? Splashes of other paint? Splashes of water? or do you mean "marks" that were previously there? Did your painters cause more damage, even if slight, or not?

When you fix the splash marks, you have to paint the other wall to match
I’m shouting, because you seem to be missing this point…repeatedly.

They did paint the entire ceiling though.

But the whole,e thing needs to look the same. Painting half a room isn't really on.

I think you should paint the other wall too even if it didn’t have splash marks. Otherwise the kitchen will look odd with a freshly painted ceiling and one wall and a wall that wouldn’t look the same. It’s not their fault.
Your flat leak caused the problem so you should fix it.

I think (not sure!) that it might be that he wants another wall that didn’t get splashed painting too - as presumably the two walls are the same colour and will look different if they’re not both painted together.