How much decorating etc would you want putting right before a tenant leaves?

[IHeardMummyDissingParcelforce]

We've been here about 5 and a half years.

It was a STATE when we moved in - broken stuff everywhere, hadn't been decorated for about 23 years. Old kitchen had got into a very poor condition, broken cooker, washing machine that broke after a few months, carpets really disgusting and thick with dirt, and moths,

dirt on the walls and a filthy, broken, cracked bathroom that I got quite seriously ill from. (consultant referral etc)

I have taken out the kitchen and bathroom, put in a new bathroom (landlord paid for materials and plumbing, I did all the other work inc tiling and paid for professional to come and do the floor)

I paid for everything in the kitchen except plastering - have built wooden units, tiled walls nicely, light fitting, screeded and tiled entire floor, ceramic sink, new taps etc.

I have decorated most of the rooms - am finishing off to a presentable standard where the old wallpaper glue has leaked through the paint (I had to strip it as it was literally coming off everywhere, someone had tried gluing the edges back down with God knows what)

Have also bought tiles for a slate floor, he got labourers to cut the tiles but they used the wrong adhesive so I had to take up some of them and lay them myself - and seal, and grout, and seal again the whole floor,

I've got a new boiler and the CH system sorted out so that 15 rads now work instead of the original 3, (inc two new ones) - this through a govt scheme I was eligible for. Think it cost him £400.

Have replaced the warped modern back door with a very nice old reclaimed one that FITS (hung by locksmith at my cost)

Had to take up all the carpets - have put down cheap carpet in bedrooms as we didn't have enough time to source a better quality bargain - one of them is rather worn and a bit grubby now, have said I'll clean it though before we go.

The kitchen needs a little finishing, and some of the walls want re-doing in places. I have not tried to paint the woodwork or rads in the flat as there is sooooo much of it and it really needs doing properly (big old house, 10-11ft high ceilings etc)

So basically everything I took out I've tried to replace as well as possible but it isn't quite finished.

What would you expect me to do before I go? Considering it was an absolute wreck when we arrived. Would you be happy to finish things off and decorate? Or would you be demanding new carpets etc?

I'm not sure how to gauge it, between how it was when we arrived, and how it ought to be in order to meet the ostensible letting standards - which it was nowhere near when we took it on.

Thankyou if you got this far!

I'm a LL and wouldn't expect you to do anything. I'm kind of surprised that you took on a flat in that condition and did all the work that you have done.

Thanks Lala. Well we'd been looking for so long for something we could afford - and it was within our budget and in a lovely street, and I fell in love with it I suppose.

Nothing else was remotely affordable. So maybe it was cheap because of the condition, but the flats above have had works carried out (new kitchen put in etc) and their rent has also stayed low.

I think the LL was glad to have someone live in it properly, and love it and so on. Which we have.

I'm so sad to leave. I also enjoyed doing the work, well most of it - and making it feel like our home, rather than just a rental...it needed rescuing, and we needed a proper home.

One thing I'm a bit worried about - I replaced everything, literally, like appliances and so on. None are fitted/integrated. Also stuff like curtains, as the old ones were falling apart.

I intend to leave the curtain tracks and poles, but I can take all the moveable things like the cooker/WM/curtains can't I?

it should be clean.
decorating is up to the LL.
unless everything is painted in very bright colours it will be fine.
deposit should be in a scheme, so there is not much to gain fir the LL.

Yes, permission was given for nearly everything - I started the kitchen before asking though as I got a bit enthusiastic with tile removal one night, and couldn't stop!

He is a sort of 'Oh marvellous, do whatever you like' LL but am just a bit concerned that the agents will get heavy and beaurocratic about stuff, iyswim.

We are buying this time - never, ever want to rent again.

Thankyou for all the answers.

OP, DH and I are currently purchasing a nice three bed semi as a BTL, needs a bit of decorating and flooring replaced, do you want to rent it ?
Seriously, I think your landlord should be bloody grateful and shouldn't quibble about you taking anything with you or leaving it with a grubby carpet. After all whatever it costs him to put right wont be a fraction of what it would have cost him had you not done it.

I hope you're right. That's what I keep thinking. He said today 'well I suppose what was here had got a bit shabby' - talking about a kitchen which had literally rotted into dust at the backs of the cabinets, from a severe damp problem. Think I may need to dig out the photos I took when we moved in!

Good luck with your BTL...I'd love to take on another but I have got too old and tired to be in rented. I don't like the thing where you wake up and someone's walking round your beloved garden with a strimmer, killing your plants, etc etc. Though I am sure you would never do that, at least not without giving notice!!

I just wanted to say hi. I'm like you. have just moved into a flat, ground floor of a detached Victorian house and done pretty much the same as you but not fitted a new kitchen just fully painted the old one. like yours this place was an absolute state, had been empty for a year but we could afford it (and nothing else available when we needed to move as old ll was selling). I did the entire renovation in two weeks paid for out of my own pocket, almost 2k when I added it all up. landlord doesn't care of course. hasn't even visited the property in 5 years.
Just wanted to say I understand your feelings about leaving it as even though it isn't yours you've worked hard and lived there a long time. your landlord will have benefitted from you sorting it out and keeping it nice and hopefully get new tenants quickly. Some people do not understand doing work to rental places but it is still your home whilst you live in it. I can't feel comfortable unless somewhere is to my tastes.

I'd do a deep clean but no more decorating. What does the inventory say? Dig your old pics out. Hopefully you'll have no issues as after 5.5 years there would be considerable wear and tear anyway.

Thanks, Tiny - that's really nice of you to post and quite calming - I find a lot of people don't understand why I did it, but I feel like you do - living in a bleak sort of no-man's-home doesn't feel like being at home, to me, and I liked being allowed to make it to my own taste.

Also it helps with the feeling that someone else owns your house, and could take it back at any time. Sort of a distraction I suppose.

I don't like reading the TA because it is a bit removed from the sort of unwritten agreement I've had with the LL, iyswim - it's designed for those who don't take on a project, and don't do anything to places they rent, rather they might ask the LL to get someone in to repair things etc etc.

Anyway, all luck to you in your house (sounds lovely and v similar!)

I think I will do a modicum of 'tidy-up' decorating, to make it presentable, and try and finish the kitchen cabinet I'm still working on. But any reasonable chippy could do it in an hour.

Thanks again

The cooker that was here didn't work - we had permission to throw it out.

Can't even remember a fridge being here; the washing machine worked for a few months then I started using the one I'd had before and kept in the cellar; that lasted till last summer. I now have a new one again.

He offered to take away other stuff like furniture that was all rather broken anyway, or that I didn't want. So it was basically rented unfurnished.

I don't think he would make me leave behind a Smeg double oven and a Siemens washing machine would he?

I think if his appliances broke, then he should have been liable for replacing them - and he offered to - but I said I had/would get my own.

Need to check with agents I think. Argh.

Thanks, Natasha - have emailed the agent again just now outlining what I have done, and why, and reminding them of the things that were not working and how the LL pffered to replace the appliances, but I wanted to use my own.

I think if he was happy to buy new ones then, he'll be happy to now.

I appreciate your help on this...makes me feel a bit better! Moving is such a stresser.

IHeardMummyDissingParcelforce we like to think we are professional LL's. We have been doing it for 10 years and have quite a few now. Very hard work but very rewarding. We do take pride in the properties we let and very much leave tenants to it, we find if you respect your tenants they respect you and your property. The property we are currently purchasing is pretty grotty inside and we know some LL's would rent it out as is, but we like to take pride I our property so it will have new flooring and decorating throughout before it goes on the market.
Your LL is lucky to have tenants that have taken pride in HIS property and invested in it. After all if he couldn't be arsed why should his tenants.

Good luck in your new home, it is lovely to be able to do what you want when you want without having to worry.