can I ask my landlord..

[Peakyblinder]

To decorate or at the very least come to some sort of arrangement where we decorate and he pays for it ?
We have lived in the same 2 bedroom house for 11 years in July.
It has never been decorated as the landlord told us he didn't want us too when we moved in as it had just been done.
All the walls in the living room are cream paint over wallpaper (!) and with 3 children they are now grubby and smeared.
The skirting, sills and bannisters are all white gloss and they are chipped and finger smeared.
The bathroom and kitchen is very, very basic and although I do keep everything very clean and tidy after 11 years the house just looks ...tired.
I would love to bring it up to date. The walls in the living room look so 1970s I would just like them freshened up.
I dont know how to broach the subject or whether I am even allowed to ask him ?

Weve never missed a rental payment or caused a problem or asked for anything in 11 years ?

My old tenant asked the same thing after about three years with no kids in the house to put finger prints on things.
Totally fine by me, we agreed colours and how much money etc I was willing to spend, she ended up doing the work herself as she's pretty handy at decorating.

I would just ask. I have a flat I rent out, and have always been happy when tenants have suggested work to be done, shows the tenant is looking after the place. To be fair to them, none of them have asked for anything that was unreasonable.

I generally decorate the flat every four or five years, although it also gets checked when a tenant moves out to see if work should be done then. If a tenant is in place, agent always asks them if they're happy for it to be done at that time. Leaving it longer just leads to more work and more cost.

God yes after 11 years it must really need a lick of paint!

As a LL, I say ask. 11 years is far too long & it should have been done before now. Regular inspections should have identified this already. And you shouldn't be paying.

yes, ask, and if I were your landlord I would either be doing it myself or getting it done, discussing colours with you.

no charge to you of course, you will have to put up with some disruption of course.