'Making walls good' when moving

[Equimum]

I know this may sound a silly question, but what exactly does it mean to 'make walls good'. We are removing all our pictures etc at the moment and will use a filler to fill the holes/ repair the plaster that has come away with some of them (old house).

Do we also need to paint over the filler? I was planning to try to do this in the rooms I still have the paint for, but I know we don't have the paint for some of the rooms. Will it be sufficient to just leave exposed filler?

TIA

If it's rented you would be expected to make sure the filler is painted over. But beware just painting over the filled areas as it may make them even more obvious. You may be best painting the whole wall

We were told to leave the screw in the wall after recently selling.

Will it be sufficient to just leave exposed filler?

Not really!

Our sellers left the filler exposed (but I was a bit disappointed).

Thanks everyone.

It's not a rental - we're selling.

That's interesting chocolate. May I ask who advised you that?

Normally i would have just painted over, but it's over years since we painted the main rooms and the paint has gone funny. I'm not about to do a full redecorate as we didn't even decorate to put the house of the market (EA advised that it wasn't worth it).

Selling? Leave the hooks up. Gives the buyers somewhere to put their pictures until they redecorate.

If too late, then yes, secure the plaster and paint over.

The solicitor. So we just left screws and nails in.
New people are likely to redecorate anyway so if they want to full any holes they will do it then

If you're selling I'd just leave the picture hooks where they are.

I found it quite nice to be able to put a few pictures up whilst deciding how to decorate.

fill, and smooth the filler so it is undetectable to the fingertip (you can do this using a broad metal scraper while it is fresh)

patch prime the filler spots

paint the whole wall so the spots don't show. May take two coats.

This is why many tenants are asked not to nail or glue things to the wall. Getting it right afterwards is a noticeable amount of work for somebody.

Thanks again.

Can I ask, do many people actually paint while walls in the few weeks before moving out of houses they are selling? I know this can be expected in rentals/ people do it to disguise having hung things up, but do people actually expect it when they move house?

I think I'll leave the screws/ hooks in place where practical, and fill/ smooth the rest. In the parts of the house I have the paint available for, I'll paint over the filler. It's an old house, so the walls are pretty bumpy and uneven anyway, and I'm pretty sure there was exposed filler when we moved in. I know the people buying have two weeks off following completion, so i assume they are planning to decorate pretty sharpish anyway.

when I've done it, it was to spruce the house before viewings. But many people do like to leave their homes looking nice.

If its just picture hooks leave them. The buyer will be grateful to be able to just pop things up!

Making good really only applies if you are taking down big things like shelves, bathroom cabinets, coat hooks which leave massive holes

Our illustrious vendors were grumpy so just pulled curtain rails off the walls, leaving large holes, because they technically didn't include them in the sale.
Needless to say they also left no forwarding address and left junk they didn't want to take with them. Charming folk.

That's probably one of the questions on the Property Information Form that you'll have filled in. I never say that I'm going to make good - just say that you will take pictures etc off but won't take out hooks and if they have any specific queries to let you know. Light fittings are a bit different as you're supposed to replace any you take off with ceiling roses and flex. If you've already sent the PIF to your solicitor, see how far it's gone ie have they sent it to the buyers. May be worth clarifying what you're going to do.