Allowing Tenants to Paint

I see this happen to new landlords often. A tenant moves in and asks if they can paint a room or wall. Unfortunately, the new landlord agrees and 90% of the time, the tenant does a terrible job or choses a bad color.

Now you are in a tough spot. Legally, because the landlord agreed and probably nothing was in writing regarding colors or workmanship, the landlord can NOT take any money from the damage deposit.

I rarely get this request from my tenants because I maintain my investment properties well and most are repainted prior to the new tenant moving in. When I do get the request, I turn the tenant down, unless they have professional painting experience (which is almost never).

4 comments

#1North Georgia Mountain PropertyFebruary 25, 2008, 11:38 am

I can see the landlords point some people can not paint. What about using the landlords company and tennent paying for the paint job and when they move you would have had to paint anyways. Offer a list of some neutral colors. Sometimes something like this makes a tennent appreciate a property and stay longer.

#2Investment PropertyFebruary 25, 2008, 12:08 pm

I would be completely fine with the tenant paying my guys to paint it a color I approve. Also, if they have been there a while, I would paint it at my cost if meant them staying.

#3North Georgia Mountain PropertyFebruary 26, 2008, 3:12 pm

Problem solved let the tennent use you painters and colors perfect!

#4Chandler-PropertyMarch 12, 2008, 9:25 pm

I have to agree with Scott on this. It seems like tenants always want to paint their apartment when they first move in. Then when they move out and I want to do some limited touch-up painting, I can’t match their color and have to repaint the entire room. I now use the same color paints on all my properties and I have found this to be so much easier.

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