Should I paint the house I’m renting?
Living in a rental home has many benefits, from not being responsible for property taxes to having extra space and a backyard when compared to renting an apartment. However, many tenants of rental homes feel that their home isn’t really a home. Usually, this is because a rental home is not painted or decorated in the same way that an owned house would be. The good news is that painting a rental home is never out of the question! It is a great way to make the space your own and is definitely possible and worth your time when you consider the joys of decorating the building in which you spend the majority of your family and personal time. The first step to planning a paint job in a rental home is to contact your landlord. From there, agreements about colors, the need to repaint before moving out and cost can be made.
Your Landlord
Painting your rental home is incredibly rewarding and definitely makes a home a home. However, not all landlords are willing to allow a tenant to change the interior or exterior of a rental house in any drastic manner. Perhaps everything is painted in neutral colors at the moment to make the rental attractive to a wider variety of tenants should you move out? If your landlord is stuck on keeping neutral tones, it is a great idea to suggest lighter tones of color instead of bold, bright shades in order to sway the landlord into accepting your changes. Some landlords won’t mind any changes you make to the paint, but they will request that you repaint the entire home to be as it was before you can move out. Once again, this is to ensure that the building will be appealing to a wider variety of tenants. However, if you suggest color schemes and styles from a magazine or you decide to hire professional designers or painters to help with the project, the landlord may view your painting project as an improvement to the rental home. In which case, they may not ask you to repaint at all!
Colors and Furniture
Many tenants decide to repaint their rental home at the same time as they purchase new furniture. This is excellent timing since the right wall colors and accent pieces can really make a home come together. However, if your rental was furnished when you purchased it, then it is very important to make sure that your landlord is accepting of your changes and that you protect all the furniture that was included in the rental. It is best to hire a professional for this type of project since any damaged furniture will have to be replaced or repaired at the tenant’s expense. By assuring your landlord that the furniture will be moved and protected by qualified painters, most landlords will allow you to move forward with the project. By painting the home, you can make the provided furniture suit the home much better than when the walls were white and boring. Also, most tenants who decide to paint their rental property end up wanting to stay for longer periods of time since your house will really feel like your own. Lastly, should you decide to move out with short notice, an attractive rental home might actually help you find a sublessee or new lessee for your landlord to ease the transition when you intend to leave before the lease is over.
Hiring a Professional
Of course, painting a rental property yourself is always possible and the cost savings can be very tempting. However, if you do a sloppy paint job, if the paint peels or if your damage anything while carrying out the project, you could be on the hook for a lot more money than you planned for. A landlord can charge you for damaging the apartment if your paint job is not of equal quality to the one that the rental home had prior to your arrival. Also, if the walls are not decent enough quality to paint on directly, a professional can advise you how to move forward and best achieve your home-improvement goals. Also, if you are renting the property for a lower price due to the fact that walls and paint are in poor condition, hiring a professional to clean up the wear and tear and apply crisp, professional looking paint can make your cheap rental home look and feel like a much more expensive rental than you are paying for. This is a major advantage when you are on a tight budget for living expenses. In fact, renting a house that needs paint and hiring a professional to spruce it up can save a significant amount of money over the long-term compared to renting a home that has already been modernized.
Painting a rental property is one of the best ways to make your house a home, to impress your guests when they come to visit and, most of all, to make your living space enjoyable. The cost to hire a professional and have the job done right is well worth the investment and is much more likely to get your landlord on board with the changes. Improving the appearance of the property can benefit both the landlord and the tenant!
If you’d like to know more about our Orlando, FL house painters, feel free to contact us here or call us directly at 407.256.8610.