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Hello, I rent a nice condo and it has all white bare walls, I was wondering if you think I would be safe painting just the area under my chair rail in my dining area? It is a small space and when I move out I will paint it back white.. Any thoughts? Should I ask the landlords first?
Ask the LL. I am a LL and allow tenants to paint when I approve the color and paint to be used. The worst thing that could happen is the Ll says no. Approach it with "this is what color and paint I will use".
If you plan on returning the apartment to it's original condition you don't need your LL's permission. Any more than you need their permission for how to arrange your furniture or what to keep in your refrigerator.
Just make sure you use the right type of paint (usually latex, flat) so that you can indeed paint back over it. If you use the wrong kind of paint, the white LL's paint may not stick.
The above post is not necessarily correct. If you read your lease it may say that painting is not allowed without written permission from the landlord. So even if you are going to return it to the original color, you may still need to ask permission.
Ditto -- as a landlord I had that clause in there for several reasons, the most important was that painting can be used to cover up other repairs / damage that I would want to address.
If you are reasonably smart about approaching the landlord and pick a decent color and do not create any mess odds are that the ll will be fine.
If they get wind of painting that you have "sneaked in" they could very well have grounds to charge you the full cost of having professionals restore it to the previous conditions... I had such a catchall clause in my leases: "Tenant shall be fully responsible for the costs of professional restoration of the dwelling should any unauthorized changes be made or attempted to any part of the structure..." or some such thing that my lawyer said was enforceable.
If you plan on returning the apartment to it's original condition you don't need your LL's permission. Any more than you need their permission for how to arrange your furniture or what to keep in your refrigerator.
Just make sure you use the right type of paint (usually latex, flat) so that you can indeed paint back over it. If you use the wrong kind of paint, the white LL's paint may not stick.
+1 and -1 in the same post
I agree with others that even if you are going to return it to the original color, you still need the LL's permission.
And I agree with you that the importance of USING THE RIGHT TYPE OF PAINT cannot be overstated. That is one reason we require all tenants to get authorization first.
Ditto -- as a landlord I had that clause in there for several reasons, the most important was that painting can be used to cover up other repairs / damage that I would want to address.
If you are reasonably smart about approaching the landlord and pick a decent color and do not create any mess odds are that the ll will be fine.
If they get wind of painting that you have "sneaked in" they could very well have grounds to charge you the full cost of having professionals restore it to the previous conditions... I had such a catchall clause in my leases: "Tenant shall be fully responsible for the costs of professional restoration of the dwelling should any unauthorized changes be made or attempted to any part of the structure..." or some such thing that my lawyer said was enforceable.
Regardless of how you choose to word it--and it may be irrelevant since OP doesn't say that such wording is in their lease--the tenant is responsible for returning the unit to its original condition. And the LL cannot legally charge the tenant for repairs that are not needed. Painting-specific language is not necessary.
And as always, just because a LL writes something in the lease agreement, doesn't mean it's legal. A LL cannot charge for damage that don't exist. If the tenant returns the unit to its original condition, the damage doesn't exist and repairs are not necessary. Therefore the LL cannot charge for 'professional repainting'.
I think the point is that the UNAUTHORIZED CHANGES is triggered when it is MADE not when the least terminates. You cannot take out my cabinets and put in a dishwasher and on moving day say "I'm putting the cabinets back", which was the exact situation that led me to put in this clause. My lawyer said there is case law that backs up the tenants limitations to uses that could be potentially damaging OR HIDE DAMAGE and that is exactly what I would worry about...
called my property managers office today.. he contacted the owner of my unit.. the owner called me personally and thanked me for asking for permission. He agreed to have a professional come and paint the dining room wall free to me.. He said the management company will send me color palates in the mail and i can choose from those.. I guess this way at least he knows its a porfessional paint job. Thanks for your responses!
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