3 months rent free and in return the tenant, who is a kitchen fitter, supplied and fitted kitchen units. It was his idea, mid tenancy and he submitted a plan, samples etc and it was all written into an agreement.

1 month rent free in return for the tenant to remove ceiling tiles and make good. Agreed pre-tenancy and in the tenancy agreement. This property had been vacant for months because the overseas landlady wouldn’t spend a penny on it to bring it up to marketable condition. I think she was very lucky. He’s a great tenant and has improved the whole house by decorating.

We usually know enough about the tenants to judge if they capable of doing a decent job and if the property has been DIY’d before by the owner then the standard is never as good as a professional decorators anyway.

It’s a good idea to write it into the agreement that tenants are responsible if they cause any damage during decorating, paint on carpets sort of thing and make sure colours etc are agreed. If they insist on anything non standard then it’s written up that they agree to return it back to magnolia or whatever at the end of the tenancy.

We’ve had great success doing this type of deal. It’s always been win, win and we’ve never had problems because we’re careful to assess each case individually and check the work when completed.

We were one their first customers so I’ve watched them establish themselves. It took a while but they are heavily relied on now by enough regulars that they are busy all the time.

From your message you sound as if you would be similar and probably do a really good job. Good luck if you go ahead!

My question is this…. Do landlords usually pay for a company to come and clean the properties which are left in this condition or do they do it themselves?

The reason I am asking is, I have a very strong background in industrial and domestic cleaning and I am seriously considering looking into the possibility of setting up a business which specializes in restoring houses left in this condition. My past employment has seen me work in this type of area before and I used to enjoy seeing the end result, even though it was hard work to do.

I am just seeking opinions as to how often landlords find property left in poor conditions and what their usual course of action is regarding doing the work themselves or whether they pay for some one to do the work for them.

If I find that the potential is there for a business, then I am going to set up soon and start offering a full service restoring property from top to bottom, including tidying gardens if needed.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks

Nikki

Man, that’s annoying. If any Landlord leaves the decorating to the tenants, there must be strict rules and an approval process should definitely be implemented.

I guess it’s an extremely risky situation. However, I’m sure there are cases where it has ended well.

I guess it just depends on how competant the tenants are.

Kind regards

However, I was strictly clear that everything needs to be to a high standard. And I would be the moderator. I explained how things should be…

This kind of scheme should probably be offered to people you think you could trust. Moreover, only really works if the tenants plans on staying for the longterm…

My biggest worry would be the quality of the work. People think that if you can piss you can paint but there’s a bit more to it than that. I don’t see a tenant spending hours preparing the surfaces before slapping the paint on and if it ain’t done properly it will look shit again by the time they leave.

Tenants also have this thing about inviting their friends around for a ‘painting party’ which is basically painting while getting pissed.

On a serious note though – who will decide if the work is to a high standard? I’d say it’s more trouble than it’s worth.