Tenants That Put Holes In The Wall
This is up there with one of the most irritating and inconvenient habits that, from my experience, most tenants seem to naturally carry. I don’t think I’ve ever obtained a tenant that hasn’t “carelessly” drilled, or even worse, forcefully hammered through, multiple holes in the walls. It genuinely irritates the fuck out of me.
I ALWAYS tell my tenants to use copious amounts of diligence when drilling holes in the walls. For example, if they want to hang up a photo frame, then they should ensure a proper “photo frame nail” is used, as opposed to a thick, heavy duty masonry nail that is suitable for building a garden shed. Big holes are both expensive and difficult to repair (if you want to do it properly).
Do they ever listen? No.
The cheapest and therefore the preferred way of resolving the issue is by stuffing the ghastly holes with polyfiler, and then applying a lick of paint. The end result is usually tragic, especially when executed by someone with zero D.I.Y skills. You’re never left with the smooth finish which was once-upon-a-time. The best option is to get a professional plasterer in, but that never happens because let’s face it, who’s going to bother? What usually happens is that a few days before the tenant is due to vacate, they pop out to Homebase to purchase a cheap tub of Polyfiler and apply their D.I.Y magic. As said, the result is typically tragic and leaves me in tears, along with the will to kill.
One of my tenants is due to move out in two weeks time so I’ve been lining up viewings to ensure minimal unoccupancy. Without the presence, but with the permission of my tenant, I went to the property earlier today to scope out the condition. The property isn’t actually in too bad shape, but I noticed multiple holes scattered around various walls in the property, which initially triggered a manageable flow of anger. However, the closer I inspected, the less manageable my anger became. Like they say, if you go looking for trouble, trouble will find you. Well, I went looking, and a shitload of trouble came at me like a runaway steam train. I started to slowly discover gaping hole after gaping hole as I crept through each room.
In the midst of my heart-attack, I frantically started texting my tenant:
Hi mate. House is in OK condition, but there are quite a few big holes in the walls that need to be fixed. Cheers
Hi buddy. The holes will be sorted before I move out
Alarm bells start ringing at this point.
So now I have to sit around and wait to see what kind of Chuckle Brother D.I.Y job he manages to pull out of his rectum. I’m scared.
For your own amusement, here are a few snaps of some of the holes. Please bear with me if I break down in tears as I post these…




I understand that putting up curtain railings will require drilling holes. But if you’re going to do that, at least do it elegantly, and not like you’ve unnecessarily tried to resolve the problem with a sledgehammer. Clearly a method my tenant endorses.
(UPDATE: Just to clear up some confusion, and reduce some anger levels for certain people. As I said in the comments sections, curtain rails were originally fitted with the property, but the tenant said their “expensive” curtains required custom railings, so they replaced the original ones with their own. It’s not a HUGE deal because I know those holes won’t be visible when a railing goes back up. However, it’s still annoying knowing that they ripped the plasterboard in the process of removing their stupid custom rails!)
The strange thing was that there are holes literally scattered everywhere, mostly in places which didn’t seem logical. For example, those 4 holes next to the radiator, what the hell are they about? I couldn’t understand why the hell anyone would need holes in that location. It was just weird.
I also noticed there were more than your average amount of photo frames hung up on the wall, so I’m anticipating greater levels of damage. I dared not look under the frames to see how they were hung up- I was already depressed/scared enough. I’m just praying to God he used proper photo nails because they usually leave minimal damage.
There are so many alternative and friendly solutions to hanging up inanimate objects that don’t require drilling holes in walls these days. Why not try them, aye?
Holes in the walls are NOT “wear and tear”
I’d just like to make it clear (in case anyone is reading this for informational purposes), putting holes in walls is NOT classed as “wear and tear” – there is nothing natural about forcing a drill through plaster. The tenant is responsible for repairing any holes he or she has made, even if that means using the security deposit to do so.
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131 Comments - join the conversation...
If its an undetectable water pipe that is definately against building regs.
You have had an accident that wasnt your fault.
Ring a compensation claims lawyer fU now.
or changing rooms.
or rogue builders.
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I guarantee it will bring tears (of laughter) to your eyes.
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It might be your home but it is not your house and normal people don't abuse other people's property.
My point is : leave the property in the condition it was before your tenancy minus general wear and tear. A tenant pays for the right to live in the house, not to reck it. I hope that Landlord will call builders to replaster and decorate the room and make the bastards(tenants) pay.
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I hope you are managing this property yourself. If not I feel sorry for any agent you use!!!
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Those BASTARDS pay for some of your income.
You would kill for some one drilling holes in an organised manor in to your walls? christ you need anger management.
Most of you landlords would have a heart attack if the UK had the same organised rental system that is in place in Germany. Tenants can do what the like with the property (within reason have orgies, refloor, redecorate) as they PAY TO LIVE IN IT!
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I don't know what planet you are living on but if you seriously think that after spending all that money that you are then going to let it out to somebody and then say to them " Pay me money to live in MY house BUT you CANT do this and that"!!!!! Get real or sell the house!!!
Understand this.....when you lease out a house you do so with the understanding that a tenant has the right to "quiet enjoyment" of the property. It becomes THEIR home not YOURS!!! They are paying for that privilege. They pay a security deposit and at the end of the rental period they will have to put the property back to the way it was and anything that is not "fair wear and tear", yes they are allowed to live in the house you know, will come out of that deposit to be put right.
If you can't live with that scenario then GET OUT OF THE RENTAL MARKET!!
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Case law on this point is pretty clear. If the holes can be polyfilla'd and repainted, then it's fair wear and tear.
Get over yourself with your la-di-da specially mixed plaster and 10 different shades of bullshit.
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"If the holes can be polyfilla'd and repainted, then it's fair wear and tear." - is that even true? Never heard that before.
How is physically drilling a hole into walls "fair wear and tear"? It's not exactly like a carpet wearing away after walking it on it over time.
I'm confused.
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I should not have said polyfillable holes are 'fair wear and tear' which would imply tenants can just leave them in the walls for the landlord to fix, without fear of having a judge or TDS adjudicator award the costs for the repair to the landlord.
What I meant was that if the TENANT fixes the holes before leaving, with pollyfilla and paint, then the landlord cannot then expect to have a judge or TDS adjudicator award him the costs of replastering the entire wall simply because the landlord prefers not to have a pollyfilla'd wall. The tenant needs to do a decent job of it, of course.
Whew!
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An exception would be some sort of listed property where the plaster or paint is somehow obviously and inherently 'better' or somehow vital to the value of the property.
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Has Polyfilla started making a "Victorian, limeplastered and Earthborn clay paint" product?
Or is slapping a bit of Polyfilla on the new way ahead for restoration work?
If you slap polyfilla on your keyboard, it will help you stop making comments about subjects you know fu*k all about.
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My, my!
I chuckle when I think of you trying to explain to a bored county court judge how vewwy vewwy vewwy special your plaster is...
It's just a wall. Get over yourself.
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Not my plaster mate!
Just that I know a bit about the subject.
You dont.
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I know about how the law is applied because I have spoken to people who apply it.
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You've taken a lot of flak off a few folks, so let me pass one praise and one warning onto you.
The praise is to say thank you for renovating a Victorian House. The choice of materials says you must have done it sympathetically: Thank you for helping to conserve a piece of Britain's best architectural style and method of building we have ever seen.
The warning is to how you now see your house. You need to "let go". Your little palace has now become an asset which generates an income. It will not be fair to your tenant to make them live in it with kid gloves on. They are entitled to ~live~ in your house. And if they want to knock a few picture hook nails in carefully (thus not underdtanding what the picture rails are for) they so can. And when they check out, if they've re-painted any marked walls in Dulux's identical colours, you'll get nowhere if you try to deduct deposit money because they did not use a premium brand of paint.
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Spot on.
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"I know about how the law is applied because I have spoken to people who apply it"
-I know about how the law is applied because I have applied it myself.
Over to you McMuffin!
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You might also like to note LANDLORDS that it is also acceptable to leave the picture hooks in the wall if they are in a place that would "reasonably" be used for others to also hang pictures. As this is deemed to be part of living in a property and therefore fair wear and tear because it is normal for people to put up pictures.
If you do not want pictures hung in your house or anything attached to your walls then you should have it specifically written into your lease agreement that permission is denied for this but expect your property to languish empty with no income coming in because it will tell a prospective tenant a lot about their prospective landlord. What goes around comes around!
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"lease agreement"?
What country are you in?
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"Lease Agreement" - The legal tenancy agreement between landlord and tenant!
UK!
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In E&W it is a "tenancy agreement" for residential property.
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As a landlord this is what I did.. the tenant had to pay for a decorator to make good the damage.. decorator charged £120 + materials + VAT. The £120 was the daily rate for a professional decorator in this area.. he would not turn-up for less.. in fact he had to wait for filler to dry, paint to dry so came back in the evening; if the room is wallpapered will need to match paper, may need to repaper room, could cost hundreds more.
Landlords make sure you use legal tenancy agreements and the court / arbitrator will have no option but to refer to the wording of the agreement signed by the tenant; make sure the tenants initial every page, also take large quality photos of the damage.
Simples.
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It does not matter where you live. The legal document that you signed that documents the arrangements between you and your Landlord has all the clauses in it about what you can and can't do in the property whilst you live in it. Most use a standard document and just change one or two things to fit the individual needs of their situation.
If however you have a palace with precious walls and la de da paint and you don't want anyone putting up pictures or mirrors or doing anything to the property so it stays exactly as it is when you hand over the keys, then you need to write your own agreement probably with the help of a lawyer.
As Waddles says if it is set up correctly to start with so there is no arguments about who is responsible for what and everyone agrees to it and signs to it, then a judge is going to find it easy at the end to make a decision.
As a for instance, we have just had our bill paid for our little incident with the drill going into the undetected pipe. I won't go into all the details but we were able to show clearly that the agreement we signed made the Landlord responsible because he had specifically opted to cover accidental damage rather than pass it to us so we could put it onto our Tenants Insurance Policy. They argued, took legal advice but were told we were right. Moral - spend the time doing things right before you sign on the dotted line and understand what you are signing for.
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"It does not matter where you live."
It matters a lot.
Landlord & tenant law in E&W is very different to those of the US (for example).
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My son lives in the US and rents a property as have we when we lived there. It still will come down to the document that you are bound by and sign no matter what that document is called. Of course there are some differences in the laws from state to state however those laws still rest with the document that you sign and what is in it.
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In E&W the "tenancy agreement" must comply with the law. If a term doesn't, the term is not valid and the tenant is not bound by it. The document (its called a tenancy agreement in E&W) does not overide the law. I assume it is the same in the US.
So yes, it does matter where you live.
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"In E&W the "tenancy agreement" must comply with the law."
You said it in a nutshell. If you want to make sure the clauses comply take it to a lawyer to draw it up and before you sign and or if you are a tenant do the same so you know which ones you won't be bound by!
As Waddles said "Simples"!
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IMHO
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In E&W a solicitor, not lawyer, will draught, not draw up, your contract.
You say tomato, I say tomato
(which works better when you're talking instead of writing)
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You are correct; If the Tenancy Agreement states, 'the landlord will be permitted to cut the tenants balls off, with a chainsaw, if the said tenant makes any holes in the property walls and leaves the property without having the said holes repaired professionally '.
Sincerely
IMHO
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Anyway, I'll rub the glaze away from my eyes.
I think somewhere along the way someone mentioned putting up a wooden plank, for want of a better description, above the window so people can screw away into that when they want to hang poncy curtains up. Your right about the areas in which things have been screwed in. What on Earth was that next to the radiator??
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i want to hang my tv on the wall & put some shelves in my spare room but in my tenancy agreement it says i cant :( where do i stand as i feel i want to move because who actually reads their tenancy until after theyve moved in lol.
i cant live in my home and make it a home so i spend money being out all the time which is money i would spend making my house into a home.
to me in my opinion most landlords are c**ts especially the ones above complain bout the la de da paint theyve done that house up to high standard but why if your not going to live there? and the guy about the holes as long as the pollyfiller does the job whats the problem it just makes you look a prick (in my opinion)
lol
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The proble is I only read this after I hung up 3 pictures with pin nails and a small mirror with a raw plug. I guess im fu**ed when I move out. The property managment company will keep my £600 deposit. Though I think they have just used a standard agreement as this seems to be on most assured shorthold tenancy agreements. If all i had to look at was magnolia walls I would end up trowing myself off my lovely new balcony.
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If they try keeping the full £600 for 3 nails and a raw plug then dispute it with the TDS. Unless its a top of the range period conversion, then it will cost a fraction of that to repair.
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However what Benji says it correct a £600 charge for this issue would be very excessive and an arbitrator I doubt would award, alot to the landlord for this.
If the place was newly decorated when you moved in and you move out after 6 month I would imagine the most they would award is the cost based on an avg of 3 quote to paint the wall, minus 10% as you were there 6 months and the wall would be considered to need decorating again after 5 years.
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All you need to do when you move out take the screws out of the wall. Make sure no part of the rawlplug is raised above the wall surface and fill it with a some filler using a filling knife leaving a smooth surface. This is five minutes work. I think this whole discussion is making a mountain out of a molehill or mabe a cavern out of a filled screw hole.
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Also just filling and not painting a wall that has a specific mention contract is not going to mean that you get away with it especially if your agent uses a AIIC registered person to carry out their inventories.
listening to people like Jonathan R who just speculate with no real knowledge of the subject is a dangerous game.
That being said I'm sure a mutually acceptable compromise can be reached.
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You really do seem to be a suffer from complete anal retentiveness. I suggest this might even be affecting your personal life. Perhaps you should see someone about your issues and try to get to grip with the bigger picture.
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Let us just hope that you are a better at being a tenant, than you are at spelling. lol
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P.s What the F*&K does "Goodly" mean ?
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