Tenant offering to paint

Hi All,

My PM has forwarded me a request from my tenant offering to paint the house if I supply the paint.

On the surface this seems like a good deal. Get the house painted for material cost only (no labour).

But I am trying to think of all the worst case scenarios that could happen. I.e poor quality work, injury while working etc

Has anyone had a similar situation before or any insight into the legalities?

 

I agree with @wylie, don't !!!!!!!!

 

Is your tenant a professional painter?
If so then go for it!
If not Specify exactly what preparation must be completed.
Get your agreement in writing , with a start/ finish date,
Check colours are in fashion /in demand prior to starting.
1. Wash down wall with sugar soap.
2. Rinse with fresh water.
3. light sand.
4. Dust.
5. paint 2 coats if the same colour as existing, if not bleed sealer, undercoat etc.
Painting properly is a much bigger job than the general public realise...
Having just paid a fortune to rectify a shoddy job.

I hope this helps

 

Generally not a good idea. I dont like my tenants doing anything of that nature.

 

Most people underestimate the prep and precision that goes into painting and do a hack job of it.

 

I’ve seen some pretty poor work out of qualified persons, can only imagine the **** show of a tenant doing it.
Not even sure what their motivation would be, either they rented it in that condition knowing what it’s liks or they have been in a long time say 7-10 plus years since the last repaint and in that case it’s due to be done awayway

 

I tend to only get these offers on houses that REALLY need to be painted, in which case we'll carefully set out the terms of the agreement stating that the job must be to a professional standard, you agree on an appropriate colour scheme and they'll be liable for any damage (e.g. paint on carpet). I get them to do one room first to show me that their cutting in is much better than mine (I can't paint to save my life) and then give go ahead for the rest.

If the paint is at all reasonable, you probably wouldn't want to risk letting someone amateur hack at it- but in every case I've had tenants do it, they've significantly improved the presentation of the home.

 

There is no need to sand before painting a previously painted wall - unless you have filled any cracks or hollows and need to feather the edges. Or the wall has lots of flaky paint.

The sugar soap prepares the surface well enough for paint to adhere, without sanding.

 

Then the only reason to paint would be to change color.

I always sand, I have yet to come across (or do) the perfect wall, there is almost always some form of damage, imperfection in the original base, debris in the paint applied, texture to the existing paint.

The toilet/bathroom has to be perfect, if it isn't people will notice when they're sitting around

 

Thanks for the feedback all.

I would be selecting the paint colour. To be honest I haven't been to the house in a while so I don't know if the house is in desperate need for a paint or if the tenants just want a refresh. The house is only 14yrs old so I wouldn't guess its too bad.

I've painted in a few of my other reno's so I'm familiar with the process but not naive enough to think I'm anywhere near a professional.

My initial thoughts were pretty pessimistic. I think if I do go down this path I would need to see the quality of 1 bedroom completed before I could agree to do the rest of the house.

They're good tenants but I'm having flashes of painted over light switches & paint droplets on the carpet/tiles...

 

This. I just bought a place that the previous owner spent $8k painting. She must have told the painters she was only painting to sell it, so they just rushed it knowing she'd never be around to see if it would hold up. I'm now going through the painful job of scraping it all off because they didn't use a primer. 30% of it just peels right off like glad wrap. The other 70% is going to take some serious elbow grease. Not fun.