You are moving out from your rented apartment that you have called home for months or years. Before moving out, you need to clean and fix a few things in the apartment. So, you may wonder, “Do I need to paint the rented apartment before I move out?”
Painting a rented apartment is not typically the responsibility of the tenants. However, if they have repainted the apartment after moving in or damaged the paint in any way, they may be responsible for repainting before moving out.
In this article, you will learn about when it is your responsibility to paint the rented apartment before moving out. You may want to know how often a rental should be painted.
How Often Should A Rental Be Painted?
Even if tenants live in a rental apartment, they may want to color it according to their preference. Besides, repainting helps to maintain and protect the walls of the apartment.
It is important to understand how often a rented apartment should be painted and who handles it. Is it the responsibility of the tenant or the landlord? Let us see how often landlords and tenants should repaint the apartment.
Typically, it is the responsibility of the landlords to paint the apartment. But how often should landlords repaint their rented apartments? It is easy to understand it is time to paint the apartment when there are visible signs of wear and tear.
Painting a rented apartment is essential for both practical and aesthetical purposes. The landlords must make sure the apartment stays in habitable condition. Moreover, it attracts new tenants.
People often think that landlords have to repaint the apartment in between tenants. They do not always need to paint the apartment after a tenant moves out. It depends on the condition of the paint. Tenants can stay for a few months or years. Again, the damage can be mild, which does not need repainting.
In many big cities, there are laws on repainting apartments. According to the law, landlords have to repaint the apartments every two to four years.
So, make sure to check the laws of your state to see how often your landlord should paint the rented apartment. Depending on paint quality and condition, landlords can even paint after every five years.
Now, how often should tenants repaint the apartment during their stay? Well, there is no legal rule for tenants to repaint apartments.
Tenants do not have to repaint the wall unless they want to. Also, they have to repaint the wall if they have caused any damage. Otherwise, the landlord will adjust the cost of damage from the deposit money of the tenants.
Do I Need To Paint Rented Apartment Before I Move Out?
When you are moving out from a rented apartment, the landlord will expect you to leave the apartment clean, and in the same condition you have moved in. Do you need to paint the rented apartment before moving out? It depends on how you have treated the paint during your stay in the apartment.
When you rented the apartment, have you repainted it? If so, you must have taken your landlord’s permission because they are quite strict about it. Most times, landlords let tenants paint apartments under some conditions. The tenants must either repaint the apartment to the previous color or a neutral color.
Tenants often choose their favorite colors to repaint the apartment. The next tenant may not prefer the color. Hence, the landlord has to repaint at their own cost. Moreover, tenants may accidentally damage the apartment while painting, which, again the landlord has to fix.
Therefore, to avoid such costs, landlords give the tenants the responsibility to change the apartment color back to its usual color and pay for it. When you are signing for the lease, you may have discussed painting the apartment with your landlord and when you are responsible for repainting it.
You do not have to paint the apartment before moving out if you have not painted the apartment when you moved in. In rare cases, you may not have to repaint if the landlord is okay with the color.
However, tenants also sign an agreement that says they are responsible for any damage to the apartment caused by them. It also applies to damaging the wall, floor, and ceiling paint. But you need to understand when it is not your responsibility to paint the walls. The paint can also get damaged because of natural causes or accidents.
Let us first understand when you need to paint before moving out:
- Drilled holes on the wall to hang wall decors, shelves, or other things. You have to fix the wall and the paint.
- Young children often stain the wall with paints or ink, the tenant has to clean those marks.
- Discoloration of the paint due to smoke or other substance.
- Pet messes like urine stains and scratches.
- Wall Paint and flooring damaged during furniture movement.
- Mold or mildew growth in the apartment due to lack of cleaning.
If your rented apartment’s paint has been damaged for any of the above reasons, you have to paint the apartment before moving out. Take care of these issues before your landlord points them out. Landlords may try to find excuses to cut the cost from your deposit money.
You can talk with your landlord and try not to get charged for some minor scratches, marks, or stains. These can appear because of long time use. Thus, the landlord may ignore minor markings.
Tenants need to know when they are not responsible for painting the apartment before moving out. It will save them from spending unnecessary costs.
Here are the conditions when you do not have to repaint the apartment:
- Paint damaged by fire or electric short circuits not caused by you.
- Paints faded by sunlight or washed away by rain.
- Molds growing from a faulty plumbing system.
- Painting problems because of natural disasters like storms or earthquakes.
Is It Better To Paint Before Or After Moving?
You are leaving your current apartment for a new apartment. It can be your own or rented. No matter what, you may need to repaint your new apartment. But when should you paint your new apartment? Is it better to paint before or after moving in?
To understand which one is the best time to paint an apartment, let us see the advantages of painting both before and after moving in.
Advantages of painting before moving in:
- Faster: Before you move into an apartment, there is no heavy furniture. Painters can easily walk around and paint fast. They do not have to move around heavy furniture. They can reach every nook and corner of the apartment and apply paint without obstacles.
- Cost: Since the painters can work fast, they need less time to finish the work. Hence, you can save some costs.
- Easy to Clean: When you are painting an empty apartment, you do not have to fear getting paints on your furniture. Cleaning up an empty home is easy and quite faster.
- Does not affect your health: Paints have harsh chemicals. It can cause breathing problems or skin irritations. You do not have to face any health hazards as the painting will be done before you move into the apartment.
On the other hand, when you paint after moving in, you have to move around the furniture and cover them. However, you can paint your apartment matching your furniture and interior design when you paint after moving in.
As you can see, painting apartments before moving in is always better than painting after moving in. It is less costly and much faster.
Conclusion
So, Do I Need To Paint a Rented Apartment Before I Move Out? Yes, tenants may have to paint the apartment before moving out. You have to repaint or pay for the painting changes and damages you have made. If you can manage to make no painting modification or misuse, you do not need to paint the rented apartment.