Whether you are just moving into your new apartment, or have been in your apartment for several years, there is always that desire to make it as much of a home as possible. You want your apartment to feel like you want it to look and feel. And many times, the suggestion can come up to paint the walls of your apartment.
But is this necessarily the best decision to do no matter how much you want a different color on your walls? We are going to go over the few things you need to keep in mind before heading down to Home Depot and buying your paint.
Is It The Landlord’s Responsibility To Paint?
A common question when tenants move in often have is “Should I paint my apartment”? Most times, when you are just moving into an apartment, the landlord or manager will have already painted the apartment for you.
This is done generally as part of the flipping process they do between the time when someone else moves out and you move in. Unless your landlord didn’t paint at all, there is no way to tell what can all be in the paint and the walls of the unit from years of previous living.
Usually, the cleaning process starts with washing and scrubbing the walls in every room. Based on how much dirt and grime come off the walls will usually determine whether the landlord decides to repaint the apartment.
Many times, repainting an apartment is an automatic process in their flipping procedures. Landlords want to be able to rent out their units as quickly as possible, and having a nice, freshly painted apartment goes along way to accomplishing this.
There are no real laws that require a landlord to paint an apartment between tenants. As long as they are meeting all the conditions for habitability for the apartment, and there is not any lead-based paint or massive chipping and peeling of the paint off the walls, it is up to the landlord to whether or not they want to repaint the apartment or not.
You are going to be able to tell a lot about your landlord and your apartment complex based on whether or not you are moving in with a fresh coat of paint in your unit or not.
Can I Paint Without Permission?
So you don’t like the paint you have in your apartment. Maybe it is becoming old and flaking, you want it to feel homier, or maybe you just don’t like the color. Whatever the reason, you want to paint your apartment.
What are your rights when it comes to paining your apartment?
In most circumstances, you should absolutely talk to the landlord or manager before doing anything that modifies the property. This is just common courtesy as it is their property and they may have a policy on it. It will also help you in avoiding unnecessary costs in the future if they find out you painted the apartment without their permission and they don’t appreciate it.
Just let your landlord know what you are wanting to do. There is a chance as long as the color isn’t bright pink or something gaudy, they may be perfectly fine with it. After all, you are making an attempt to improve their property! They may appreciate it and give you the go-ahead.
However, if they want all of their apartments looking the same, and using the same paint, or maybe they don’t want to set a precedent in letting tenants modify the apartment any way they want, then you will have an issue.
The landlord can absolutely charge you to pay to repaint the apartment before you move out. And this isn’t money that will come out of your security deposit, this will be the cost of painting, or hiring someone else to repaint your apartment before you leave.
The easiest way to avoid this is just to go to your landlord, tell him what you would like to do, and see what they say. There is a good chance, they will just be good with it and let you have at it.
But if they absolutely don’t want their units any other color than what they pick out, painting your apartment without permission could end up costing you major time, effort, and money.
How Much Does It Cost To Paint An Apartment?
The next thing that you want to consider before undertaking this project is how much it is going to cost you.
If you are having someone paint your apartment for you, for a normal 2-bedroom apartment, you are going to be looking at somewhere between $1,500-$2,000 for supplies, materials, and labor.
If you are going to do it yourself, you could probably cut that cost in half because you are going to be the labor in that equation. But it still isn’t going to be cheap. And then you are going to have the time spent doing it on top of that.
So you have to ask yourself: Is it really worth it?
Should I Paint My Rental Apartment?
Is it really worth it to paint your apartment? Let’s take a look.
We know that you want the place to look different than it is now, that’s a given but, it is in your best interest?
First off, as we mentioned above, painting isn’t cheap. You are going to have to get enough paint for the entire apartment and the ceilings if you want to do it. Many times, people forget that they are probably going to have to paint the ceilings as well if they are doing the walls. It isn’t as simple as just throwing some paint on one wall, you are going to have to do the whole apartment to make it homogenous.
Also, this is going to cost you more than just money, it is going to cost you time as well. Sure, you can have some of your friends or family come over and help you out if you want, but it is still man-hours that are going to be spent improving a property that isn’t yours.
Secondly, more than likely you are going to have to paint the entire apartment back the way it was when you leave. If you are planning on staying in your apartment long-term, or have been there for a long time already, then the situation may warrant it.
But many tenants only stay in their unit for a year, maybe two, and then move on. It becomes a complete waste of money to paint something that you are not even going to be able to use a short time from now.
Finally, when you move out, you are going to have to deal with getting the apartment back to the exact same state it was in when you moved in. This is more than likely going to consist of painting it back the same color and consistency of paint that the apartment complex uses for the rest of their units.
Unless your landlord is going to work out some deal with you where they are going to pay for some of the paint if you do the work to improve the unit, all that cost is going to be on you for only a short period of time. More often than not, it isn’t going to be worth it.
However, if the paint is already chipping and peeling, you may be able to approach your landlord and bring this to his attention. Offer to them that you will be more than happy to repaint the apartment for them if they pay for the paint and let you pick the color. This could be a deal that could benefit both parties!
In conclusion, you absolutely can paint your apartment a different color if you want. And in some cases, it may be cost-effective and warranted. But unless you are planning on staying long enough to see the value of the time and money you put into the place, it isn’t a wise decision to do it. Painting is not cheap, and it takes time and effort.
In most cases, it isn’t going to be worth making someone else’s place better, while you are only going to be able to use it for a short amount of time.
If you really want to repaint your unit, go and talk to your landlord first, don’t just paint the apartment without their permission. Let them know what you want to do, ask permission, and see if they may want to go in on the paint with you as it is going to be an improvement for their own property.
Whatever you do, make sure that it is worth it.
