Painting Restrictions in a Rental Agreement or Lease

Check with your landlord before changing the color of your walls.

When you rent out a property to live in, chances are you will not always be satisfied with the color of the walls. Even if you like the neutral-colored paints in the rental property, eventually you may wish to change things by giving the home a paint makeover. One of the things to keep in mind before you take that trip to the paint supply store is whether or not your rental agreement permits you to make changes to the paint.

Function

Your rental agreement is a contract that explains a mutual understanding between you, the tenant, and your landlord. The landlord is responsible for drafting the rental agreement according to the restrictions he wishes to impose during the term of your lease. As such, the items outlined in the rental agreement state what you, the tenant, are allowed to do to the home and what you aren't. Painting is often an item that is found under the category of things you are not supposed to do as a tenant. Landlords have the right, under the rental agreement, to keep their walls a certain color.

Permission

Within the text of your rental agreement, you may find special permission items. For example, a clause might be included in the lease that says if the tenant is interested in painting the walls and making other maintenance changes to the property, she must contact the landlord for permission first. This type of statement within the rental agreement reflects that the landlord is willing to make changes to the property, but requires the tenant to run the idea past the landlord before taking on the project herself. Once she does, the landlord and the tenant can discuss the new color that the tenant wishes to paint the walls, what kind of paint to use -- if the landlord requests a specific one -- and the landlord might even rather have a professional painting company do the walls instead of the tenant, who may be an amateur painter.

Options

Another type of painting restriction within a rental agreement is that which outlines options that the tenant has. For instance, a rental agreement may state that the tenant is not to make changes to the wall color, except for colors that include white, eggshell white, ivory or beige. In this example, the landlord has identified acceptable colors that he would be willing to allow the tenant to paint on his own, without permission. It is also possible that a landlord would want to specify in the rental agreement that bright or bold colors, including yellow, orange, pink, red and blue, are not acceptable for the walls.

Consequences

Failure to adhere to a rental agreement's painting restrictions can lead to financial penalties that the tenant will have to pay to the landlord at the end of the lease. The landlord may charge the tenant for the amount of money that it will cost to repaint the walls, or can set a concrete penalty amount for this type of misconduct.

Considerations

Tenants who forget to check their rental agreements prior to repainting the walls can correct this error before the lease expires by stripping the paint and applying the original color back onto the walls themselves. This would require that the tenants knew what color the walls were to begin with to get the paint to match perfectly.

References

• Common Floor: Important Sections to Cover in Your Rental Agreement
• Mackie Properties: General Info