[Leccy-Lee]

Well i have now moved home to a new rental, sharing with a friend, its a nice place and we like it. :cheers

However when our landlord repainted last week (hhm emulsion over nicotine stains? lol) they removed all the old picture hooks and filled/painted over them. So we have all bare white walls in every room.

I asked if it was ok to hang some pictures etc (and leave all tidy when we move out) and i got "we dont really want anything on walls" after some discussion i managed to get a very reluctant "oh ok, but not too many please, just one or two only".. :roll

My flatmate thinks its the landlords right and we should not put any up if thats what they want, am i being unreasonable to want to live in a home that doesn't have blank bare walls? I mean right now we got echoes in all rooms as there 4 large flat walls to reflect sounds. Surely being able to hang a few pictures etc is a tenants right to a "peaceful home"

NO? Am i being funny?

>God forbid i was going to ask to fit some shelves etc to the walls, i dare not even ask now! LOL :p

[Moorf]

As an ex-landlady of a flat in the UK for 15 yrs, I can honestly say that you'd be AMAZED at the condition some people feel they can leave a house/flat in. I was really lenient at first but after being taken for a ride/let down so many times I had to come down hard. I left a reasonable amount of nails in walls and they had to use them and could put in no more... I'm sure they weren't happy at that but hey, it's my flat! :p

So, no I don't agree it's your right to be able to do as you wish with the walls/decor BUT...

a) can you use the Command Adhesive hooks for pictures on the walls - they leave no mark and can hold a couple of kg in the bigger sizes.

b) could you show your landlord what and where you want to put stuff up - I was happy to entertain thoughtful decor and improvements - even allowed shelves to be put on wall at one point.

Of course, the landlord will take out any costs for repairs to walls etc when you leave if you decide to go ahead anyway.

I'm amazed he's happy for smokers (ref the nicotine walls) and not pictures - that seems a little strange - stale smoke/nicotine stains are way more offputting to future tenants than a few nail holes!!

Perhaps he's had a bad experience and you're paying for it....

[Leccy-Lee]

Hi Moorf

On the Contrary they are "New" landlords, and have openly admitted they have never done it before and are a little unsure. Basically an old lady owned this house and lived here for 20yrs+ and had 100s of pictures (when we viewed there wasn't much wall spare!) She has sold the house to them and gone. Therefore they have taken the property as new landlords, this house has never been a rental before. The old lady smoked like a trooper and hence the stains (which with the poor paint job, will be back in few months!)

I can totally appreciate what you are saying, having worked Electrical maintenance in the UK for many landlords, i seen the state some people leave there rental homes!

I would discuss locations etc, but there English is very poor and conversations are not easy! She agreed finally to a few, so i shall just put a picture or two in each room, i may try those command hooks you mention, although i still never convinced of anything that "sticks" (probably the Pro tradesman in me)

So in curiosity would you "expect" someone to live in a house that has bare walls and echoes like an empty flat?

Ah the sooner i can get PR sorted and maybe apply for a mortgage the happier i be! Then i can hang as many pics as i like :P

[kanatakiwi]

I have been a "landlord" (hate that word) and a tenant and in both cases thought it was entirely reasonable to put things on the wall. Also in both cases, the holes were filled in with wall putty and sanded and painted with the matching paint when I or the tenants left. One one or two occassions, the renters did not do this, but it only took me about an hour to fill in the holes and repaint, and I took that out of their security deposit (I think they call that a bond in NZ) and I have always understood that tenants are responsible for any damages and that is what the bond is for?

I am sure if you commit to doing this, the landlord will be happy to let you hang things on the wall. I can understand their point of view if it was a short term rental but if you are planning to stay a while, I think you have every right to hang stuff on the walls to personalize your space. Is there not something in your rental agreement that talks about responsibilities for damages etc?

[Moorf]

So in curiosity would you "expect" someone to live in a house that has bare walls and echoes like an empty flat?

Noooo! Never! But at the same time I don't think it is your right to decide if they should allow pictures (that's the jist of your thread I was referring to).

From the sounds of it your landlords are allowing some decoration of the walls - I think some good attempts at communicating what you want and your method of hanging will solve your problem and ensure you get a cosier environment....

You're a conscientious guy who will do a great job hanging stuff on their walls - but they don't know that... yet. ;)

The fact they are new landlords means they are probably inexperienced. As an experienced renter perhaps you could let them know that the norm is to allow some pictures on walls?

[zardell]

Hi Lee.

We have been in exactly the same situation - wanting to turn a rental house into our home.

On the lease it stated that pictures may be hung on existing hooks, but as our was a brand new house there weren't any !!

We approached our landlord and he allowed us a couple of hooks in strategic places in each room (I showed him what I wanted to put where) but for the rest we used the 'sticky hook thingies' and they are surprisingly strong.

I think it may be an idea to let sleeping dogs lie for the moment and after a few months, when they realise they have good, clean tenants ask them again.

Happy new home,

Julie

xx

[CityBlue]

Ok you have me a bit worried now!

We (sorry - I) have hung 4 mirrors, and 5 picture frames (so far) and didnt even think to ask the landlord!!

Am I an unthoughtful tennant?

Its funny though because we kept our house in UK (therefore we are 'landlords' too) and have tennants that have hung Plasma Tv and pics on walls and I just didnt even think that they would feel the need to ask my permission to hang a few pics etc.


Oh well I guess if my landlord is bothered by it - then when I leave some of the bond will be taken out for hole filling etc...again which is fine by me as thats one of the things its for IMO.

[ellenmelon]

maybe approach the landlord and say that you're willing to fix any 'damage' caused by what you use to hang things when you leave.

but you probably wont have to with all the new hooks and sticky things that hold things up available :D

[Familyofmonkeys]

We are not allowed to pt any picture hooks up in our rental...it is a brand new house and says in the contract that we can't put anything on the walls. However, they agreed to adding an additional bit to the contract so we are using the 3m sticky hook things and they are pretty stong.
They also agreed to let us put up a fixed safety gate on the stairs...again we had this written into the contract so they don't try and take any bond money later on. We have been given the left over paint so we can repair the holes properly when we eventually move out.

[ellenmelon]

was thinking about this thread and had a story i wanted to share. its a bit easier to laugh about it now but at the time :no

when we moved from the north island to the south island, we moved into a 3 bed rented house. it was a bit of a squish with 6 people but we were fine for 18months.

mum and dad starting noticing wierd things the landlords (a older lady and her son) would do. our next door neighbours reported that the LL had been coming around when we werent home and taking photos through the windows, coming unnannouced when it was me and my brothers and sister at home (we knew she was the landlord but when you're 13/14 you're not going to question them wanting to come inside)..just generally wierd behaviour on her part.
when we went to move out to our new house that we bought, she refused to give our bond back. one of many reasons was pinholes in the wall. she had gone round and counted them and photographed them. these were there previous to us moving in and paint hadnt really filled them in. (some other reasons were a crisp packet left in the fireplace, dust on skirting boards..this was all photographed.)
it went to the small claims court where mediation was required (we were successful). i just remember mum coming home and being in tears because of this nutter to put it politely.

moral of story? we hadnt done anything wrong but some landlords can and will use very small things against you when it comes to bonds and their return.

(im not judging anyone on here..just sharing an unfortunate story!)

[kanatakiwi]

oooh Ellen what an awful story!! There truly are some nutters out there.

I had a look at the Tenancy Tribunal page and they talk about "substantial damage" being a reason to evict or to hold back the bond. Doubt that pin pricks would qualify.

not sure if they sell it here, but in north america you can buy a little tin of polyfilla, slap it in the hole, smooth it over, sand it if necessary and a touch of paint, and voila no one would even know there had been a nail hole there.

[pinkpiggy]

Our contract says we're not allowed to hang anything on the walls with nails but we can use the command strips. We have done this and they work very well. We have a rather large oil painting on our lounge wall hung with these and have been here 6 months and it's still there. :laugh

We do however have a large and very heavy mirror that we wouldn't dream of putting up - we will in our new house but just not here. This is one of the reasons I don't feel quite at home in a rental. That and the fact i'm always telling the boys not to spill anything - although we have to have the carpet cleaned when we leave - I don't want a dirty great cranberry or blackcurrant juice stain being a reason for the Landlord not to give us our bond back. :no

P.S. It tells you on the back of the command strips packet how heavy an item they will hold.

[Leccy-Lee]

The command strips sound an idea, but the glue etc is only as good as what they are fixed too?! And the walls in our place are old paper, painted over. My fear would be that they tear off the paper leaving not just a small hole (as a screw would) but a helluva mess to redocorate. ?

:(

[randomone]

wish I'd known about command adhesive hooks before. Just bought some online now.