NWR: Convincing (Boston) landlord to repaint apartment

phira

We've been living in our apartment for about a year and a half. It's a decent apartment in terms of the layout and bare bones, but it's been trashed and poorly taken care of by previous tenants. We've gotten our cabinets and kitchen sink replaced, and we have a list of repairs for the landlord once we officially resign the lease this week (namely, need some regrouting in the bathroom and kitchen, a screen in the bathroom needs to be replaced, the bathroom sink is leaky, etc; little things, nothing we broke). Our landlord is a pretty good landlord by Boston standards, which means that he responds to complaints very quickly, fixes stuff when asked, and doesn't engage in any obviously super illegal practices.

The problem?

Previous tenants painted the apartment horrible colors, and put tons and tons of holes in the walls. No one's been taking care of the place, so the trim and the doors need to be repainted as well; they're full of cracks and practically unwashable (we've tried). Some of the holes in the walls were made with drywall anchors that have been painted over, making them difficult to remove.

We were told by the realtor that the apartment would be repainted, but 1) we're not surprised he lied, and 2) the biggest eyesore (the checkered flags painted on the living room wall) were indeed painted over by the previous tenants before they moved out. The landlord did tell us that he would pay for supplies if we wanted to spackle and repaint, but the problem is that the task is overwhelming.

A year and a half later, with 1-2 more years in this apartment on the horizon, I tired of it being really gross. I'd like to hang stuff on the walls, but it's hard to do so when there are holes, old nails, and painted-over drywall anchors all over the walls. It's hard to feel like we live in a home when the walls have grime on them that we can't wash off. I would be fine repainting just a room or two, but this isn't a matter of repainting 4 walls.

Thinking, "I'll charge him for supplies, and spend 2-3 weeks repainting this summer," I asked for advice on social media, along the lines of, "How do I do this REALLY quickly and efficiently?" The overwhelming response has been, "UM, haha no, you really should be trying to get the landlord to redo it."

So ... I guess I'm just not sure HOW. I'll check the details of the lease when I get home, but I know we didn't get in writing that the apartment would be repainted. I'd honestly prefer that the landlord do it himself, since it'll happen better and faster, but my friends also suggested that we ask for a massive deduction on rent. (Which then leads to the question: How much would it cost to have a 690 sq ft apartment entirely repainted?)

ANY advice appreciated. I'm totally used to living in crappy Boston apartments, but J is adamant that we not move, and I'm just done with living in crappy apartments.

AprilH81

Could the landlord be unaware of the problem? 

First I would simply ask that the landlord cover the cost of the repair and repainting of the whole apartment (including door and trim if those are part of the paint issues).

If he says no offer to do the work yourself if you can deduct the supplies and $x per hour of your time (each of you) to do it yourself from the rent.  You would need to track your hours and keep receipts but doing it yourself would ensure it gets done.

If he still doesn't then you will have to suck it up and eat the cost and time if you really want it done (assuming that there is nothing in your contract to force him to do it).

Painting and patching is tedius, but not hard.  If the walls are grimy you will want to prime first, or at least buy a paint that has primer in it.  For the wall that is painted in a checkerboard pattern you will want to lightly sand all of the lines and prime before you paint.  Otherwise the pattern still might bleed through.

mysticl

We had our old house repainted before we turned it into a rental.  The guy who did it said the usual rate is $1-$1.50 a square foot.  This was in Virginia Beach so there is a lower cost of living to take into account.  I will say his crew painted our entire house in one day (about 1000 square feet).  It would have taken us days or weeks to do.  

phira

@AprilH81 He's aware of the current paint colors and the unspackles holes, but I don't think he's aware of how extensive painting will actually be (e.g. it's not going to just be a tube of spackle and a few days of painting).

Fortunately, the previous tenants DID paint over the horrible checkered flag, although you can juuuuust see where it was (the pattern is still slightly visible because the paint is a little bit raised). Our plan is definitely to buy primer+paint combination, but it's really looking like this is going to take several weeks for us to do on our own, whereas a professional crew could do it in a matter of days if we're out of the house.

@mysticl We have a much smaller apartment, so I could imagine it might only take a couple days (including all the washing, spackling, and sanding, and because our apartment is full of furniture).

AprilH81

@phira If the damage and amount of work that is needed is as extensive as you say I think it would be worth his while to have it done right, especially if you can prove you are good tenants who pay rent on time, take care of the apartment and don't cause trouble. 

Would you be willing to sign a longer lease if he agrees?  That might be worth it to him to keep good tenants for two years (or whatever) than risk losing you over something so simple.

mysticl

When we had it done we were "camping" in our house.  All of our furniture had already been moved to storage and we had an air mattress, a tv, and a table and two chairs left in the house.  So that made things go much faster since nothing really needed to be moved around.  We hung out in the house and watched them.  

If we hadn't been moving and had just decided to paint it ourselves it would have taken weeks because of dealing with furniture and DH HATES painting so much procrastination happens.  As I sit here in a half painted great room typing this.  

phira

@AprilH81 Definitely. I've actually written up a draft letter, and I'm going to research a bunch of prices and edit it with J when I have a chance this weekend. There are other repairs we need to have done around the apartment (all are his responsibility, all were pre-existing, and the majority of them are repairs he forgot to fix--like I said, he's a good landlord for a BOSTON landlord, which means he's not great), and we're also going to be asking if he'll pay for blinds if we purchase them at a discount and install them, and if he'll update the bathroom mirror/light fixture.

We're going to offer to sign a 2-year lease as well (and we'll also agree to pay $1700 per month for the second year, up from $1650 for the lease year we're currently signing for), and we'll spackle and repaint any holes we put in the walls after he paints. Additionally, we'll offer to vacate the apartment while it's being repainted, so that the job can go more quickly, no cost to him.

Our next offer, if he doesn't want to pay for pros to do it, is to do it ourselves if he covers the cost of materials AND gives us a $100/month discount on rent for the upcoming lease year ($1550/month). But we really hope that he'll be okay with having pros paint because oh my god, it really would be a lot better than having us do a mediocre job.

@mysticl Yeah, the furniture is the number one reason J is SO against painting. We have a lot of books in bookshelves. I burn out quickly when it comes to painting; it took me 3 weeks to paint my childhood bedroom when I was home for winter break one year (it had a twin sized bed, a tall dresser, a bookshelf, and a nightstand--barely any furniture compared to the size of the room). I was home all day and bored, but I just didn't FEEL like painting all the time. I can't imagine how much longer it'll take when I'm painting after work!

huskypuppy14

There are good and bad landlords everywhere. Why do you think that Boston has bad landlords? The reason I'm asking is because I've lived here for 10 years (only 3 apartments though) and never had what you're experiencing. Now, I also live in Brighton, not near the colleges, so I feel that maybe the landlords renting to college/grad students in the BC and BU areas are getting away with more. Did he collect a security deposit from you, because all of those repairs should have been documented if so.

Massachusetts is actually very strict on landlord tenant laws, and though there isn't rent control, most of the rules are in favor of a good tenant.  A colleague of mine sued his landlord when he lived in Kenmore square, and won. 

 I'm sorry this is such a hassle for you, but I probably wouldn't have rented the apartment your describing in the first place (but I looked at close to 20 apartments before finding my current one 5 years ago, so I'm very picky.)  I know you don't want to move (I hate moving), but there are much nicer apartments in the same price range, so it might be worth it.  Regardless, I wouldn't sign a lease until these problems are resolved. 

phira

@laurynm84 I've lived in the Boston area for a while, and J has lived in Boston proper almost his entire life. This is the best renting experience he's had in Boston or Somerville, and this is the best experience I've had that hasn't been in a managed building in the suburbs. We're close enough to the T that we're in a student-y area, so I'm not surprised our landlord isn't great.

The other landlords we've had have been terrible. I'm talking refusing to return security deposits, trying to evict without any actual reasons (the landlord basically wanted us out a day early because he was mad that we wouldn't let realtors in without 24 hours notice), refusing to handle noisy neighbors who were also tenants, lying in retaliation for having an inspection done, etc. One of my past landlords is a known slumlord in the Boston area, and it was a nightmare living in his apartment. If I could have afforded a lease break, I'd have done it.

I'm stressed because J is convinced that, if we ask for repairs to be made (even if we don't ask for the apartment to be painted), our landlord will decide we're more trouble than we're worth and not rent to us after our lease ends (or up our rent significantly). I keep trying to convince him that our landlord has been good about a lot of repairs and mostly just seems forgetful, and that if he's going to up the rent, refuse to make repairs, or refuse to rent to us another year (after this one), then maybe we SHOULD move. It's hard to argue with someone who's got OCD and bad anxiety, and who's desperate to stay in the best living situation he's had since he moved out.

huskypuppy14

@ phira oh wow! It sounds like you had a really bad experience. The security deposit issue is a real big deal, I think landlords think they can get away with it, because there renting to students. You should have sued in small claims court, because you get triple damages if the judge rules in your favor and says that the landlord didn't handle your security deposit properly.   My friend sued and won, so it is possible.

I've written to landlords and refused to pay rent when we had a mouse infestation problem in my old apartment. Granted he did try but it wasn't working and getting worse, so we said we weren't paying rent until it was taken care of. It gotten taken care of .  

Don't feel bad about asking for things to get done. That is why you pay rent! I have a really good landlady, the worst thing about her is that she is a busybody, but she leaves us alone for the most part. And our maintenance guy is awesome.  Since, I've lived here she has redone the bathroom, gave us a new kitchen floor, put in all new windows, and made our back room an office, and put in a closet with laundry!  You can come live here when we move out, if you want. 

phira

@laurynm84 Sounds like an awesome apartment! And yeah, I feel like we've had some unusually bad experiences, and I know that J's anxiety is really getting in the way of us asking for what we're legally entitled. Like, yes, by the way, we CAN ask the landlord to make repairs because that's part of what we're PAYING for!