Did you know: Painting
Are you required to paint your rental apartment if requested by the owner?
With this first short article, we embark on a journey to provide useful tips, not only for expats in the Czech Republic. In this one, we will target the question of rental apartment painting.
Do you have a rental contract for an apartment, which is about to end? All prepared for handover and your contract does not state any obligation for you to paint the apartment? Are you all set? Not necessarily.
The governmental regulation No. 308/1025 which specifies what is to be considered as common maintenance and small repairs, specifically states that painting of a property is considered as common maintenance and shall be borne by the tenant!
The frequency of painting is not specified but lawyers agree that the owner has a right to request the painting at least once during the rental period, typically when you are handing the apartment back.
Is white enough or do you need to paint in color? The ยง 2225 of the Civil Code specifies that the tenant needs to return the property in the state in which he/she received it taking under consideration usual wear and tear. If the apartment is painted in colour, you should return it painted in a similar shade. Painting white may not be accepted by the owner.
So what do you need to do in order not to be surprised at the end of the rent and possibly to avoid covering the cost of the painting? Negotiate the conditions at the beginning of the rental!
There are several scenarios and factors to take into account, so let's break them down:
Scenario A: The owner mentions that they wish to receive the property back painted and/or the obligation is mentioned in the contract.
Recommendation: negotiate the contract in one of the below-suggested ways:
1. Either to state that the tenant does not need to return the property painted (less probable if the owner already includes it in the contract); or
2. Suggest conditions for the painting, i.e. the tenant will have to paint the apartment only if the lease period will be longer than one year (considering you will not damage the painting), or reverse the conditioning, i.e. in case of a lease longer than three years, the painting will be done by the owner (during that time you will pay enough rentals, that the owner could take the painting onto themselves).
When negotiating please consider how hard you wish to push this, to avoid endangering the deal just because of painting.
Scenario B: Does the contract not state the painting at all?
Recommendation:
1. Negotiate for the contract to state that painting is not required or the same conditions as above;
2. Do not mention the painting at all. In practice, some owners may not be aware of their right to request the painting and thus you will not be required to paint the apartment. In this case, note that if the owner knows, you may be required to do so at the end of the lease anyway.
ExpatEase tip: If you receive the apartment not freshly painted, you should not be required to hand it back freshly painted as well. However, this fact needs to be stated in the handover protocol when you receive the property.
