Painting Rental & Investment Properties in London: A Landlord's Guide

Why Decoration Matters More Than Landlords Often Think

Decoration is rarely the first thing a buy-to-let investor thinks about. Yields, void periods, tenant quality, service charges — these tend to dominate the conversation. But experienced landlords who have managed London rental properties for more than a few years will tell you the same thing: a well-presented property lets faster, lets to better tenants, holds its rental value more effectively, and requires less maintenance intervention over time.

The cost of painting a London flat before remarketing it is modest against the cost of a single additional week's void. Getting the decorating right — and doing it efficiently — is one of the highest-return investments a landlord can make.

The Core Principles for Rental Property Decoration

Durability First

The decorating specification for a rental property is different from a private home. In a private home, you can choose a finish based purely on aesthetics. In a rental, every product choice needs to balance appearance with performance. The key word is scrubbability.

Standard vinyl matt emulsion — the default choice in most low-budget redecoration jobs — marks easily, is difficult to clean without leaving visible patches, and tends to look tired within a year of heavy use. For rental properties, we specify a washable or scrubbable emulsion throughout.

Products we use regularly on rental properties:

Dulux Trade Diamond Matt: genuinely scrubbable, available in any tinted colour, holds up exceptionally well in high-traffic areas
Johnstone's Covaplus Vinyl Matt: a trade staple with good coverage and a washable finish
Crown Trade Clean Extreme: particularly good in kitchens and bathrooms where the coating needs to resist grease and moisture
Little Greene Intelligent Matt: for landlords who want to present a premium property, this product offers low VOC, good washability, and the quality of a boutique brand at a practical price point

Neutral Colour Schemes

This point generates more debate than it should. Some landlords want to paint their properties in interesting, distinctive colours to differentiate them in the market. The argument has some merit for premium properties where design-conscious tenants are the target audience. But for the majority of London rental flats, a neutral palette remains the most commercially sensible choice.

Neutral colours:

Photograph well — and most tenants now make their decision to view based on online photographs
Appeal to the widest possible range of tenants
Make touch-up repairs seamless — you can keep a tin of the wall colour and patch marks easily between tenancies without the need for a full repaint
Reduce the likelihood of rental-end disputes — a tenant who redecorates in a bright colour or who leaves marks on a white wall is clearly distinguishable from normal wear and tear

Our standard palette for rental properties:

Walls: Farrow & Ball Elephant's Breath, Little Greene Slaked Lime, Dulux Trade Natural Hessian, or a mid-grey such as Dulux Trade Polished Pebble
Ceilings: Brilliant White or Trade White — consistent across all rooms for ease of touch-up
Woodwork: Brilliant White in an eggshell finish — harder wearing than gloss, easier to touch up, and cleaner-looking than traditional oil-based gloss
Kitchen and bathroom: a slightly warmer or cooler variant of the main wall colour, with a moisture-resistant product

Woodwork: The Overlooked Detail

Skirting boards, architraves, and door frames take more punishment in a rental property than almost any other surface. Scuffs from furniture moves, cleaning equipment, and general traffic accumulate fast. We paint all woodwork in a water-based eggshell on rental properties — two full coats over a primed surface — rather than the gloss traditionally used on rental stock.

The benefits: faster drying time, lower VOC, easier to patch, and a more contemporary appearance that sits well with both period and modern interiors.

Void Period Turnarounds

A void period redecoration is one of the most time-critical jobs in the decorating industry. Every day the flat is empty is a day of lost rent. Landlords — and their managing agents — need decorators who can respond quickly, work efficiently, and deliver a clean result without supervision.

Our approach to void turnarounds:

Site Assessment Before the Tenancy Ends

Where possible, we arrange to visit the property while the tenant is still in place — or immediately at handover — to assess the scope of works. This allows us to order materials, price the job accurately, and schedule the work to start on the day keys are released.

There is nothing worse than a decorator arriving on the first morning of a void with no materials and spending half a day driving to a builders' merchant. We prepare in advance.

Prioritising the Critical Path

In a typical London flat, the painting order that gets the space ready fastest is:

Ceiling repairs and ceiling paint first — any splashes onto walls are painted over afterwards
Wall preparation and paint — filling, sanding, priming as needed, then two coats
Woodwork — typically the last step, as it dries to a hard finish and is vulnerable to knocks while wet

Carpets and flooring are laid after decoration, not before. Kitchen and bathroom cleaning happens in parallel with painting where there are two people on the job.

Touch-Up vs. Full Repaint

Not every void requires a full repaint. On a well-presented property with a short tenancy and careful tenants, a thorough touch-up — patching marks, refreshing woodwork, spot-priming stained areas — may achieve a near-new result at a fraction of the cost and time of a full redecoration.

We always advise on the most cost-effective approach rather than defaulting to the option that generates more work for us. Landlords who trust our assessment come back to us repeatedly, and that relationship is worth more than a single over-specified job.

HMOs and Multi-Let Properties

Houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) and multi-let properties have higher turnover in communal areas and individual rooms. The decorating specification needs to reflect this: even more durable products on walls (consider a specialist anti-scuff coating for communal hallways), more frequent scheduled maintenance intervals, and a programme of room-by-room redecoration rather than waiting until the whole property needs a full repaint simultaneously.

We work with a number of HMO landlords in London on rolling maintenance programmes, visiting quarterly or bi-annually to carry out touch-up works, refresh heavily used surfaces, and keep the property in consistently lettable condition.

Budget Planning for Rental Properties

The cost of decorating a London rental property varies significantly with the size of the property, the condition of the surfaces, and the products specified. As a rough guide:

One-bedroom flat in reasonable condition: typically one to two days' work, mid-range products
Two-bedroom flat requiring significant preparation: two to three days, mid-range products
Three-bedroom house with full repaint: four to five days, mid-range products

If you would like a detailed quote for your rental property — whether for a void period redecoration, a routine maintenance visit, or a full refurbishment — contact us and we will arrange a site visit at a time that works around the tenancy.