Decor or Disaster? Tenant’s Extreme Home Makeover in Rental Flat
Landlords, let’s talk decoration – how much… is too much?
Looking for your own home to decorate as you please? You’ll want to work with a mortgage broker to get the best possible deal, so let us know – we can help!
Today, we’ve got the story of one long-term tenant whose unique and individual taste is stamped all across their rental home.
What decoration can be found in Ron’s Place?
Artist Ron Gittins lived in the ground-floor apartment of the semi-detached house on Silverdale Road in Oxton, Merseyside for 33 years, until his death in 2019. Given that he was a tenant for over 30 years, the landlord must have been quite happy with him.
After his death, the incredible decor of his rental home came to light. Mr Gittins’ lease allowed him to decorate the house as he pleased, without requiring his landlord’s consent.
Over the course of 30 years, Mr Gittins painstakingly crafted his home into an artistic wonder, reflecting his love of history in:
- Fireplaces were shaped into a lion and a minotaur
- A Roman altar in the kitchen
- Floor to ceiling with Egyptian and Greek themed murals, including ceilings worthy of the Sistine Chapel
- A bathroom transformed into an underwater paradise thanks to marine paintings across the walls
Whatever your taste, you have to admit that the work is extraordinary. However, a lot of landlords would be utterly horrified to see this in their property because it will make it so hard to rent it on as is or will cost quite a bit to strip back to rentable neutrals.
However, it’s key to remind you here – Mr Gittins had NOT broken the terms of his lease and was a model tenant for 30 odd years.
What happened next?
And in fact, the property was NOT returned to ‘rentable neutrals’ as ‘Ron’s Place’ as it became known, as a crowdfunding campaign was launched to save the property and preserve it, supported by Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker.
The campaign focused on the fact that Mr Gittins’ home was a fantastic example of ‘outsider art’. Outsider art is art created by self-taught individuals, who are untrained in traditional arts, with little to no contact with the conventional art world.
According to Ron’s sister Pat and her husband Henry, the landlord ‘kindly permitted a rent-free period to empty the flat and a family friend helped with the initial clearance.’ Mr Gittins’ niece, also an artist, recognised the merit of the work and wanted to take on the role of custodian, and contacted the landlord accordingly, with a new rental agreement signed in 2020. The landlord made ‘long overdue repairs’ to rotten floors and ceilings, and the concrete Minotaur fireplace was given structural support from the cellar below.
In December 2021, the first arts-based community land trust in the United Kingdom was established, The Wirral Arts and Culture Community Land Trust (WACCLT), with the aim to ‘save Ron’s Place and create a stimulating, positive legacy for the Wirral and the wider community.’
Eventually, the whole property, not just Mr Gittins ground floor flat, was auctioned on 1st March 2023 and was bought by WACCLT, with a view to preserving the artworks. The following year, in March 2024, Mr Gittins’ flat was given Grade II listed building status by Historic England, described as ‘the first example of outsider art to be nationally listed.’
Should you allow tenants to decorate?
This is an incredible story, but it’s highly unlikely that any other landlord will ever encounter such a wealth of incredible decoration. From what we can find out, it appears that Mr Gittens’ family and the landlord worked together to maintain the property until the WACCLT could take on the property, which is brilliant.
But if you are concerned about decoration in your property, let’s talk about it.
The idea of renting a ‘blank canvas’ is understandable. Taste varies wildly from person to person and if you let a tenant loose on your property, you could find yourself forking out to strip it back to that blank canvas to appeal to a new tenant once they move out.
However, as it becomes more expensive to purchase a property, people are renting for much longer and do want to put their own personal stamp on their home. Ideally, a landlord wants to keep a great and reliable tenant for as long as possible and helping them feel at home in the property is a good way to do this.
So it’s worth considering allowing your tenant some leeway on decoration. For example, you can allow them to put up pictures, on the agreement that the holes in the walls will be filled when they move out.
You might even consider allowing them to paint the walls – you can agree that they need your permission on the colours (so that you can veto any neons that would be harder to cover up) or you can allow them free rein, on the understanding that they will redecorate back to your requirements before they leave.
This is something to consider, but is also not a decision to be undertaken lightly. You need to make sure that you are ready to handle anything that the tenant might do outside of your agreement and it should be written down, in detail, in your tenancy agreement so that you can claim back on the deposit, should you need to.
Something else to consider is regularly checking in on your property. This should be standard practice, to ensure that your property is being well taken care of and maintained. It’s also important to make sure that your tenants aren’t… colouring outside the lines, shall we say, if you do allow them to decorate? It’s your property, you should know what is going on inside it.
If this is outside of your ability, maybe you live quite far away or even abroad, or you are simply too busy with work and family life to fit it in, we recommend that you work with a letting agent, who will prioritise checking in on your property regularly and keep you up to date and informed.
If you don’t have an agent or are looking to change, book a call and we’ll be able to help you find the right agent for the job.
Would you ever consider allowing a tenant to decorate your property to their taste? Have you done this before, how did it go?
