When a rental is about to be vacant, the landlord or agent needs to know what to ask a painter for. This guide is for landlords, investors and property managers with an empty or soon-to-be-empty rental in the Eastern Suburbs.
Here is what goes into the repaint, what holds up, and how to brief a painter so the quote comes back as something you can check.
What a between-tenants repaint covers
A between-tenants repaint is scoped like any interior repaint, as on our interior house painting page, with the preparation and the often-missed areas spelled out:
- Walls and ceilings.
- Doors, architraves, skirtings and window frames.
- Repairs first. Cracks, holes, dents and open joins patched and gap-filled, then sanded, with the repairs spot-primed so they disappear under the finish coats.
- Stains. Stains get the right primer or sealer for the surface. On damp-affected lower walls, paint is the last step, not the fix; the moisture source has to be addressed first or the new paint fails on the same schedule the old one did.
- The easy-to-forget areas. Window reveals, the inside of wardrobes, the garage. They are easy to leave out of a quote and expensive to add later, so decide which are in and write it down.
In an apartment the same scope can run to hallways, joinery and kitchen cabinetry, as on our Billyard Avenue, Elizabeth Bay repaint, where the walls, ceilings, joinery, kitchen cabinetry and hallways were all prepared and repainted.
Condition is one of the main things that moves the price. Heavy wear, patching and stained ceilings push it up. As a guide, a single room is $600–$1,500 and a 3-bedroom house interior $6,000–$12,000. In Kingsford, many end-of-lease repaints land in the lower half of these ranges, and in Kensington a rental interior refresh usually sits near the bottom of the interior range. Occupied-home staging pushes a job up, and in Bondi Junction vacant units cost less than furnished ones because there’s no working around furniture or painting in stages. The Sydney house painting cost guide has the full table; the only accurate number is a walked, itemised quote.
Repair or repaint: what to ask for
Ask the painter to itemise the repairs and the repaint separately. Cracks, holes and dents are patched and gap-filled, sanded and spot-primed so they disappear under the finish coats, and existing colours can be matched so touch-ups blend.
Durable, low-fuss finishes and neutral colour
For rentals I use hard-wearing whites that re-let well. I mostly specify Dulux, such as Dulux Wash&Wear Low Sheen on walls; Taubmans is a great-value option for rentals.
- Walls: a washable low-sheen, with the right sheen chosen for kitchens, bathrooms and high-traffic hallways.
- Doors and architraves: a durable enamel. Gloss trim everywhere shows every imperfection, so low-sheen or satin is the safer direction on trim.
For colour, a warm white does the most work. A hard-wearing, washable white re-lets well and can be touched up cleanly next time, which is the point of it. Dulux Natural White and Antique White USA are the workhorses. A warm white suits harsh Sydney sun, and a stark cool white can go clinical under bright coastal light. Cool blue-grey walls now read as dated.
Skip the single accent feature wall, which the colour-trends guide says now dates a room. The guide’s safer direction is the whole room in a soft tone.
Test before you commit. Colours land lighter and cooler on a coastal wall than on the chip, so test a large sample on site and look at it in morning and afternoon light. That is the step I run in colour planning. Get the exact colour code on the quote, and keep the labelled leftover tin for touch-ups.
Why a written, itemised scope helps the landlord and the agent
A quote that says ‘repaint unit 4’ can be reinterpreted later. An itemised quote lists every surface and repair, so you know exactly what’s included and nobody argues later about whether the ceilings were.
Ask for this in writing:
- Every surface included, room by room, and which are excluded.
- The preparation for each area, including repairs and stain treatment.
- The exact brand, product line and number of coats for walls, ceilings and trim.
- A start date and an estimated number of working days.
- The painter’s NSW licence number, and certificates of currency for public liability and workers compensation.
- The written workmanship guarantee. Mine is 5 years, stated on the quote.
It also lets you compare painters fairly. Three quotes only mean something if all three priced the same list, which is the argument in how to compare painting quotes.
Apartments and strata
If the rental is an apartment, there is one more layer: the building. Check with your strata manager whether the building needs approval for work inside your lot. Common property, such as external walls, balcony ceilings and external balustrades, and usually the outside face of your entrance door, is looked after by the owners corporation, though balconies vary from building to building.
In Edgecliff buildings, for example, the practical issues are lift bookings, parking and rules on work hours. We sort these with the building manager before the job starts.
Your strata plan and by-laws are the final word on where your lot ends. My strata painting guide sets out the split between common property and the lot.
In Bondi Junction, which is mostly strata apartments and investor units around the interchange, most jobs are interior repaints between tenancies, where access, strata approval and turnaround time matter as much as the paint itself. In Kingsford, your managing agent will want licence and insurance details on file. I hold NSW painter licence 254277C with public liability and workers compensation insurance, and certificates of currency are available on request.
How to brief a painter
- Give the vacancy date, and say whether the tenants have left. Book as soon as you have the date, not the week the tenants move out.
- Say how the painter gets in. In Kingsford, keys can be handled through the agent, so you don’t need to be on site. The quote is a walked one, so tell me how access will work for the visit too.
- Say what is staying and what is changing. The same colour throughout is the simplest brief, and I can colour-match existing walls so touch-ups blend. A change from dark to light adds cost.
- Flag what you already know. Stains, damp, or damage from the last tenancy, so the quote can allow for it before any paint goes on.
- Ask for the written scope above, and include photos with your enquiry if you like.
- Decide who signs off. You or your agent should walk the finished work with the painter, in daylight, against the scope, with any touch-ups done before the job is called finished.
If you manage several properties, tell me. In Kensington I can put them on a rolling schedule, and a large part of my work there is repaints between tenancies. In Kingsford we handle a lot of investment property and end-of-lease repaints, and if you or your managing agent give us the vacancy dates we book to that window.
If the vacant property is a shop, office or warehouse
A commercial vacancy is a different job. Make good is the term for the repaint at the end of a commercial lease: walls, ceilings, doors and frames, with line marking and epoxy floors where the lease calls for them. I hand over a dated photo record of every area. The Northmead warehouse job is a typical example: a heavily worn end-of-lease warehouse, prepared, filled, repainted in two coats and finished with an epoxy floor. The detail is on the commercial and strata painting page.
Frequently asked questions
How are marks and damage repaired before a rental is repainted?
Cracks, holes and dents are patched and gap-filled, sanded and spot-primed so they disappear under the finish coats. Stains get the right primer or sealer for the surface. Ask the painter to itemise the repairs and the repaint separately.
What paint finish is best for a rental?
A washable low-sheen on the walls, the right sheen for wet areas, and a durable enamel on doors and architraves. I mostly use Dulux Wash&Wear Low Sheen on walls, and a hard-wearing, washable white re-lets well and can be touched up cleanly next time.
How much does it cost to repaint a rental between tenants in Sydney?
As a guide, a single room is $600–$1,500 and a 3-bedroom house interior $6,000–$12,000. In Kingsford, many end-of-lease repaints land in the lower half of these ranges, and in Kensington a rental interior refresh usually sits near the bottom of the interior range. Heavy wear, patching and stained ceilings push the number up. Occupied-home staging pushes a job up, and in Bondi Junction vacant units cost less than furnished ones because there’s no working around furniture or painting in stages.
Do I need strata approval to repaint the inside of a rental apartment?
Check with your strata manager whether the building needs approval for work inside your lot; your strata plan and by-laws are the final word. Lot owners look after everything inside their own lot. Common property, such as external walls, balcony ceilings and external balustrades, and usually the outside face of your entrance door, is looked after by the owners corporation, though balconies vary from building to building. In Edgecliff buildings the practical issues are lift bookings, parking and rules on work hours, and we sort those with the building manager before we start.
Do you work with property managers and agents?
Yes. Licence and insurance details are available on request. The quote is itemised in writing, and you deal directly with me rather than a head office.