DH Painter & Decorator handles between-tenancy and end-of-tenancy decorating for landlords and letting agents in Dallington, NN5, about 1.3 miles north-west of Northampton town centre. Dean works on rented flats at Dallington Hall and Dallington Court, the suburb's houses, and new-build lets at Dallington Grange.
What the Dallington rental stock looks like
Dallington is a small suburb, and its rented homes fall into a few clear groups. There are flats: apartments in the converted Dallington Hall on Dallington Park Road, a Grade II* listed Georgian house, and the block at Dallington Court nearby. There are 20th-century houses around the old village, where land registry sales in the NN5 7 sector are mostly terraced and semi-detached. And there is Dallington Grange, the new-build extension on the north-western edge, where some homes may in time be let.
There are also social-rent bungalows for over-60s run by Northampton Partnership Homes: eight on Bants Lane built in 1966 and twelve on Brook Lane built in 1988. Decorating there is organised by the landlord, so tenants in those homes should report repairs to Northampton Partnership Homes rather than book a decorator directly.
Our main landlord and letting agent decorating page explains how we handle rental work in general. Here is what is particular to Dallington.
Flats where a managing agent sits between you and the building
If you let a flat at Dallington Hall or Dallington Court, you control the inside of the flat but not the stairwell, entrance or exterior. That matters on a turnaround:
- Access, parking and where materials can be stored are set by the building’s management, so we confirm those before the start date.
- Dust sheets run from the flat door through to the work area so the communal floors are not marked.
- Paint waste and old tins go away with us, not into the building’s bins.
- Inside Dallington Hall, the flat sits in a listed building, so features such as historic doors, architraves or panelling are repainted rather than removed or replaced.
A typical Dallington turnaround
| Property | Usual priorities between tenants |
|---|---|
| Apartment at Dallington Hall | Touch-ups or full coats in a neutral matt, period joinery repainted like for like, careful protection of communal areas |
| Flat at Dallington Court | Walls and ceilings refreshed, scuffed doors and frames recoated, kitchen and bathroom in a moisture-resistant finish |
| Semi or terrace off Harlestone Road | Hallway and stairs (the most worn areas), filled hook holes, skirtings and doors back to a clean satin |
| New-build let at Dallington Grange | Settlement cracks filled, thin builder’s emulsion replaced with a wipeable finish so marks clean off next time |
On each job Dean walks round with you or your agent first and says which rooms need full coats, which need only touching up and which can be left, so you are not paying to repaint rooms that are fine.
Keeping the colour list short
For landlords with more than one property in NN5, we suggest keeping a written record of the wall colour, ceiling white and woodwork finish used in each room. It makes future touch-ups invisible and avoids repainting a whole wall because a shade cannot be matched. In Dallington’s older housing, where walls are less even, a matt finish also hides more than silk does.
Timing is the other lever. Dallington’s older streets sit in the brook valley, and empty houses there can feel damp and cold between tenants, which slows drying. Keeping the heating on low during a turnaround helps paint cure properly, and if the exterior also needs work, we fit it into a dry, settled spell rather than rushing it before a move-in date.
For budgets, see our painter and decorator cost guide. More about the area itself is on our Dallington page.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
