We decorate rental properties in Headlands, NN3, for private landlords and letting agents, from our Northampton base about 2.2 miles away. Lets here are mostly three-bed interwar semis, and the work is usually a repaint between tenancies in durable, wipeable finishes.
A small rental market inside an owner-occupied estate
Headlands is mainly owner-occupied, but the mix changes from street to street. Street-level tenure data gives these counts:
| Street | Owner-occupied | Private rental | Social |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Headlands | 113 | 28 | 13 |
| Bush Hill | 93 | 8 | not given |
| Fullingdale Road | not given | not given | 38 of about 127 |
| Upland Road | not given | not given | 24 of 28 |
So a private let in Headlands is usually a single house on a road where most neighbours own their homes. A tired, scuffed frontage or hallway stands out more here than it would in a heavily rented terrace, and that affects how quickly the property lets. We could find no sourced evidence of student letting in the district, even with Northampton College on Booth Lane, so most tenants are likely to be households rather than sharers.
Planning rules before any decorating starts
Repainting a rental has no planning implications in Headlands. None of the district lies in a conservation area, so exterior colours are your choice. The rule that matters to landlords is different: the HMO Article 4 directions, including the one for the remaining areas of the former borough that came into force on 13 November 2020, cover Headlands. Converting a family house into a small HMO needs planning permission. If a decorating job is part of a change of use, sort the permission out first. We decorate the property as it is, and we do not advise on planning, but it is worth knowing before you book the trades.
What wears out in a three-bed interwar let
The typical let here is a 1939 semi with a front bay lounge, a rear dining room often opened into the kitchen, three bedrooms, a compact hall and a straight staircase. The wear concentrates in predictable places:
- Hall and stairs: scuffs along the stair line and at shoulder height in a narrow hall, which a scrubbable matt or eggshell handles far better than standard emulsion.
- Kitchen-diner: grease on the walls behind the hob and around the opening, which needs washing down and a kitchen-grade finish.
- Bedrooms: fixings, tape and furniture marks, filled and painted in one consistent neutral so later touch-ups match.
- Old plaster: fine cracks in walls of this age reopen between tenancies, so they are raked out and filled rather than painted over.
Outside the front door
Because most neighbours on a road like The Headlands or Bush Hill own their homes, a peeling front door, faded bay-top fascia or flaking side gate on a let is noticeable from the street and in listing photos. Where the original timber windows have gone to uPVC, exterior upkeep on a rented semi comes down to the front door, fascias, soffits, bargeboards and gates, which can usually be done from the driveway without scaffold. Doing them in the same visit as an interior repaint saves a second trip.
Using the same colour and product throughout makes the next turnaround quicker, because touch-ups blend. Our main landlord and letting agent decorating page covers how we scope repaints and what we report back to agents.
Keeping the empty period short
Practicalities in Headlands help. Most semis have a driveway and side access, so we can unload and work without parking problems or carrying through a narrow hall, and a mid-terrace on Longland Road or Fullingdale Road is the main exception. We can collect keys from an agent, work while the property is empty and send photos at the end. For a sense of how between-tenancy jobs are priced, see our cost guide, and the Headlands area page explains the housing in more detail.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
