We decorate rental homes for landlords and letting agents in Pattishall and its hamlets, around 6.5 miles south-west of our Northampton base. Dean plans each turnaround around the building, so a post-war house gets durable wipeable finishes and an old stone cottage gets breathable ones.
Lets in a parish of small hamlets
We haven’t found published data on how many homes in Pattishall parish are rented, and we won’t guess. What we do know is the building stock. Any let in the parish will be either one of the 20th-century houses on the higher ground of Pattishall village or an older stone house or cottage in Pattishall, Eastcote, Astcote, Dalscote, Cornhill or the part of Fosters Booth along the A5. Those two groups need different specifications, and a letting agent working from a standard checklist can easily get the older ones wrong.
Turnarounds in the post-war houses
The newer homes uphill are the simplest to turn around between tenants. The usual work is:
- Fill picture-hook holes, dents and settlement cracks, then sand them flush.
- Wash down kitchens and hallways, which in a rural village carry mud as well as grease.
- Repaint walls and ceilings in one neutral colour you can keep on file, so later touch-ups match.
- Refresh skirtings, doors and frames in a water-based satin that won’t yellow between lets.
We will tell you which rooms really need full coats and which only need touching up, so the spend goes on what the next tenant will notice. The standard approach for rentals is set out on our landlord and letting agent decorating page.
Farm cottages and listed stone houses
Twenty-two buildings and structures in the parish are listed, among them Eastcote’s old farmhouses along Gayton Road and stone houses in Astcote. Not all of them will be let, but any older stone house here, listed or not, is likely to have limestone rubble walls, lime plaster and beamed ceilings. That rules out the cheap wipeable vinyl paints that suit a modern rental. On solid stone walls they trap moisture, and the paint blisters, which leads to more repainting rather than less.
| Issue in an old stone let | How we handle it |
|---|---|
| Damp patches on solid stone walls | Breathable matt or mineral paint, never vinyl silk |
| Chamfered beams and spine beams | Masked off or refreshed with a breathable finish |
| Leaded or old timber casements | Hand preparation and brush-applied paint, no spraying |
| Listed building controls | Like-for-like colours unless the council has agreed a change |
If the property is listed, changes to its finishes or external colours may need listed building consent from West Northamptonshire Council. A straightforward like-for-like repaint keeps you clear of that between tenancies.
Outside jobs a landlord tends to inherit
Rural lets come with more outside maintenance than a town flat. On the post-war houses, that usually means timber fascias and barge boards, garden fences and a shed or two. On the older houses, it can mean timber casements under wood lintels and gates onto the lane. The parish sits on hilly, open ground, so exposed sides of a house lose their paint faster, and a fascia left too long between repaints ends up needing joinery repairs rather than just paint. We can add a check of outside woodwork to a between-tenancy visit and tell you what can wait until the next void and what can’t. On listed houses we leave the limestone and ironstone bare and paint only the joinery.
Planning the visit from Northampton
For agents managing keys remotely, it helps to give us the exact hamlet as well as the postcode. Addresses across the parish can be confusing, and older cottages front narrow streets where we need to plan parking for a van. We can arrange access with the agent, including collecting and returning keys, and work through an empty property. For outside work on houses facing the A5 at Fosters Booth, allow for extra washing down first, because traffic grime builds up on the roadside frontage. For a sense of what drives the cost of a turnaround, see our cost guide, then phone us on 07539 779 036 for a written quote.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
