We decorate rental properties in Towcester for landlords and letting agents, mostly repaints between tenancies, working from Northampton, a little over 8 miles to the north-east. The town's lets range from flats above town-centre shops, often in old or listed buildings, to houses on the estates south and west of the centre.
Two very different kinds of Towcester let
Towcester’s housing splits roughly in two, and lets follow the same split. In the historic core, Watling Street is lined with buildings with shops at street level and living space upstairs, many of them Georgian fronts built over older timber-framed buildings. Flats in those upper floors can be let. To the south and west are the newer estates that account for most of the town’s growth since the 1960s, and some of those homes are let too. We don’t hold figures on how many properties in Towcester are rented, so we won’t guess. We can tell you how each type behaves when it comes to redecorating.
| Flat above a town-centre shop | Estate house south or west of town | |
|---|---|---|
| Walls | Uneven, sometimes lime plaster, movement cracks from the timber frame behind | Flat modern plaster, often still showing the original builder’s emulsion |
| Usual wear | Scuffs in narrow stairs and entrances, condensation in small kitchens | Marks in halls and landings, picture-hook holes, worn skirtings |
| Paint approach | Breathable paints on old plaster, flexible fillers | Durable matt or eggshell in hard-wearing areas, kept to a standard colour |
| Access | Street door on the A5 pavement or via a rear alleyway | Driveway or road parking outside |
Turning a flat round above Watling Street
Upper-floor flats in central Towcester take more planning than the floor area suggests. Some will have a street door hard against the A5 footway; others may be entered from the rear, along the alleys that serve the long plots behind the shops. We sort out keys, entry and where to unload with you or the agent before the start date, so the turnaround days go on decorating rather than getting in.
Inside, these buildings are older than their fronts suggest. Walls lean, rigid filler cracks out again along the same lines, and modern vinyl paints on lime plaster can trap moisture and start to flake. A short list of fixes goes a long way between tenants: flexible filler on the recurring cracks, a breathable paint where the plaster calls for it, and a mould-resistant finish in small kitchens and bathrooms where condensation builds up.
Listed buildings and the conservation area
Roughly 95 buildings in Towcester are listed, clustered along the main road through town and the streets just off it, and much of the centre lies inside the Towcester Conservation Area. For a landlord this mostly matters at the front door and windows. Where a building carries an Article 4 Direction, the council’s guidance is that work to street-facing elevations, which can include repainting, needs planning permission. A let flat’s street door going from black to a new colour is therefore worth a quick call to the planners. Indoors in a listed building, refreshing walls in the same kind of paint is rarely a problem; removing old finishes or altering features is where consent comes in.
Estate lets: keeping the next repaint simple
On the newer homes the priority is speed at the next changeover. Using one standard wall colour across the property means marks can be touched in without repainting a whole wall, and a satin finish on skirtings and doors wipes down between tenants. For a let on the low-lying eastern side of town by the Tove floodplain, look out for damp-related staining at the end of each tenancy.
For how we handle end-of-tenancy work, inventories and touch-up stock, see our main landlord and letting agent decorating page. For rough budgets, see the painter and decorator cost guide, and the Towcester overview lists the other services we offer there.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
