Dean repaints rental property in Wollaston for private landlords and letting agents, working from Northampton about 9.6 miles to the west. Most lets in the village are family-sized houses, so the work is usually a whole-house refresh between tenants, not quick room touch-ups.
What renting looks like in Wollaston
Wollaston is mostly owner-occupied. In 2011, 75.5% of homes were owned, 12.2% were privately rented and 10.4% were social rented. That puts rented homes overall at 22.6%, below the figure for England. A private let in the village is far more likely to be a whole house, and with 72.3% of the village’s dwellings having three or more bedrooms, that usually means a family-sized one. Homes on the land allocated east of Hookhams Path can add to that rental stock over time, and a newly built let is best given its first full redecoration once the plaster has settled, rather than straight after handover.
That shapes the job. Family tenants tend to stay for longer stretches, so the end-of-tenancy repaint often covers several years of wear at once: scuffed hallways, marked bedroom walls, worn skirting paint and kitchen ceilings that need washing before they will take paint.
Old terraces, new estates, different problems
Rental property in Wollaston covers the whole age range of the village, and each age comes with its own snags:
- Shoe-trade terraces. The late 19th and early 20th-century terraced streets have little off-street parking, according to the Neighbourhood Plan. Access for the van and for dust sheets and materials needs agreeing before the start date.
- Older limestone houses. Solid walls can show damp staining or flaking where a previous owner used the wrong paint. Painting over it with another coat of vinyl just moves the problem on to the next tenancy.
- Later estates. Houses on later Wollaston streets usually just need standard repairs: filling picture-hook holes, sanding dents, then two coats of a durable neutral.
Specifying a rental repaint so it lasts
For a rental, the brief is a finish that cleans well, can be touched up later, and photographs well for the listing. Dean suggests one neutral wall colour throughout, recorded with the product and shade so the next touch-up matches. Kitchens and bathrooms get a moisture-resistant finish, and woodwork gets a hard-wearing satin that does not yellow like old solvent gloss.
Not every room needs the full treatment each time. After a walk-round, Dean will tell you which rooms need full coats, which need patching, and which can be left. On a whole-house let, that can take a lot of days off the void.
Working with agents from outside the village
Wollaston’s post town is Wellingborough, so the agent managing a let here may well be based in Wellingborough or Northampton rather than in the village. We can collect keys, work to an agent’s inventory or check-out report, and send photographs at the end so the agent does not need to make a separate trip. Rental decorating often lands at short notice, so give us the check-out date as early as you have it.
Social and private lets side by side
With social renting at 10.4% of homes and private renting at 12.2% in 2011, a rented house in Wollaston can easily sit between owner-occupied houses where neighbours are at home in the day, so we keep noise, ladders and van parking considerate, and we leave the pavement clear for the school walk. Rubbish, old paint tins and dust sheets leave with us, not in the wheelie bin.
For more detail on how between-tenancy work is planned, see our landlord and letting agent decorating page. For budgeting, the decorating cost guide explains what affects a quote. Our Wollaston area page covers the rest of what we do locally.
Last updated by Dean, DH Painter & Decorator.
