About Me

I am a 45 year husband and dad, currently adjusting to life back in the United States after living in Italy for a little over two years. I love spending time with my family, cycling, model railroading, mosaics and watching TV and movies.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Painting

As I've mentioned in the past, Italian rental contracts are very different than those in the US.

In the US the owner is usually responsible for appliance replacement, painting, etc - unless any damage is the result of the renter.  In Italy, most rental contracts put more responsibility on the renter.  If the dishwasher stops working, the renter has to replace or repair it.  The same for all appliances.

As is true in most places, the renter is expected to leave the house in the condition that they found it.  That is great except when the place you are renting was not freshly painted or cleaned before you moved in. The apartment had been siting empty for a long time.  Only half of the rooms were freshly painted - not our bathroom, bedroom or Brandon's room.  The floors were black and dirty.  It took several weeks before the mop water was not jet black after mopping the floors.  Many cupboards were dusty and dirty.  Several of the drains were choked up with grit and gunk.

Now that we are moving out, we have to leave the apartment fresh and clean.  That is to be expected, but annoying at the same time since we receive it that way.  Here in Italy we are expected to have the walls freshly painted and the apartment clean before we move out.  So, we came to an agreement with the owner that we only needed to paint the three rooms that were not freshly painted before.

While many people would hire a painter, we like to do the work ourselves.  So, this week I started painting our bathroom.  Next week I will paint our bedroom, then Brandon's room after our Scotland trip.  It's not big deal and easy to do - white on white, one coat of paint.

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