Can I Renovate My Rental Apartment?

Im not sure I agree with the NY times assessment here. More info is needed. If the cabinets were previously painted and were repainted, that might be one thing. If you painted over stained wood cabinets (which is a becoming a trend), as the landlord, I would be upset and take it out of your security. Kitchen cabinets cost hundreds of dollars a linear foot - sometimes thousands. Returning painted wood to what was formally stained is a time consuming and expensive process. Why not ask your landlord before changing HIS/HER property?

Wait...the lease says don't paint, and your advice is go ahead and paint? People should know what's in their lease when they sign it. And then do what they've agreed to. Or, ask permission.

Only paint the cabinetry if it is already painted. NOT if the cabinets are varnished wood. They can never revert back to original finish

If it is a small building owned by a family, don't do anything without their permission. You should be able to contact and ask them. This is their property. If it is a corporation, proceed at your own risk. They have no personal stake and are getting rich off of doing nothing.

I just moved back to my co-op after leasing another apt for two years. I wouldn't even put a HOLE in those walls, cause the lease said not to. Command hooks for wall decor and light curtains, and tension rods for other curtains. Granted it was only two years, but just cause you live in a rent-stabilized apartment for decades doesn't mean it's your property. I've painted my co-op walls frequently, as I am allowed to do, and some people don't realize how time consuming it is to do it well. Cabinets? These people must be high.

What horrible advice! I had a group of tenants renting a large antique Victorian-style duplex - think plaster walls, crown moldings, hardwood floors, etc. Despite discussing verbally and it being in the lease that they were not to make ANY structural or cosmetic changes, these girls all individually decided to paint random parts of the house with cheap paint and "dollar store" quality brushes. What I ended up with was streaky peeling paint from improperly prepped walls, drips all over hardwood, odd colors on moldings, and one girl decided to paint a section of mahogany balusters cheap flat white. They got tired of with attempting to fix the damages on their way out and left without notice because they knew I was furious. I spent 3 months fixing their "fun weekend project".

Clearly this author has never had to restore kitchen cabinets before in their life. To remove paint and then re-stain them is a monumental task. Assuming of course, the person who painted them knew what they were doing. Secondly, it's a bit self entitled to alter someone else's property without their permission.

Long story short, most landlords, especially in rent-stabilized larger buildings could care less what cosmetic "improvements" a tenant does to an apartment, as long as they can get their apt back in the original state it was rented in. If you have been there for decades, painted cabinets are probably not a big deal. 2 years on the other hand, then goodbye security.

I can't believe that there is as much weeping and wailing in the comments here about painting a few kitchen cabinets in a rent-stabilized apartment. I've been a rent-stabilized tenant in the same apartment for 43 years. My landlords (there have been two) have never painted my apartment. I have always painted my apartment myself, some rooms, including the bathroom, as many as six times. I choose the color, do it on my time and the quality of the job depends on me alone. About 30 years ago, at my expense, I replaced the stock kitchen cabinets with custom-built wood cabinets and sound-proofed the wall between my apartment and the neighbors. Also at my expense, in the 43 years I've been here, I've had four refrigerators and two stoves. I've also updated most of the electrical outlets to three-prong. Could someone please tell me what the issue is what all of the comments here about painting a few kitchen cabinets. Rent-stabilized or otherwise, the apartment you live in is your home. You should treat it as such. And whatever happened to the expression of leaving a place better than how found it.

I've always hated being in a dark kitchen. Walls of dark cabinetry are depressing and absorb light. I sympathize with people who want to lighten and freshen the space. But this is not an easy job for amateurs. I've had it done in an older house. It took 2 professionals weeks. It was a pretty big kitchen. And yes, you do have to take the doors off, set up sawhorses and paint them flat, turn them over, 2 coats , after a pre coat of KILZ etc. They painted maple cabinets with a very pretty French blue enamel. The finish was easy to wash and they did a beautiful job. But it would sometimes chip despite having been so well done. I had to keep a small jar of paint for retouching. If I owned a rental property I'd be quite upset if they took it upon themselves to do this. Because in few cases would it be anything but a debacle. If they offered to pay professionals, chose white and got permission it could be fine. But having lived in N Y City once I can then imagine that they'd start agitating for a rent discount.

This is terrible advice! Unless the tenant is a master woodworker with a shop at his or her disposal, the likelihood that they would do this properly is zero. I know this for a fact. One of my tenants is a master carpenter. I once asked him about refreshing the cabinets in our apartments and he explained that painting wood cabinets is tough and expensive because it requires special paint and application to ensure the kind of sealed coating needed in a kitchen environment. This tenant’s cabinets would be ruined and this would constitute a significant violation of the lease agreement akin to vandalism. Even a rent stabilized tenant will have a hard time arguing against an eviction in the face of such damage. Market rate? Forget it. My tenants would find themselves with an eviction notice faster than it would take the paint to dry on the now-ruined cabinets. Plus, cabinets are expensive! Replacing the damaged ones, even if only the fronts are damaged, would cost multiple times the value of most rent-stabilized and plenty of market rate security deposits. This tenant could find themselves not just facing an eviction but also liability for damages running into the thousands of dollars. Setting aside fires and floods, I’m hard pressed to think of any other more expensive intentional or unintentional damage a tenant could inflict on an apartment beyond ruining kitchen cabinetry. They should just count themselves lucky to be rent-stabilized and suck up the dark cabinets.

I wouldn't trust any LL. Ask permission to paint cabinets and then get their approval in writing. The Super is not the LL. Contact the bldg. manager.

As long as your landlord is not aware as in large apartment buildings, enjoy the renovations you've made to your apartment. Some landlords will welcome the improvements which saves them money, or you'll have to restore the apartment to its original fixtures when you move out. With regard to replacing appliances (ex. refrigerators, stoves), at the very least the superintendent or building maintenance will have to be notified to store the old appliance or you'll have to notify building management. Best wishes and good luck!

When I signed my rent-stabilized lease I immediately went to a law firm that specializes in rent stabilization issues to ask design questions - how far can I go? What are the lines and when can I step over them. Much of this article is an agreement with what my lawyer and I discussed, but he definitely advised NOT to mess with the cabinetry. That was a particular issue for me because I don't like them or the counter at all. I transformed my kitchen with customized papers I designed for the purpose. It looks AMAZING and I showed the super one day, "Oh, look - it just peels right off..." Before he said anything. Doesn't leave residue either. Don't paint them. It's HARD to do it right and you may get in trouble.

“No one would ever get thrown out of their apartment over painting cabinets,” said Samuel J. Himmelstein, a Manhattan lawyer who represents tenants. “It doesn’t cause any harm to the property.” Really!? I would be livid if my tenants painted the kitchen cabinets. All factory-made cabinets have been put through an oven. A catalyst added to the paint then hardens, give a hard finish. No way this can be replicated in a home. And it is very possible that the cabinets in question are a dark wood. I put maple cabinets in my rental kitchen. If my tenant painted the kitchen cabinets, they would be sued for new cabinets.

What is wrong with approaching the landlord first before you paint?

How about asking the landlord whether you can paint the cabinets, surely this would be the first step.

If I were a landlord in NYC, I would not put a nickel in upgrading an apartment. Why invest when there is no near term return?

How about covering the cabinet doors and drawers woth beautiful, removable decals? Unlike contact paper, they don't leave a mess when removed.

This kind of situation happens in NYC because rent control limits supply and forces tenants and landlords to settle for whatever they can get. In an actual market, the rents would go up causing an increase in supply, with the resuls being more housing at all price levels. In this case the tenant is, insanely, incentivized to “fix” things they are in no way qualified to do. Most people are absolutely horrible at painting, and painting caninets—which usually have a surface specifically designed to resisit permant staining (like PAINT) is really just done by people as ignorant as the person who answers questions for this series. Ps replacing light fixtures technically requires an electrician and a permit. Because, durrrr, doing it wrong can start a fire and kill a lot of people. Seriously how dumb is the whole situation in NYC.

As someone who grew up in NYC rental apartments, remember, it’s easier to apologize than ask permission.

Do whatever you want except structural, plumbing or electrical. Your landlord will gut renovate the place when you eventually leave so they can raise the rent. Just don't take on a project too big for your skills and experience.

Just get written-again WRITTEN-permission for both the act of painting and the color. I'd have a sample color chip signed by the landlord, ever if it's white. i grew up in the painting business and you'd be surprised at how many whites there are.

Before doing any painting-or anything permanent-get WRITTEN permission from the landlord including a signed color chip, even if you're painting it white. You would be amazed at how many "whites" there are.

Painting walls a personal color can be undone (prime and paint white again, takes work and some expense but easy). Light fixtures - you'll probably be out the money if you threw out the landlord's originals, but if you kept them you can reinstall. However, painting cabinets is much harder than painting walls (some factory finishes don't take paint well). Stripping that paint back to the original, if the landlord demanded that when you move out, could be a very difficult job if the originals were a wood or fake wood finish. (Not everyone considers painted over cabinets an "improvement" other than tv shows, because they can be harder to clean and maintain.) Painted cabinets take a beating over time, showing any nicks, so by the end of your lease they may not look so great. Better advice would be to ask in advance. Or at least be sure you don't mind being charged if the landlord isn't happy with what you did.

I had a landlord who didn't permit dogs and cats in his apartment building. That was in his leases. But if you got one without asking him, he was fine with it.

We replaced a filthy, curling linoleum floor, with the building manager's blessing. Fun. Bought square linoleum tiles, ripped up the old, and lay down the new. The foyer had old linoleum flooring that couldn't be cleaned -- the dye was coming off on our feet. Ripped it up, scrubbed the parquet with Mex, polyurethaned, and were very happy. In the bathroom, the ceiling was always a little moldy after the lady stairs had a mishap and despite the management's fixing her leak and repairing and painting our ceiling. We bought some anti-mold ceiling paint -- pretty effective. Renovations done sparingly are fine. If you wait for the landlord, you'll wait forever. If you live in a place, you need to do a little something for yourselves.

My parents had a tenant who - without permission - painted every single wall in every single room red. Not just an accent wall. It was a little much, but the tenant, a medical resident, did an excellent job in spite of his busy, exhausting schedule. A little hard to re-paint in a lighter color, though. The rental property survived. The parents survived. The tenants survived.

Why not just ASK the landlord about how (s)he feels about your idea to paint the cabinets white? The worst thing that can happen is that (s)he will say not to do it. But that'd be a better outcome than doing the painting without asking first, then finding out your landlord is upset about it. Maybe your landlord will pleasantly surprise you, and offer to help you make your apartment look better. Good luck!

Bad advice. Painting cabinets is substantially bigger alteration than painting a wall. You could permanently ruin the finish (especially if the originals are wood and not already painted). By 'dark' the renter could just mean dark wood. So painting them is HUGE difference. You'll never be able to properly restore the wood finish after you strip the paint when you leave. Ask permission first!

My house is leased long term. The lease contract specifically prohibits any and all improvements to the house. A tenant who painted my kitchen cabinets would find themselves in violation of the lease and would be summarily evicted.

Letting tenants paint an apartment is a bad idea and can cause real damage. I have never met a tenant who really knows how to paint and if they did it is unlikely they would want to take the time to do a good job. Without proper preparation, the paint will not stick and while it might look good initially, over time it becomes a real mess especially on kitchen cabinets, windows, door and baseboard trim, and kitchen walls that may be covered with a film of grease. Having them repaint it before they move out would compound the problem as they usually are short on time and would almost certainly result in a second bad paint job

I have rarely if ever seen non-professionals do a good or even decent job painting kitchen cabinets.

To renovate or not a rental apartment depends first of all on the length of expected occupancy and whether the renter would recover at least a part of renovation costs. The ultimate decision should be made upon consultation with the landlord, lawyer, and an external real-estate agent. Good luck to all the potential renovators!

This is bad advice. Painting cabinets is nothing like painting walls. Done even to a basic standard requires more space to sand and dry than is even available in most apartment. For the landlord redoing a badly done job might necessitate replacing the cabinets in their entirety. That seems to fall under the substantial alteration category to me.

Out here in the wilds of CT this landlord would be livid with a tenant who painted perfectly good cabinets without permission. In the first place it's unlikely that a non-professional could do the job properly so that I wouldn't eventually be left with a chipped and peeling mess requiring costly repainting or total cabinet replacment. Painting cabinets is much more involved than painting walls. It's possible the tenant and I could reach an agreement to have a professional do the work if it were getting close to time for a planned kitchen upgrade anyway, but that would take a conversation. Otherwise, without permission, that person's improvement constitutes vandalism in my book. No lease renewal and loss of deposit would be the first steps.

The tenant who lived in my apartment before me wanted to add a closet to the bedroom. She actually spoke to the landlord and got permission to have the work done (at her own expense). I'm guessing the landlord approved because it meant that apartment would be more valuable to future tenants (because the unit below, which I also looked at didn't have one and it meant less storage space). Basically, while I don't think your landlord would care about paint, you could always talk to them if they seem reasonable? You may be doing them a favor in the long run while at the same time making yourself happier now.

Several thoughts here: Painting cabinets is probably fine. It seems very unlikely that the landlord will evict you for that. Take pictures of before and after and save them. Landlords are required to paint the walls and ceilings of ALL apartments (not just stabilized ones) every 3 years. So you can request that your landlord do that for you at no charge to you, but you can't pick the color. As rent stabilized tenants, the landlord is REQUIRED by state law to make "repairs." So if your cabinets break or warp they have to replace them with something comparable. If you are willing to antagonize them a bit, you can file a DHCR form RA-81 which will force the landlord to either repair your issues or the state will freeze your rent until the repairs are made.