hello and renting question

L4ur4

Hi, everyone! I'm 26, married 3 years, moving to MO soon to do my residency.  We currently own our home, and are going to rent a home in MO while we rent this one out (with a professional property management company, to save on major headaches). I've never rented a house before - lived in student apartments before we got married and bought this house as our first home.

 My question is this - what kinds of changes are generally considered acceptable as a renter? My sense is that sometimes paint is okay, but not always; okay to change blinds/curtains and light fixtures but not major hardware like doors or water fixtures. We're planning to stay in this house probably through my residency (4 years) and/or until we can sell our current home, and we may even consider buying it from the current owner at that time (he's indicated that he'd be willing to consider it). I'm excited about our new house, but I'd really appreciate advice from anyone who has some practice living in rented homes.

car_ramrod

You should be fine changing curtains but generally not blinds, light fixtures, etc.  Some landlords are fine with paint as long as you paint it back before you move out but some are not ok with it.  It will really depend on the landlord.  Basically you can change anything that is temporary but nothing that stays after you vacate.

StevieJo

Where in MO you moving to?

dr.girlfriend

Curtains is fine, but anything fixed like blinds or light fixtures you would need your landlord's permission to change.  I'm sure in most cases s/he would be happy to have you upgrade at your expense.  At most places I've lived you can paint if you put down money for it to be painted over when you leave, or something similar.  If it's a neutral color and under your circumstances (long-term rental, would probably need a fresh coat of paint in four years anyway) if you have a relatively neutral color I bet your landlord would waive even that.

sierramist_03

It all depends are you landlord. If its a house and individual is renting it out generally you are allowed more room for updates. If its a complex with a management company you will be more limited. We currently rent from a individual and we have changed lights out for ceiling fans removed wallpaper replaced towel holders and a few broken face plates. We just made sure not to throw anything away in case they want it. Our landlord just ask that we get it approved prior and save recipes and take it off our rent. 

When we rented from large management companies we hung our own curtains and that was about it, in our first apartment we painted because we were told we could well then management changed and they didn't want to honor what we were originally told. So just be careful and get things in writing.