As I’ve recounted the details of all our recent moves (4 in the last 5 years) here on the blog, there is one question I’ve been getting a lot lately: “Surely, the landlord (or next tenants!) must appreciate your changes! Why do you always take everything apart?” Unfortunately, over our 20+ years of being renters, we’ve been able to leave behind only a very few of our projects. Today, I’m breakdown why and sharing how it doesn’t really stop me from doing what I do!

Megan in front of a white cabinet and blue and white frames

The Changes We Have Left In Place

Almost everywhere we’ve lived, a friend or neighbor will make a comment about how “lucky” the next tenants are to inherit our house. But the sad truth is that over the years, almost no one has been able to “benefit” from the projects and changes we’ve made to our homes.

In fact, across 12 rentals and countless projects, there have been about 4 (four!!!!) instances when we’ve been able to leave changes in place. 

  • In our San Diego home, we removed a huge built-in cabinet that was meant to house an old-style TV. We safely stored it in the garage our entire tenancy. When the area flooded and remediation was conducted, they unknowingly added baseboards inside the opening, thereby preventing us from sliding the cabinet back in. After storing the huge cabinet safely for three years, the owners ultimately got rid of it and the cavity remained open.
  • In our home in Lorton, VA, we swapped out a huge light fixture (that we always thought was clearly bought by mistake because it was waaaay too big for the room). When we moved out, the landlord agreed the original fixture was too big but they didn’t want to pay us to keep ours in place. So we couldn’t leave ours but we didn’t have to replace the old one either.
  • However, in this same house, the landlords did ask us to leave this wallpaper in place. This is the only wallpaper we’ve ever left behind!
  • Finally, in Camp Lejeune, NC, we were allowed to swap out light fixtures and leave them, but it was at our own cost. And the decks on the front and back of the house could be passed to the next resident, but it was via a fairly formal process. If the next tenants didn’t accept the decks, we would have had to remove them.
Beautiful home office and craft space setup in a formal dining room
Red brick fireplace surrounding by blue wallpaper with plants on the mantel
Builder-grade rental kitchen with modern black kitchen island light fixture
Wooden deck on the front of the house stained dark wood with white surround

And that’s about IT. 

Pretty much every other project you’ve seen here on the blog has been un-done. Countless rolls of wallpaper, light fixtures, painted walls, flooring swaps, and more have had to be completely removed before we moved out, or we risked not getting our security deposit back or being charged maintenance fees.

Why Rental Changes (Typically) Can’t Be Left In Place

In our experience, most private landlords, leasing companies, or military base housing agencies do not allow decorative changes to stay in place. Full stop. 

Even with the outgoing and incoming tenants agreeing (and assuming any and all risk), most property owners just don’t bother. Quite frankly, it’s quicker, cleaner, cheaper, and less “messy” for units/homes to be returned to a neutralized, completely blank slate for the next tenants. 

And honestly, as much as I hate it, I kind of get it. No one wants to get into the business of negotiating with countless tenants over wall color or wallpaper or undoing things they didn’t install.

A printed out Home (Dis) Repair List

A Common Sense Approach?

When we’ve connected with incoming tenants, most have asked us to keep some changes in place because, quite literally, something is better than nothing. (Most people aren’t willing to do or pay for the things we are!)

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What I wish existed more broadly was a common sense approach…some sort of “basic assumption of risks and charges” during a rental turnover process.

Kids removing bathroom decals off the wall

As an example…

If a tenant wants my backsplash, they could sign to assume ownership of it. And part of that ownership would be that they are responsible for any maintenance, removal, and damage if the follow-on tenant doesn’t want it.

Oh the amount of money, work and effort that could be saved by tenants who want a beautiful home!

But even as I type that, I can see why it doesn’t work. If said backsplash was somehow damaged during turnover (or routine) maintenance, who then would fix it, remove it, etc?

Multiply this backsplash by countless projects done by countless tenants. Undoing every decor whim would very quickly get “messy” and time consuming and expensive, which is precisely why I suspect most large-scale housing agencies just don’t allow it.

Teenage boy peeling tile stickers off of bathroom floor

Eyes Wide Open

When we first started making changes to our rentals, we understood…through and through…that everything had to be fully undone. 

Which is why, although I’ve attempted some crazy stuff, I’ve NEVER done a project I wasn’t confident I could undo. I certainly have some regrets (projects that didn’t come apart as easily as I expected like this one and this one), but I’ve gone into every single one knowing that the work and cost were 100% ours…both on the front end AND the back end.

Yes, some can see this as a waste (of time, money, and effort!), but we’ve always found that making each home ours and loving it fully has been worth it all!

Man pulling off peel and stick wallpaper from the wall

See You Soon!
Megan