If our landlord gave us verbal permission to repaint and now wants to charge us for paint that we got on the trim, what are our courses of action?
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If our landlord gave us verbal permission to repaint and now wants to charge us for paint that we got on the trim, what are our courses of action?
Asked on July 12, 2011 under Real Estate Law, Oklahoma
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
The issue is probably *what* permission exactly you received. An oral or verbal agreement is binding or enforceable, so if you received oral permission, you may do whatever you were given permission to do. So if the permission was to repaint the whole apartment, for example, and nothing was said about any restrictions or limitations, about not getting paint on the trim, etc., the landlord should not be able to charge you for the trim. On the other hand, if the permission did not include the trim (e.g. "you may paint the walls, but don't paint the trim"), then the landlord may be able to charge you for the cost to repaint the trim. It depends on what you had permission to do--that's what you may enforce. (A related issue: with oral agreements, it's always an issue not just what was said, but what can you prove, in the event that you and the other party disagree about what was said.)
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