A cheeky request: Landlord spies tenant practising mural art in rental home on Instagram

A young tenant has painted full-wall murals pretty much all over my flat.

The first time I saw them was on Instagram when she posted a photo of my living room wall covered in clouds.

It's OK though, she had previously emailed me and asked if she could practise her art in the flat and promised to paint over them when she's finished.

I wouldn't normally agree to tenants repainting my properties with massive murals, but I decided to make an exception as this young tenant has just graduated with a first class degree in fine art.

But like so many other young artists, she has no job lined up so she's come up with the idea of becoming a muralist painting murals in children's bedrooms, nurseries, offices and even public buildings.

I've been trying to help her promote her business locally, but she needs to build up a portfolio of art to show potential clients, hence her rather cheeky request to use my flat as a sort of gallery.

I gave her permission to go ahead, but only because the flat has been let for years to students and other young people who quite frankly have done their best to trash it.

It's badly in need of a refurb, so when this young artist and her flatmates move on I plan to replace the kitchen and bathroom and all of the flooring, and redecorate.

When I let my family home for a year, a tenant asked if she could repaint my daughter's bedroom because her son wasn't so keen on pink.

It was a reasonable request, but I was worried that she'd make a mess of it. Also, my family was planning to move back to the property within 12 months and my daughter loved her room as it was.

As a compromise, I said she could paint the walls any colour she liked, as long as she took care and paid for a decorator to repaint them when she left. Instead, she made her son put up with pink.

Most of my tenants don't stick around long enough to want to redecorate, most only stay for a year or two while saving for a deposit for their own properties.

I guess there's nothing wrong with tenants redecorating, as long as they leave the property as they found it. I would suggest to any landlords that before agreeing to let tenants repaint, they make sure they have an inventory that states the colour and condition of the walls to avoid any arguments when the tenants leave.

Victoria Whitlock lets four properties in south London. To contact Victoria with your ideas or views, tweet @vicwhitlock