How many of you out there have actually taken the time while renting to repaint your apartment? Sure, white walls are can be boring, but they are also practical. Now imagine that are not given the choice. You have to repaint your apartment, whether it needs painting or not.
Paint now or paint later.
When you move into a new apartment in Germany, you generally are given two options – either you paint the apartment when you move in or you paint it when you move out. Simple enough. I must say that in some extreme cases, I would gladly repaint. In one of the apartments I looked at each kitchen wall was actually painted a different color: green, orange, yellow, and blue. I will not even go into the pastel purple horror of the master bedroom, and the glittery painted drawing that adorned the space on the wall at the head of the bed. To each his own, but honestly I am not even sure you can paint over that kind of decorating.
What surprised me is the apparent lack of concern for whether or not the walls actually need to be repainted. They tell you up front when and if you will have to paint and it is basically part of the contract. Let’s say you move in, stay for a year, and do not in any way mess up the paint. Well, you still will probably have to paint, or fork over your security deposit. So, breaking out your paintbrushes would be the cheapest option by far.
Based solely on my limited experience here, I have found that about 90 % of the apartments I visit require painting. With this new factor in the mix, the odds of finding the perfect apartment (i.e. no painting to do, built-in kitchen, cat-friendly) seem slim. Yet there are a few deals to be had, even for those of us who are the hardest to please, and something tells me that there may be a happy ending in sight!
More to come soon!
Bavaria Undercover 
HMMMM : paint on, paint on !
I WOULD LOVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO PAINT MY APPARTMENT !!
I’d do the kitchen in red, the bedroom in black and blue, i.e…
I did it once, for my appartment near the martyrs street, do you remember it ? But we were only allowed to paint the walls in white, which did not leave much room for creativity…
The only problem is money… In France, sometimes, owners offer one or two months of allowances for the painting job, if the new tenants are up to it !!
Ok, painting could theoretically be fun, but here they definitely don’t give you any allowance for it. It’s just extra cost right out of your little pocket. 😉