Short answer
A between-tenants repaint is a speed and handover job, not a design project. In a London flat, the rooms worth doing are the ones a new tenant clocks in the first five minutes: the hallway, the living room, and any bedroom walls and skirtings that have taken a season’s scuffs. Most 1-bed flats repaint fully in two to three working days; a furnished 2-bed is usually three to four. The flat is normally re-lettable a day after the final coat is touch-dry, assuming you planned the clean correctly. On cost, expect roughly £350–£800 for a focused 1-bed refresh and £600–£1,200 for a fuller 2-bed with doors, frames and skirtings. Those are 2026 South London ranges, not a quote — furniture still in, heavy filling, nicotine or dark colours all move a job up the band, and a fixed price needs a viewing first.
What to repaint and what to leave
Most of the result is decided before the first coat. The rule is simple: paint what a new tenant will notice, and leave what is sound. Do not repaint a ceiling just because the room is being done.
| Area | Between tenants | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Hallway | Usually | Highest mark-up: scuffs, bags, coats and keys. Most visible first impression. |
| Living room | Usually | The room a tenant notices most, plus the wall most often drilled and touched. |
| Bedrooms | Usually | Scuffed walls behind beds and around switches show quickly on handover photos. |
| Kitchen walls (not tiles) | Sometimes | Only if marked or grease-stained; tiles and splashbacks are not a paint job. |
| Bathroom ceiling and walls outside the wet zone | Sometimes | Worth doing if flaking, but it needs a moisture-resistant finish, not standard emulsion. |
| Skirtings | Usually | Chips and scuffs read as “not maintained”, cheap to fix and easy to paint in place. |
| Door frames | Usually | Handprints and chips around handles age a flat more than tired walls do. |
| Internal doors | Sometimes | A light scuff can be touched in; full repaint is heavy work for a minor gain. |
| Window sills | Sometimes | Interior sills scuff badly near locks and catches; do the ones that are actually marked. |
| Sound ceilings | Rarely | Leave them. Painting a good ceiling adds time and cost with no handover benefit. |
Day-by-day timing
An empty flat is the fastest job of all — no furniture to move, no covers, no waiting on someone’s belongings. A furnished flat adds a day, not a coat.
Empty 1-bed (typical two to three days)
- Day 1: prep — fill, sand, mask, spot-prime stains and any filled patches.
- Day 2: ceilings if needed, then first coat on walls, then skirtings and frames.
- Day 3: second coat, final trim, and a check of the light from the windows.
Furnished 2-bed (typical three to four days)
- Day 1: clear and cover what must stay, prep, prime.
- Day 2: ceilings and first wall coat in one room each end of the flat.
- Day 3: second coats, frames and skirtings.
- Day 4: touch-ups and a final walk-round, usually a half day.
The thing people get wrong in London is drying, not drying time on the tin. Flats are often cool and closed up between tenancies, so a coat that is touch-dry in two hours may not be hard enough to move furniture back against for twelve or more. Touch-dry is not “furniture back”, and a same-day re-let is a bad plan. A practical handover window is: final coat on the last afternoon, clean the next morning, keys back that afternoon. If the flat is cold or the windows do not open well, add a full day rather than risk a scuffed wall on day one of the new tenancy.
Checklist for whoever is booking the painter
Before the viewing
- Note room sizes in metres — the price breakdown explains why square metres matter.
- Photograph the damage that is not paint — damp, cracks, failed caulk — so it is treated or excluded, not painted over.
- Decide what stays (furniture, white goods) and what is moved out before day one.
Before day one
- Confirm access: who has keys, alarm codes, and whether a fob is needed for the building.
- Sort parking or loading — many South London streets are permit-only, and a painter needs a bay or a legal spot with the kit.
- Turn off or box anything that cannot get dust on it; agree what is covered and what is moved.
On the day
- Pets are out of the flat or shut away — a curious cat near wet paint costs a redo.
- Water and power are on and working.
- Agree who supplies paint and finish: if you are buying, confirm the type before day one (vinyl matt for halls, eggshell or satin for woodwork, moisture-resistant for bathrooms).
Before keys go back
- Check the job in daylight and against the earlier photos.
- Leave at least one full day between the last coat and the incoming tenant’s clean, so nothing is marked before handover.
What it actually costs
These are guide ranges for 2026, tied to the site’s published rates, not invented premium prices.
| Job | Guide range |
|---|---|
| Small room (up to 10 m²) | £120–£180 |
| Medium room (10–18 m²) | £180–£260 |
| Large room (18–25 m²) | £250–£350 |
| Living room | £250–£350 |
| Hallway | £120–£200 |
| Ceiling (per room) | £60–£120 |
| Feature wall | £80–£140 |
| Skirtings | £60–£120 |
What moves a job up the band is almost never the paint — it is furniture still in the room, heavy filling, nicotine staining or dark colours that need extra coats, and poor access. A full 1-bed refresh is not “three rooms added up”: once doors, frames and skirtings are included, it becomes a different, larger job than the sum of its walls. Budget for that rather than being surprised by it.
Mistakes that waste the void period
The void is the most expensive time to learn these lessons, because every extra day is a day the flat is not earning.
- Painting over damp. It fails within weeks and you pay twice. Treat or exclude it first — prep properly or it comes back.
- Skipping filler. A filled-and-sanded wall looks new; a painted-over chip still looks old from the doorway.
- Vinyl matt in the hallway. Halls take marks and need a scrubable finish; vinyl matt ages a high-use wall faster.
- Recaulking the shower and calling it a repaint. Recaulking a shower is a repair with its own drying time — do not fold it into painting days and book the inspection early.
- Booking the clean before the paint is hard. The clean has to come after the last coat has cured, not after it looks dry.
What is included in a proper repaint is listed here.
When to hire, and when a DIY touch-up is enough
A landlord who is steady with a brush can touch in scuffs, a single marked wall, or a few chipped skirtings without paying for a full repaint — prep most of the result yourself with the DIY guide. A full flat, or anything involving ceilings, doors, frames, filling across rooms, or a short void where speed matters, is where it makes sense to hire someone and get the flat back on the market days earlier.
One clear next step: send the room sizes, a few photos of what needs doing, and the move-out date for a fixed quote after a viewing.
