Painting, cleaning and handing back the home when you move out, by country
Most rental statutes say little about repainting, and the table shows it: only Sweden speaks to painting and wallpapering directly, making it a landlord duty at reasonable intervals and a tenant right at the tenant’s own cost. Norway and the Netherlands tie the hand-back standard to the condition at the start (in the Netherlands through a written description if one exists, with a rebuttable presumption if none does), and Austria points to the inventory or the condition the tenant took over. Germany, Spain and Ontario instead set out who bears wear and tear or damage, and Ontario limits the tenant to ordinary cleanliness and undue damage.
Scope of this guide
Canada: the Canada Labour Code (federal sector) and the Ontario statutes that LawAsked has loaded. Other provinces are not compared.
| Country | Tenant’s duty at the end | Wear and tear | Painting and wallpapering | Move-in description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | Return the property as the inventory lists it, or at least in the condition it was taken over in | An inventory, where one was drawn up, is the benchmark; none is required by this section | ||
| Canada | Ordinary cleanliness; repair undue damage caused by the tenant, other occupants or guests | Only undue damage caused by wilful or negligent conduct is charged to the tenant | ||
| Germany | Return the rented property when the tenancy ends | Changes from contractual use are not the tenant’s responsibility | ||
| Spain | Landlord does the repairs needed for habitability, except for deterioration the tenant caused | Small repairs from ordinary use are the tenant’s | ||
| Netherlands | Hand the property back to the landlord at the end of the lease | Loss or damage through age is excepted | If a description was drawn up, return it in that state; if none, the tenant is presumed to have received it as it is at the end (rebuttable) | |
| Norway | Tidy, cleaned and in the same condition as at takeover | Deterioration from ordinary wear and age is excepted | The home must be tidy, cleaned and in normal good condition when handed over; the hand-back is measured against takeover | |
| Sweden | Care for the flat well and compensate damage caused by the tenant, household or guests | Landlord arranges repairs for deterioration through age and use | Landlord paints and wallpapers at reasonable intervals; tenants may do it at their own cost, with compensation if the flat’s value falls |
Country by country
Austria
- Rule
- ABGB § 1109
- General rental contracts under the ABGB. The section is also written for leased farmland, which the statute treats separately in the same sentence.
- The section does not state who pays for repainting or how wear and tear is treated, so those columns are left empty.
Nach geendigtem Bestandvertrage muß der Bestandnehmer die Sache dem etwa errichteten Inventarium gemäß oder doch in dem Zustand, in welchem er sie übernommen hat Canada
- Rule
- Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 (Ontario) ss. 33 and 34
- Ontario statute only. Cleanliness is the tenant’s unless the tenancy agreement requires the landlord to clean.
- The sections do not mention painting or a move-in report, so those columns are left empty.
The tenant is responsible for ordinary cleanliness of the rental unit, except to the extent that the tenancy agreement requires the landlord to clean it. The tenant is responsible for the repair of undue damage to the rental unit or residential complex caused by the wilful or negligent conduct of the tenant Germany
- Rule
- BGB §§ 538 and 546
- Residential and other tenancies under the BGB tenancy chapter. The sections ingested do not mention cosmetic repairs (Schönheitsreparaturen) or a hand-over record, so those columns are left empty.
- Section 538 turns on use that is "vertragsgemäß", so damage beyond the agreed use is outside it.
Der Mieter ist verpflichtet, die Mietsache nach Beendigung des Mietverhältnisses zurückzugeben. Veränderungen oder Verschlechterungen der Mietsache, die durch den vertragsgemäßen Gebrauch herbeigeführt werden, hat der Mieter nicht zu vertreten. Spain
- Rule
- Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos art. 21
- Housing leases. The article refers to the Civil Code (arts. 1563 and 1564) for what counts as tenant-caused deterioration; the Civil Code lease articles are not ingested, so that is not summarised.
- The article does not mention painting or a move-in record, so those columns are left empty.
salvo cuando el deterioro de cuya reparación se trate sea imputable al arrendatarioLas pequeñas reparaciones que exija el desgaste por el uso ordinario de la vivienda serán de cargo del arrendatario. Netherlands
- Rule
- BW Boek 7 art. 224
- Applies to rental agreements under Book 7. Permitted alterations and additions are excepted from the duty to restore.
- The description is not made compulsory by this article; the article states what follows if one exists and if one does not.
Indien tussen de huurder en verhuurder een beschrijving van het verhuurde is opgemaakt, is de huurder gehouden de zaak in dezelfde staat op te leveren waarin deze volgens de beschrijving is aanvaard, met uitzondering van geoorloofde veranderingen en toevoegingen en hetgeen door ouderdom is teniet gegaan of beschadigd.Indien geen beschrijving is opgemaakt, wordt de huurder, behoudens tegenbewijs, verondersteld het gehuurde in de staat te hebben ontvangen zoals deze is bij het einde van de huurovereenkomst. Norway
- Rule
- Husleieloven §§ 2-2 and 10-2
- Applies unless the parties agree otherwise ("Er ikke annet avtalt"). The landlord cannot demand restoration of changes the tenant was entitled to make, and cannot demand a better condition than at handover for maintenance the tenant owes, without a special agreement.
- The sections do not mention painting or a written hand-over record, so the painting column is left empty.
Er ikke annet avtalt, skal husrommet med tilbehør være ryddet, rengjort og i samme stand som ved overtakelsen, bortsett fra den forringelse som skyldes alminnelig slit og elde Er ikke annet avtalt, skal husrommet med tilbehør ved overleveringen være ryddet, rengjort og i vanlig god stand. Sweden
- Rule
- Jordabalken 12 kap. 15, 24 and 24 a §§
- Residential flats. The landlord duty in 15 § can be agreed away for single-family houses and owner-apartment properties, and where a negotiation clause and a negotiated agreement say otherwise; 24 a § can be agreed away for certain sublets and holiday-type houses.
- The sections do not mention a move-in record, so that column is left empty.
Hyresgästen skall under hyrestiden väl vårda lägenheten med vad därtill hör.Han är skyldig att ersätta all skada som uppkommer genom hans vållande ska hyresvärden i bostadsdelen med skäliga tidsmellanrum ombesörja tapetsering, målning och andra sedvanliga reparationer med anledning av lägenhetens försämring genom ålder och bruk Bostadshyresgäster har rätt att på egen bekostnad i lägenheten utföra målning, tapetsering och därmed jämförliga åtgärder. Countries not in this table yet
The United States, Australia and France have no ingested tenancy statute that covers this. The ingested Housing Act 2004 (United Kingdom) and Japan’s Land and Building Lease Act do not state the rule, so those two are not shown either.
How this table was built
Every row is taken from the official, consolidated text of the statute, which LawAsked loads from each government’s legislation service.
Each figure is tied to a passage quoted word for word from that text. When the page is served, it checks that every quoted passage is still in the current text of a law that is in force; if a law is amended and its wording changes, that row is hidden until a person reviews it again.
The table shows the statutory minimum only. Collective agreements, awards and individual contracts often give more than the statute, and some countries let a collective agreement set different terms.
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The table and the CSV are free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: credit LawAsked and link to this page. Quoted statute text stays under the terms of its official source.
How to cite this page
LawAsked, “Painting, cleaning and handing back the home when you move out, by country”, https://lawasked.com/guides/redecorating-on-move-out (reviewed October 25, 2026).
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