Painting when you move out: what can the landlord require of you?

Whether you have to paint when you move out depends on who has the interior maintenance under your lease. If the landlord has it, you can only face a claim for painting if you have damaged the home. If you have taken it over yourself, you must hand the home back in the same condition as when you moved in, but never in a better condition (§ 187, stk. 1, of the Danish Rent Act, lejeloven).

Do you have to paint when you move out of a rental home?

Start with your lease. In the authorised lease, standard form A10, § 8 says whether the landlord or the tenant has the interior maintenance. Interior maintenance is whitewashing, painting, wallpapering and treating floors (§ 111, stk. 2, of the Rent Act (in Danish)). According to the guidance to standard form A10, painting also covers woodwork such as doors, frames, skirting boards and radiators. Everything else is exterior maintenance in the legal sense, including repairs to windows and installations inside the home. As the tenant, you must maintain and if necessary replace locks and keys, unless otherwise agreed (§ 112, stk. 3).

If nothing else has been agreed, the landlord has the interior maintenance. The guidance to standard form A10 (in Danish) draws a sharp line between the two situations:

• The landlord has the interior maintenance: You can only face claims for painting and similar work if you have caused damage to the home. You do not have to repair deterioration caused by wear and tear.
• You have taken over the interior maintenance: You must hand the home back in the same condition as when it was handed over to you. This means that before you move out, you must carry out the maintenance of ceilings, walls and floors that should have been done during the tenancy.

In both cases the same ceiling applies: you cannot be required to bring the home into a better condition than when you took it over (§ 187, stk. 1). This rule cannot be overridden in the lease (§ 189).

This article is about private rental homes. If you live in social housing (almen bolig) from a housing association, the Act on the Rental of Social Housing (lov om leje af almene boliger) applies, and it has its own rules.

Does the landlord have the maintenance? Use the account before you give notice

If the landlord has the interior maintenance, the landlord must set aside a fixed amount per m² each year in a maintenance account for the apartment (§ 117). The amount is DKK 54 per m² in 2026, according to the ministry’s guidance on the rates for 2026 (in Danish). If you have taken over part of the maintenance, the amount is reduced proportionately. Each year, no later than 3 months after the end of the financial year, the landlord must tell you in writing how much is in the account.

If the cost can be covered by the amount in the account, you can require the landlord to carry out the interior maintenance when it is needed (§ 118, stk. 1). But once the lease has been terminated, by you or by the landlord, you can no longer make that demand (§ 118, stk. 3). If the home needs painting, ask for it before you give notice on the apartment. According to the guidance to A10, the landlord decides which tradespeople carry out the work. If you have had work done yourself without agreeing it with the landlord, you cannot claim the money from the account.

What counts as wear and tear?

Wear and tear is the deterioration that comes from ordinary use and from the passing of time. The Rent Act has no list, but the ministry’s guidance on move-in and move-out inspections, refurbishment and maintenance (in Danish) gives examples. The guidance is from 2015 and was written for the previous Rent Act, so the section numbers in it are the old ones. It is still listed as in force on Retsinformation.

The guidance distinguishes between two kinds of claim. You only have to repair wear and tear if you have the interior maintenance. You are liable for misuse (misligholdelse), meaning damage from incorrect use, incorrect maintenance or careless behaviour, whoever has the maintenance. Under § 149, stk. 2, of the Rent Act, you are liable for damage that you, your household or others you have given access to the home cause through careless behaviour.

Condition when you move out	The guidance’s starting point	Do you pay?
Marks from pictures, screw holes, shoe marks on skirting boards, chipped doors	Wear and tear	Only if you have the interior maintenance
Newly painted walls that have faded over time	Wear and tear	Only if you have the interior maintenance
An unusually large number of holes in the walls	Can be misuse	Yes, if it is misuse
Dog scratches on frames, burn marks on the kitchen worktop, scratches in the floor beyond ordinary wear	Misuse	Yes
Floor lacquer worn through so that the wood has been damaged	Misuse, because the floor should have been lacquered or the landlord should have been told	Yes

Where the line falls always depends on a specific assessment of the home. The guidance also says there must be a need for maintenance of a certain extent before refurbishment can be required. Small, insignificant marks are not enough.

What the lease may and may not require of you

The landlord may agree with you that you take over the maintenance, in whole or in part. But the Act sets limits on what can be required when you move out. It cannot be agreed:

• That when you move out you must refurbish anything other than the parts of the home you have the maintenance duty for (§ 115, stk. 1).
• That you must hand the home back in a better condition than when you took it over (§ 187, stk. 1, and § 189).
• That you must carry out maintenance more often than the home requires. Maintenance must be done as often as necessary given the property and the home (§ 112, stk. 1), and this rule can only be departed from by you taking over the duty (§ 115, stk. 1). According to the guidance, an automatic refurbishment, where you must paint regardless of need, can therefore no longer be agreed.
• That the landlord avoids the move-out inspection and move-out report when the landlord has a duty to hold an inspection (§ 189).
• That the rules on the maintenance account are departed from to your disadvantage (§ 125).

The landlord cannot enforce a term that goes further than the Act on these points. Older leases can, however, contain terms on full refurbishment that still apply. That is what the next section is about. We go through the landlord’s side of the same rules, including the difference between normal refurbishment and full refurbishment, in the landlord’s guide to move-out inspection and refurbishment.

Newly refurbished when you moved in: what does it mean for you?

Whether you could have to hand the home back newly refurbished depends on when the lease was signed. This is how the Rent Tribunal (huslejenævnet) in the City of Copenhagen (in Danish) describes the rules:

Topic	Lease signed before 1 July 2015	Lease signed after 1 July 2015
Agreement to hand back newly refurbished	May have been agreed: the floors are renovated and the home is painted	Cannot be agreed
Move-in report	Not a requirement	A requirement when the landlord has more than one apartment
Move-out inspection and move-out report	A requirement when the landlord has more than one apartment and you move out after 1 July 2015	A requirement when the landlord has more than one apartment

Even with a newer lease, you can end up having to paint everything. If you took over the home newly painted, and you have the interior maintenance yourself, you may, according to the ministry’s guidance, have to hand it back newly painted if you have not maintained it along the way. The guidance gives a very general rule of thumb: with normal use, you should expect to have to paint after 5 years. This is not a fixed deadline, and the duty can arise at another time.

On the other hand, the ceiling in § 187 applies. If painting would improve the home, the guidance says the landlord’s claim must be reduced at discretion, so that overall you do not hand the home back in a better condition than when you took it over. The guidance accepts a certain margin, so individual surfaces may well end up looking better than when you moved in.

That is why the papers from when you moved in matter. If you reported a defect when you moved in, and it has not been repaired, you are not liable for it when you move out (the guidance to A10). That is the reason for making a defects list when you move in. If a landlord with more than one apartment did not hold a move-in inspection at all, the claim for refurbishment lapses, except for damage you are responsible for (§ 90, stk. 3).

The move-out inspection: invitation, report, deadlines and authorisation

A landlord who rents out more than one residential apartment must hold a move-out inspection (flyttesyn) (§ 187, stk. 3). This is how it works:

1. Your new address. No later than 8 days before you move out, you must give the landlord the address that claims for refurbishment can be sent to (§ 186, stk. 2). If you do not, according to the guidance you cannot claim afterwards that the landlord’s claim came too late. The landlord must, however, try to find your address.
2. The invitation. You must be invited in writing with at least 1 week’s notice. You can agree a shorter notice period when the tenancy has been terminated by notice or for breach (§ 187, stk. 3).
3. The inspection. It must be held no later than 2 weeks after the landlord learned that you have moved out. According to the guidance, this is typically when you have handed in the keys and cleared the home. If you do not turn up, even though you have been invited correctly, the inspection can be held without you.
4. The move-out report. The report must be handed to you at the inspection. If you are not there, or will not sign for it, it must be sent no later than 2 weeks after the inspection (§ 187, stk. 4). It must say specifically what work is required and where in the home. Saying that the home has been misused is not enough. The prices do not have to be in the report.
5. The deadline for claims. The landlord cannot require refurbishment once more than 2 weeks have passed since the inspection, and costs of refurbishment that are not in the report are no concern of yours. The exceptions are defects that could not be seen with ordinary attention, and cases where you have acted fraudulently (§ 187, stk. 2).

If the landlord does not follow the rules on inspection and report, the claim for refurbishment lapses (§ 187, stk. 5). The rules cannot be departed from to your disadvantage (§ 189).

Can someone else attend for you?

Yes. According to the guidance, both tenant and landlord can be represented by someone else. Give the person a written authorisation saying that they attend on your behalf and can sign for receipt of the report. You can also bring the tenants’ committee (beboerrepræsentationen), if the property has one. Go through the report point by point before anyone signs, and write clearly if you disagree. Take your own photos of every room on the same day.

If the landlord only rents out one apartment

Then there is no duty to hold a move-out inspection. Claims for refurbishment must as a rule be made no later than 2 weeks after the moving-out date (§ 187, stk. 2). This deadline can, however, be extended in the lease, because it is only mandatory where there is a duty to hold an inspection (§ 189). So read your lease.

Should you paint yourself, or should the landlord do it?

If you have the interior maintenance, the guidance to standard form A10 says that before you move out, you must carry out the maintenance that should have been done during the tenancy. If you want to paint yourself, do it before the inspection is held, because it is the inspection that establishes the condition of the home. Do it properly too. The ministry’s guidance treats incorrectly done maintenance as misuse, so a sloppy result can end up in the report anyway.

The Rent Act does not say who must carry out the work listed in the move-out report. If you want to do some of it yourself after the inspection, get a written agreement with the landlord first. Otherwise the landlord can have the work done and set the cost off against your deposit, which serves as security for, among other things, refurbishment. According to the guidance, the costs must not exceed what is reasonable and usual.

How the money is settled afterwards, and what you do if it does not arrive, is covered in the article on how to get your deposit back.

If you disagree with the landlord’s claim

1. Check the deadlines for the invitation, inspection and report. If they have not been met, the claim for refurbishment lapses.
2. Compare the report with your lease, the move-in report, your defects list and your photos.
3. Write to the landlord, point by point, what you disagree with and why, and attach the documentation.
4. If you cannot agree, you can bring the case before the Rent Tribunal. The tribunal decides disputes about refurbishment on moving out, including repayment of the deposit (§ 190, as amended by Act no. 1793 of 28 December 2023 (in Danish)).

In Copenhagen it costs DKK 367 in 2026 to bring a case. A landlord who loses the case pays DKK 7,027, but not if the landlord only partly loses, or the case is settled at the tribunal. Cases are handled in writing and typically take 8-10 months (City of Copenhagen (in Danish)). For a move-out case, the tribunal recommends that you send the lease, the date you handed in the keys, the move-out report, the move-in report, the invitation to the move-out inspection, the defects list and preferably photos. Write exactly which points in the statement you are complaining about.

The Rent Tribunal is neutral and cannot advise you (City of Copenhagen (in Danish)). We go through how to complain in practice in the article on the Rent Tribunal in Copenhagen. If you need a new home, you can see the available homes to rent with BY Administration.

Sources

• The Danish Rent Act (lov om leje, lejeloven), Act no. 341 of 22 March 2022 as amended, Retsinformation (in Danish)
• Act no. 1793 of 28 December 2023 amending the Rent Act and other acts, including § 190, Retsinformation (in Danish)
• Guidance no. 10936 of 21 October 2015 on move-in and move-out inspections, refurbishment and maintenance in private rental properties, Retsinformation (in Danish)
• Guidance no. 9886 of 4 September 2025 on the adjustment of rates in rental legislation etc. for 2026, Retsinformation (in Danish)
• Standard form A, 10th edition, lease for residential use with guidance, sm.dk (in Danish)
• What the rent tribunals can handle, City of Copenhagen (in Danish)
• When a tenant moves in or out, City of Copenhagen (in Danish)
• Bring a case before the Rent Tribunal, City of Copenhagen (in Danish)