Tenant Stunned as Landlord Splatters Possessions in Paint: ‘Boundaries’

A Lego collector has been left heartbroken after her landlord covered her collection in paint while decorating her room.

Morgan, who lives in London, U.K., arrived home to find quite the mess to clean up when her landlord came in early and painted.

“I knew work was being done. I was given a general timeframe of two weeks. I stated I’d have my room ready for people to come in by the 10th, but they went ahead and did the work without any warning,” Morgan told Newsweek.

The room was repainted on Monday, May 8, earlier than she was expecting. When she returned to her room, she found that most of her Lego collection was covered in splatters. Her bedding, desk, laptop and some clothes were also spoiled.

“They did cover things with tarps, but I don’t think much care was put into keeping those things covered as they went,” said Morgan. “Since the painting was done, I’ve been told, ‘We covered everything initially but if something got paint on it, I wasn’t going to go out of my way to recover it.’”

In a series of pictures, Morgan shared the damage done to the Lego collection, which was now covered in paint specks.

“Most of my Lego collection was covered in splatters,” she said. “My bedding also has a considerable amount. My desk and laptop were both covered, some of the coats on the back of my door, some shoes, my bedside table and lamp. It’s really not ideal.”

This is far from the first time a landlord has been slammed for the results of a paint job. From painted-over food to a hand grenade casually decorated over—the “landlord special,” a thick and careless paint job, is a common feature in many rental properties.

Coming home from a few days away and discovering the paint mess, Morgan was very upset: “I’m autistic, and the combination of the mess, fumes and intrusion really set me off into a spiral. I ended up having to stay at my partner’s for the rest of the week while I decided how to deal with it.”

Morgan shared the pictures on Reddit’s r/Lego subreddit, where she asked for any advice on cleaning the models without having to disassemble everything completely.

In hundreds of comments, people shared their fury on her behalf. “Who paints a room with stuff in it without covering the stuff???” asked one commenter.

Another Reddit user wrote: “Does your landlord not know how to paint? This is basically property damage.”

The renter explained that she hasn’t formally complained about the paint damage yet, but found the reaction after she shared it online very validating.

“I’m not going to be persuading any kind of legal action. My living situation is informal. I lodge in the spare room and I consider my landlords my friends,” Morgan said. “I will be having a discussion with them about boundaries and respect, though, as I feel a bit walked over.”

Another concern was for the welfare of her pet, who was in the room at the time: “I have a pet snake and as they started the work without warning, I had no chance to remove him from the room, meaning he had to sit in a fume-filled room for God knows how long. It shouldn’t have happened and it hurts that it is, so that’s the conversation we’ll be having,” Morgan added.