Cost to paint a 1 or 2-bed flat in Leicester
Short answer: £700 to £2,400 in 2026, materials included. The biggest variable isn't the bedroom count. It's whether your flat was built as a flat or carved out of an older building.
The price, by type and size
| Flat | Walls & ceilings | Full repaint |
|---|---|---|
| Studio, purpose-built | £450–£700 | £700–£950 |
| 1-bed purpose-built | £700–£1,000 | £1,000–£1,300 |
| 2-bed purpose-built | £1,100–£1,450 | £1,450–£1,900 |
| 1-bed conversion (period) | £900–£1,300 | £1,300–£1,700 |
| 2-bed conversion (period) | £1,400–£1,800 | £1,900–£2,400 |
Note the gap: a 2-bed conversion can cost £500 more than a 2-bed purpose-built flat of identical floor area. Same bedrooms, same square metres, different job.
Purpose-built vs conversion
This is the whole article, really. Leicester has plenty of both: purpose-built blocks around the city centre and the newer developments, and conversions carved out of Victorian and Edwardian houses in Clarendon Park, Stoneygate, Highfields and around the universities.
| Purpose-built | Conversion | |
|---|---|---|
| Ceiling height | 2.3–2.4m | 2.7–3.2m |
| Walls | Plasterboard, flat | Plaster on brick, some lath |
| Windows | uPVC, nothing to paint | Often original sash |
| Skirting | 70–100mm plain | 150–225mm moulded |
| Doors | Flat, roller-able | Panelled, both sides |
| Cornice | None | Sometimes, all brushwork |
| Chimney breast | None | Often, plus alcoves |
| 2-bed full repaint | £1,450–£1,900 | £1,900–£2,400 |
A conversion inherits everything from the building it was cut out of. A 3m ceiling adds roughly 25% more wall in every room than a 2.4m one, before you count the sash windows and the moulded skirting. That's where the £500 goes.
The access question nobody quotes for
Flats have one cost driver houses simply don't have, and most quotes stay quiet about it until it's a problem.
Everything has to be carried. Paint, sheets, filler, ladders, a tower if the ceilings are high, and every bag of waste on the way out. In a house, that's from the van on the drive. In a fourth-floor flat with no lift, it's four flights, repeatedly, for a week.
- No lift above the second floor. Genuinely adds hours across a job.
- No loading bay or nearby parking. If the van is 200 metres away on a permit street, every trip costs time.
- Restricted hours. Some blocks limit works to 9–5 weekdays. That can turn a 4-day job into 5.
- Communal areas. We protect the stairs and landing we pass through, which is right, and it takes time.
- Waste. Many blocks have no skip access and bins are shared, so waste often leaves in the van.
Landlords and tenancy changeover
A large share of our flat work is landlords between tenancies, and there are a few things worth knowing.
An empty flat is the cheapest flat to decorate. Nothing to move, nothing to cover, no working around anyone. If you can give us the void week, you get the best price and the fastest turnaround we can do.
Fair wear and tear can't be charged to the tenant. Scuffed walls after a two-year tenancy are a cost of letting, not a deposit deduction. Redecoration on a 3 to 5 year cycle is normal, and trying to recover it from a deposit tends to fail at adjudication.
Spend the money where it wears. On a rental, the hallway and kitchen take the punishment. A durable matt there costs a little more per litre and can add a year or two to the cycle, which pays for itself immediately. In bedrooms, standard vinyl matt is fine.
Keep one colour. Landlords who use a single white or off-white throughout can touch up between tenancies instead of repainting. That's a genuine saving over the life of a flat, and it's why the trade-standard magnolia became a cliché.
We quote from a room list without visiting, which suits landlords who aren't local. Several of our regular clients have never met us.
Condensation: the flat-specific problem
Flats get condensation more than houses, and it's worth understanding before you pay to paint over the evidence.
They're compact, often sealed tight, frequently have a bathroom with no openable window, and the moisture from cooking, showering and drying laundry has fewer places to go. Add a cold external corner and you get black mould, usually in the same three places: behind a wardrobe on an outside wall, in the corner above a window, and around the shower.
Painting over it will not work. It comes back through, and on a rental it comes back in time for the next inspection. The honest fix is extraction and airflow: run the fan on for 20 minutes after a shower, keep furniture off external walls, and open the trickle vents. We'll treat and seal it properly, but we'll also tell you if the fan isn't up to the job, because that's the actual cause.
How long it takes
| Scope | Days |
|---|---|
| 1-bed, walls & ceilings | 1–2 |
| 1-bed, full repaint | 2–3 |
| 2-bed, walls & ceilings | 2–3 |
| 2-bed, full repaint | 3–5 |
| Period conversion, full | +1–2 |
| Occupied vs empty | +1 |
Price your flat instantly
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See My Price Instantly →Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to paint a flat in Leicester?
In 2026, decorating a flat in Leicester typically costs £700 to £2,400 with materials included. A 1-bed purpose-built flat is around £700 to £1,300. A 2-bed flat is more commonly £1,100 to £1,900. A 2-bed conversion in a period building with tall ceilings and original joinery can reach £2,400.
Why do converted flats cost more than purpose-built ones?
A conversion sits inside an older building, so it inherits that building's ceiling heights, joinery and plaster. A flat carved out of a Victorian house may have 3m ceilings, original sash windows, deep moulded skirting and lath and plaster, all of which add hours. A purpose-built flat has 2.4m ceilings, plasterboard and uPVC, and is much quicker per square metre.
How long does it take to decorate a 2-bed flat?
Walls and ceilings in a 2-bed flat usually take 2 to 3 working days. A full repaint including woodwork is more commonly 3 to 5 days. An empty flat between tenancies is at the faster end because nothing needs moving or covering.
Do decorators charge more for flats with no lift or parking?
It can affect the price, and an honest decorator will tell you why rather than hide it. Every tin, sheet, tower section and bag of waste is carried by hand. A fourth-floor flat with no lift and no loading bay genuinely takes longer than a ground-floor flat with a driveway, and pretending otherwise just means the cost appears somewhere else.
How often should a landlord redecorate a rental flat?
Most landlords redecorate every 3 to 5 years, or at tenancy changeover if the previous tenancy was long. Fair wear and tear can't be charged to a tenant, so redecoration is a normal cost of letting. A durable matt in the hallway and a wipeable finish in the kitchen typically pay for themselves by extending the cycle.