Yes — you can mount a TV in a rented flat in most cases. The key steps are: check your tenancy agreement, get written permission if required, use proper fixings (not adhesive), and fill the holes neatly when you leave. Done correctly, TV mounting in a rental is straightforward and leaves no meaningful trace.
Step 1 — Check your tenancy agreement
Before drilling anything, read your tenancy agreement. Look for clauses about alterations, decorating, or drilling. There are three common situations:
- No mention of alterations — You are likely allowed minor works including TV mounting. In practice, reversible changes such as TV mounting are often considered acceptable — though tenancy terms vary, so check yours.
- "Minor alterations permitted" — TV mounting is clearly allowed. Keep it neat and fill holes on departure.
- "No alterations without written consent" — Email your letting agent asking permission to mount a TV. Include the wall you plan to use and that you will fill holes on leaving. Many landlords agree within a few days.
The key phrase is reversible. A TV bracket leaves small fixings that can be filled and painted. That is reversible. Knocking through a wall is not.
What landlords actually care about
Most landlords are reasonable. What they care about is their property being returned in the same condition it was rented. Their concerns with TV mounting are:
- Large, unfilled holes in the wall
- Damage to tiles, paintwork, or expensive finishes
- Cables routed in a way that damages the wall surface
None of these are inevitable. A professional installation uses exactly the right size fixings, leaves the smallest possible hole footprint, and routes cables neatly. Unfilled holes are easy to fill with standard filler and a small amount of paint. It is generally hard for a landlord to withhold your deposit for neat, filled holes that are indistinguishable from the original wall — though deposit disputes ultimately depend on the specific tenancy and the deposit scheme rules.
Wall types in rental properties — and what that means for fixings
Most modern rented flats — particularly new builds, purpose-built blocks, and converted older properties — have plasterboard internal walls. Some older converted houses have solid brick internal walls. The wall type affects which fixings are used, not whether a TV can be mounted.
| Wall type | Common in | Fixing used | Hole size left |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plasterboard (hollow) | New builds, converted flats | Cavity anchors (e.g. Grip-It) | 10–14mm per fixing |
| Plasterboard on stud | Most UK new builds | Stud-mounted bolts or cavity anchors | 6–10mm per fixing |
| Solid brick | Victorian / Edwardian conversions | Masonry plugs and screws | 6–8mm per fixing |
| Concrete | 1960s–80s blocks | Heavy-duty masonry anchors | 8–10mm per fixing |
The holes left by any of these are small. A standard TV mounting job requires 4–6 fixing holes, each smaller than a 10p coin. Filled with decorator's filler and touched up with matching paint, they are invisible.
Filling holes when you leave
This is the part most tenants worry about, but it is genuinely straightforward:
- Remove the bracket and all fixings cleanly
- Fill each hole with decorator's filler (available in any DIY shop, around £3–5 a tube)
- Sand flush once dry
- Apply touch-up paint if required — most landlords hold a pot of the wall paint, or a standard white emulsion matches well
If you are not confident doing this yourself, a handyman can fill and touch up 6 holes in under an hour. The cost is typically £30–50. Compare that to the TV-watching enjoyment of having your TV properly mounted for the rest of your tenancy.
What about cable management in a rented flat?
Behind-wall cable routing (the cleanest method) involves cutting a channel or feeding cables through the wall cavity. This is a more significant alteration and we would not recommend it without explicit landlord permission.
The good news: cable trunking is an excellent alternative that requires no wall cutting. White plastic trunking runs along the wall surface, clips onto small adhesive or screwed-on clips, and conceals cables completely. It looks clean, is fully reversible, and is a method we frequently use in rental property installations. See our full guide to hiding TV cables without cutting the wall.
Our rental property service
We mount TVs in rented properties across London regularly. We are familiar with the common wall types in rental stock — plasterboard in new builds, lathe-and-plaster in older conversions, solid brick in Victorian houses. We use appropriate fixings for each, keep the hole footprint minimal, and can provide cable trunking as standard.
If you need a letter or documentation for your landlord confirming our insurance, qualifications, and approach, we can provide that too. See our specialist rented flat TV mounting page for more.
Summary
- Check your tenancy agreement before drilling anything
- Get written permission if your agreement requires it — most landlords say yes
- Use a professional installer with the right fixings for your wall type
- Use cable trunking rather than behind-wall routing in rental properties
- Fill holes carefully with decorator's filler when you leave — this is straightforward
- Keep all receipts and communications in case of any dispute