The number one rule when renting an apartment, townhouse, condo or single family home is not to make any major changes to the interior without permission from the landlord. I’m pretty sure babies are told that the second they leave the womb. Not only is it a waste of money, it’s a recipe to get evicted, as Courtney Love is currently finding out. The forty-seven year old has been renting the same West Village townhouse for awhile, but her relationship with the property owner has started to go south. Now she’s being sued for painting the walls and two months in unpaid rent. If you believe the musician though, the situation is a whole lot more complicated.

Love told The New York Post, the fifty-four thousand dollars isn’t for past rent but the next two months the landlord is now illegally demanding she pay upfront. According to her, she told the property owner, Donna Lyon, that she’d gladly give her the money now if she’d agree to extend the lease an extra six months. That offer was apparently rebuffed, which means the two sides will likely meet in court. Lyon wants Love to return the interior to exactly how it looked, but the renter is arguing she received permission to change things and even had the specific painter approved.

In situations like this, it’s really hard to tell from the outside who is telling the truth. Anonymous sources are saying Lyon may well be creating a fuss simply to drum up an interested buyer, but even if that is the case, if Love didn’t get written permission to paint, she should have seen this coming.

The issue of the rent will go in front of a judge next week. Once that’s settled, a second lawsuit may be filed about the paint job.