“Was this renovated recently?”

A real estate agent is showing you an apartment that you are considering renting. The building is old, but the apartment looks new. You ask him why:

Was this renovated recently?

renovate (a building or structure)

"Renovate" means to rebuild and make improvements to a building, a room, or other structure. It can only be used for buildings or structures, not for smaller things. Also, the changes that are made need to be major changes.

For smaller changes, you could use words like "redecorate" (changing the curtains, re-painting, getting new lights, etc.) or "repair" (fixing something that's old or broken)