Updating post from Reddit.
We are renting our flat in North London and we are unsure weather to rent it with or without furniture. As a preference we would like to rent it unfurnished as hopefully tenants will stay longer and we can take the furniture to our new place, but I have seen some flats on the market unfurnished that have been free for a few months and we are worried that being unfurnished will make it more difficult to rent?
Has anyone had any problems renting unfurnished? Any opinions our there would be very appreciated.
Thanks :)
It doesn’t matter, just ensure you price it correctly. Furnished property is more move in, move out. But given fixed term tenancies, tenants don’t move out after one month. But it will attract short term tenants. So ensure you prices for the utility of the furnishings and extra tenant churn.
Most furnished properties are just the landlords left over stuff they couldn’t be bothered to move with. As such you don’t get any additional rental, but just a repair liability.
If you do furnished, then charge as a separate option, using a furniture package, for a minimum term say 12 months. This reduces some risk that furnished property have more early surrender.
It will be more important to do as a package once renters rights is in place as a notice period for tenancy is just two months. Furnished properties will be attracting those that would otherwise stay in very short term that should such as hotels Airbnb et cetera. So if you ensure that the furniture package is for a minimum period of say six months and if they do leave after two months you can claim for the six months or more importantly you’re sicking to the tenant that you’re not after someone is only gonna be there two months. You just need to make sure that the furniture package is transferable.
I guess it depends on the market you are letting to and the size of the flat. A student is probably not going to have any furniture of their own...a couple/small family more likely will.
I would consider your market and your competition.
But also I’d genuinely consider whether you have nice furniture/good taste. I’ve seen plenty of places that honestly would get more interest if the landlord had not bothered with that ugly red leather sofa and mishmash of Ikea cast-offs….
If you have nice stuff appropriate to rent with, you could easily stand out and charge more too.
This. I've rented in places that were unfurnished and it didn't bother me as a student because they were much cheaper. I figured "I could get a decent amount of stuff on eBay" however if you're in an area where people just have fewer cars ie: inner city locations where cars aren't as necessary, I doubt you'll get people like me who'd be willing to go and drive to places to get stuff largely because they don't have a car
That, and they're probably not poor students who did the maths and figured it was worth it for something to be unfurnished
When I was a student, I bought a bed, a used fridge freezer, a desk and a tidy rail. I reused the desk for the year after, sold the bed, and the fridge freezer for £20 less than what they cost me as well as re-using the tidy rail. The cooker was already provided though
Given the rent was like £150 cheaper per month than a furnished property, it simply made financial sense for me to do so.
I decided to go with unfurnished for my own rental in the end just because I was worried about the furnishings not being to their liking and they'd want me to get rid or if tenants had their own furniture from their previous place and in that case I'd have to sell the stuff I'd got. My letting agent said that having furnished would not drive the rental price up so...
I'm in same situation and our letting agent recommended unfurnished because you're much more likely to get longer term tenants, and you don't have responsibility for fixing and replacing furnishings on an ongoing basis.