Minimal furniture in a rented property?

It is considered sensible (from a landlord's point of view) to leave the minimum essential items in a 'furnished' flat these days. The reason for this is the landlord is responsible for replacing anything he has provided that wears our, breaks down etc so the less he leaves there the less he will be liable for when it comes to replacement.

I don't see any problems legally with this as the furnished part of the tennancy would cover for all of the other rooms and items in them. What I would check is how much rent is to be paid compared to the others in the house share and what they are getting in their rooms. Some house shares have a varying rate for each sharer dependant on the size etc of their room. Other shares just pull straws to see who gets what room and each pays the same regardless of the size of their room.

Just Googled 'legal definition fully furnished' and this came up:

There is no legal definition of what furniture must be provided or its condition if a property is let as furnished. Normally you should be able to expect a level of furnishing that would be reasonable to enable you to live in the accommodation, this includes:

<LI class=bullet>table and chairs in the kitchen/living room; <LI class=bullet>sofa and/or armchairs in the living room; <LI class=bullet>a bed and storage for clothes in each bedroom; <LI class=bullet>heating appliances; <LI class=bullet>curtains and floor coverings;
• a cooker, fridge, kitchen utensils and crockery

If this property was advertised through the Uni then I believe it has to come with a lot more - I looked into this 3 years ago and you LOADS of stuff to comply including: each bedroom to have bed, wardrobe and desk the kitchen to have a all white goods and a fire blanket, smoke alarms up & down stairs, a dining area and seating area the list was long!

If this is a private rental with no connection to the Uni then you get what you see.

As he is moving in tomorrow it sounds like you don't have much choice, I'd to to Argos and buy the cloth furniture like: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8758835/Trail/searchtext%3EWARDROBE.htm

having read Voyager's post it could be that the LL supplies the stuff on the inventory and the stuff there when they viewed has been left by previous tenants - hence LL has not put on inventory so he has no responsiblility for it. And if any of it breaks your son has no responsibility to replace it either.