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Furnished or unfurnished?

I am interested in knowing the pros and cons of a furnished and unfurnished property. I need to move out soon (I'm currently renting a furnished flat) but I am looking at both furnished and unfurnished properties as there isn't a lot available. I have seen an unfurnished one I like but am unsure whether it will be a bit too much hassle- yet at the same time I rather like the idea of buying my own furniture to suit my own tastes.

I would be interested to hear people's opinions, thanks! :)
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Comments

  • Depends on your longer term plans, I would suggest.

    If you plan (or are forced by landlords) to move every six or 12 months, that's a lot of extra removal costs/effort.

    If you plan on buying in a couple of years, you might want to wait to buy furniture until you know it will suit that property.

    If its going to be a decade before you buy, then fair enough it will mostly have worn out and you can re-buy to suit the purchased house.
  • Well at the end of the day it is entirely up to you, but I personally prefer unfurnished as you can have your own stuff (don't need to worry about damage too other people's property) and when you move on you don't have to think about buying more furniture (unless you want to).

    However, furnished also offers it's own advantages - you don't have to buy anything additional if you're short of cash, no need to worry about hefty moving costs of heavy furniture in the future.

    I've only ever lived in unfurnished rented flats (apart from our student house) and initially it was a bit of a pain having to buy furniture but eventually we managed to get everything we needed as family / friends were willing to give away stuff. Nowadays you can use freecycle to pick up free bits and bobs so it's not so expensive.

    Now we're about to move we have too much stuff!!
  • I find the furniture in furnished places to be very scuzzy. You can pick up really nice furniture second hand for not much at all, and also free on free cycle. I have bought lovely, and really cheap furniture to my taste second hand, and that way it dosnt matter so much if you have to move and its not the right size etc for the next place.

    Plus in furnished places you do leave yourself open a bit to damaging things! Though it can seem a big deal buying everything at once - once you have a sofa and bed you can send more time sorting the rest out.
  • Fuzzy_Duck
    Fuzzy_Duck Posts: 1,594 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    Thanks for your replies, your suggestions were really helpful. I think I would be keen to stay there for as long as possible so I wouldn't have to shift it again in a small amount of time. However I do have access to a van and some helpful friends so there wouldn't be cost involved (except a few 'thank you' drinks ;)) I've got a bed to put in there so really I only need a mattress and a sofa, the latter I'm hoping to pick up cheap off Freecycle or Gumtree.

    Cheers again all, I'm thinking unfurnished probably is the way to go as I do worry about damaging property that's not mine!
  • jayss
    jayss Posts: 543 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    I'm in unfurnished but with whitegoods which works well for me.


    If you have access to a van then alls good :)
  • jayss wrote: »
    I'm in unfurnished but with whitegoods which works well for me.


    If you have access to a van then alls good :)

    Me too.

    I think it works well. However I already had wardrobes/double bed/chest of drawers/bookcases etc prior to moving here.

    x
    * Rainbow baby boy born 9th August 2016 *

    * Slimming World follower (I breastfeed so get 6 hex's!) *
  • adg1
    adg1 Posts: 670 Forumite
    Furnished/Unfurnished is a choice to be made on ease of move and future plans.

    If you plan, in the long term, to buy, then its great to have all the furniture you need, acquired over a long period of time. It'll also be to your taste.

    If you want to move house and just arrive with a key, then furnished it is but remember that people have different tastes - most landlord will not furnish a rental property with John Lewis best, more likely Ikea special.
  • It also depends on what the furniture already in the place is like. Some landlords furnish a place with furniture that's worse than you'd tend to get on freecycle :eek: OTOH, I've seen people renting out the flats they've lived in complete with the furniture they've bought for their own use while there - which can be very good quality. There's no reason you can't look at both furnished and unfurnished places, to see what you think.
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I chose furnished as I had nothing. It's nice now I'm moviing out to not have to worry about what to do with it all.

    I'd consider unfurnished if it had the white goods, but for furniture I'd just get myself a blow up mattress and a couple of deckchairs.... travelling light is good sometimes.

    But I'm not settled, so trying to keep everything easy to up sticks.

    If yu rent furnished, the "extra" on the rent for that can be £50/month, but it's not as black/white as that or it'd be easier to decide.
  • Fuzzy_Duck wrote: »
    Cheers again all, I'm thinking unfurnished probably is the way to go as I do worry about damaging property that's not mine!

    Me too, lol, I have completly knackered my old sofa. Luckilly it is mine so I don't have to worry about it. Mind you i do seem to be unlucky when it comes to kitchen lino.
    Iva started Dec 2018.
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