Advice on renting.

74jax

Can anyone point me in the direction of a good thread about renting out an appartment for the first time.

My boyfriend is moving in with me and we are going to rent his out funished. We'd like to know to enable us to class it as 'furnished' what needs to be left.

If there was a thread we could look up all the other esentials too.

Thanks.

Annisele

Go have a look at landlordzone.

'Furnished' means whatever the LL and T agree it to mean - it can be anything from fully furnished with towels included, to 'it has kitchen cupboards and a chair'. I suspect that the furnished/unfurnished issue is going to be the least of your worries though!

Does your bf have permission from his lender to let his flat?

hazybubbles

I am no expert on this but from my experience as the renter rather than the LL the term 'furnished' seems to be rather flexible. On viewings I have seen everything from white goods plus one bed being marketed as furnished to what I would consider fully furnished, e.g. living room furniture, white goods in kitchen, bed + wardrobe in each bedroom. As a note, these were being advertised through EA as well so not just LLs advertising themselves.

To me it seems pointless to advertise something as furnished when it would clearly require additional furniture to be provided by the tenant, because they are obviously looking for furnished accomodation for a reason!

As furnished flats/houses are usually advertised with higher rent I would expect at a minimum fridge, freezer, washing machine and cooker, comfortable seating in the living room, beds in the rooms advertised as bedrooms and preferably somewhere to sit and eat.

Fire_Fox

Does your boyfriend have consent to lease from his lender and priced up landlord's insurance? Has he read his long lease to ensure he is allowed to sublet? Does he know that he has to lodge the damage deposit and cannot enter the flat without the tenant's permission? Does he understand the 100+ pieces of legislation that must be complied with (thanks Clutton )? Has he factored in income tax and capital gains tax? Does he know what 'fair wear and tear is' and how to detail the condition of the decor in an inventory? If not your boyfriend should join a landlord's association.

Are you sure furnished properties rent better than unfurnished in your area? Any electrical items you leave should be PAT tested, and will need replacing at your expense if they break down as they will form part of the contract. Usually furnished means all the large items of furniture - sofa, storage unit, bed, wardrobe, but not necessarily all the little bits and bobs like side tables. Usually includes large electricals (washing machine, fridge, cooker) but not small electricals (kettle, iron, toaster) and not kitchenware or television.

The more you leave the more there is to get damaged .... you cannot simply up the deposit to compensate as four weeks is standard and six weeks the absolute maximum. The higher the deposit the more people may not take it as they cannot afford to. The lower the deposit the more risk there is if a tenant trashes the place or simply fails to pay rent.

hazybubbles

I agree with Fire Fox, there is a lot to investigate before renting out the property.

If you decide to rent furnished then you need a good inventory to ensure everything you leave is still there at the end and in reasonable condition. There may well be more of a market for unfurnished properties in the area, and there would be a less risk involved if all your personal furniture was removed.

74jax

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Does your boyfriend have consent to lease from his lender and priced up landlord's insurance? he owns the property outright so this isn't a problem. Has he read his long lease to ensure he is allowed to sublet? Yes this part is fine. Does he know that he has to lodge the damage deposit and cannot enter the flat without the tenant's permission? Yes understands this. Does he understand the 100+ pieces of legislation that must be complied with (thanks Clutton )? unfortunatey this is where we are failing, that's why I'd like a good website to look things up on. Has he factored in income tax and capital gains tax? Unfortunately yes.... Does he know what 'fair wear and tear is' and how to detail the condition of the decor in an inventory? If not your boyfriend should join a landlord's association.

Are you sure furnished properties rent better than unfurnished in your area? No, but other than storage we can't think of what else to dow ith his furniture. Any electrical items you leave should be PAT tested, and will need replacing at your expense if they break down as they will form part of the contract. Usually furnished means all the large items of furniture - sofa, storage unit, bed, wardrobe, but not necessarily all the little bits and bobs like side tables. Usually includes large electricals (washing machine, fridge, cooker) but not small electricals (kettle, iron, toaster) and not kitchenware or television. Excellent thank you.

The more you leave the more there is to get damaged .... you cannot simply up the deposit to compensate as four weeks is standard and six weeks the absolute maximum. The higher the deposit the more people may not take it as they cannot afford to. The lower the deposit the more risk there is if a tenant trashes the place or simply fails to pay rent.

That is brilliant info thank you so much. We don't know the first thing about it. He is moving in with me, we have had various threads on the best way round this, as he is a high tax payer and we were after the best way round the financial side of things. Other than him signing over the flat to me (which for some reason he's not keen on......) we have to go this route.

We are in no rush to rent it out, but it is what will happen rather than leave it standing empty. There is no mortgage/loan on the property.

We are looking at him moving in with me May time, then sorting his place for renting after that. The reason for funished is obviously we would not have enough room for an extra dining table, bed, washer, cooker wardrobe etc so just tought about leaving it where it is.

Thanks so much and will look at landlordzone.

G_M

Get a good book on letting eg Tessa Shepperson's.

Go to Landlordzone.

Join a landlords association.