Letting out a property - furnished or unfurnished ?

Callie22

Matt1977 wrote: »

I have come accross a lot of funished rentals that resemble the interior of a nursing home. I guess by the those who have inherited property but are not keen to sell in the current climate and don't know what to do with the furniture still inside.

Oh god, I hate that - when you're looking round a property and it's obviously been an older person's home. Sometimes you do wonder how long it's been since they carted granny/grandad off - and sometimes you look at the beds and really shudder ...

As a tenant, I don't bother any more with furnished properties. The quality of the furniture is usually very poor, but it's amazing how the tatty old G-Plan stuff morphs into priceless Chippendale on the inventory ... I don't want to be responsible for someone elses' furniture, I'd rather do without.

dodger1

As a tenant I only look at unfurnished properties. I have all my own furniture which suits my taste.

Mind_the_Gap

Callie22 wrote: »

Oh god, I hate that - when you're looking round a property and it's obviously been an older person's home. Sometimes you do wonder how long it's been since they carted granny/grandad off - and sometimes you look at the beds and really shudder ...

Oh, please. Can we leave out the negative, ageist stereotypes? You are implying that all 'older people' have no taste and even worse, that their furniture/beds are likely to be disgusting (hygiene-wise?). Your reference to 'granny/grandad' being 'carted off' is an especially unfortunate choice of language. No doubt you object (and rightly so) to people making negative, sweeping generalisations about you based on your age or gender (or anything you cannot change - such as your ethnicity) - is it really necessary?

Plenty of older people rent - and may or may not like the LL's choice of furnishings any more than you like the ones in the photo. Equally, plenty of younger people furnish their homes almost identically to how their parents did.

In the end, market forces will of course prevail, but in an area where properties outnumber prospective tenants, perhaps the most productive approach for a LL is to be flexible about furnishings and treat the customer as king. I would rather store (or give to charity) furniture not wanted by a good prospect, than lose that T and insist on finding one who liked it.

thegirlintheattic

Mind_the_Gap wrote: »

Oh, please. Can we leave out the negative, ageist stereotypes? You are implying that all 'older people' have no taste and even worse, that their furniture/beds are likely to be disgusting (hygiene-wise?). Your reference to 'granny/grandad' being 'carted off' is an especially unfortunate choice of language. No doubt you object (and rightly so) to people making negative, sweeping generalisations about you based on your age or gender (or anything you cannot change - such as your ethnicity) - is it really necessary?

I don't think Callie was referring to hygiene. More the fact that the previous tenant might recently died in the bed.

serious_saver

I agree that as a tenant I generally prefer unfurnished. If furnished I wouldn't want too much. We're currently renting furnished but we did manage to get the land lord to take all of ther furniture out of one room to allow space for ours.

Like others I've seen some properties that would really tempt me except for the fact they feel like and old people's home.

Mind_the_Gap

thegirlintheattic wrote: »

I don't think Callie was referring to hygiene. More the fact that the previous tenant might recently died in the bed.

I'm not sure what it was supposed to mean (hence my question mark) - 'carted off' is an unhelpful phrase, as I said. And even assuming she meant 'died', how could she know? Why should a bed look different if someone has died in it? People have been born and died (usually in beds) in most houses in this country, at some point. So what?

If you don't like the look of the bed when viewing a rental place, ask if you can provide your own. But if the LL has a queue of prospective Ts, you may find the answer is no.

alun4

Consider employing a good agent on a finding basis if you are able to deal with the tenants afterwards - advising you are flexible to the tenants needs but that you are looking for a particularly good tenant. Good tenants are worth their weight .... !

pingua

Benji wrote: »

PAT only applies to 'portable' appliances - so fine if it's a toaster, irrelevant if it is a fridge or washing machine.

Sorry if this is an old post but doing a search and for some reason this came up. Anyway, wrong info given above - unless your fridge or whatever is hard wired into the wall then they will need testing. Anything with a plug top needs doing. (There is hand held portable and then movable/stationary as in larger than a toaster but still portable.)

Werdnal

pingua wrote: »

Sorry if this is an old post but doing a search and for some reason this came up. Anyway, wrong info given above - unless your fridge or whatever is hard wired into the wall then they will need testing. Anything with a plug top needs doing. (There is hand held portable and then movable/stationary as in larger than a toaster but still portable.)

Well I did wonder, but bowed to Benjii's better knowledge!

I work in a pre-school and our PAT tester checks the fridge when he does our annual visit, but thought perhaps working environments may have different requirements to residential.

mchale

If a LL supplies any elec equipment and the property is a HMO it has to be PAT tested