Landlords - Carpet or Hard Flooring

Beckyy

The flooring in the living room of our BTL is going to be re-done. Which would you opt for - carpet or laminate?

We previously had carpet. I think hard flooring may look better and stain less however would show wear and tear from furniture/scratches more.

Old_Git

Beckyy wrote: »

The flooring in the living room of our BTL is going to be re-done. Which would you opt for - carpet or laminate?

We previously had carpet. I think hard flooring may look better and stain less however would show wear and tear from furniture/scratches more.

I would go for good laminate .Who is supplying the furniture ?

fishpond

Carpet.
It adds a little luxury and warmth.

aggypanthus

Low cost serviceable carpet. Reasonable cost to replace.

agrinnall

What type of property is it? If it's an upper floor flat then carpet every time to reduce noise for the downstairs neighbours.

Callie22

Our last place had carpet upstairs and wooden flooring downstairs, which I liked as you had the warmth and noise insulation upstairs and the easy cleanability downstairs. You did have to be careful with the wood floor as it could scratch, but I just bought some felt pads and put them on the furniture. They don't cost very much at all so you could always leave some for the tenants.

anselld

If you want to go hard flooring go for Karndean, Amtico etc rather than laminate. Most laminates do not wear that well. After a few years they are starting to separate at the joints, chip, etc. A decent hard lino flooring will be much more stable and long lasting.

phill99

I look after a number of properties for landlords. This is a conversation we often have.

Cheap laminate always looks cheap and scratches easily. The worst thing with laminate is that when a tenant spills something on it (and they will), they often fail to clean it up quick enough and the laminate starts to blow at the edges.

Carpet stains and wears quickly.

We have been putting in a range of bleach scrubbable carpets which are excellent and are designed for this type of environment. Very hard wearing and, as the title suggests, they can be cleaned with bleach.

There are quite a few on the market so try a local carpet shop.

MoonJelly

I'd say laminate. As a tenant with a family with allergies I always prefer to rent properties with laminate flooring. I am willing to pay more rent for a property if the flooring is easy to keep dust free.

lulalola

A plea from a tenant; if you go for carpet, please please don't go for cream! Pretty much every rental property I've ever had has had cheap cream carpets and no matter how clean you keep the place, they will get stained just because they are such a stupid colour. My friend's landlord put dark blue carpets down in his flat and they look just so much nicer and tidier.

Beckyy

Thanks for the replies - already food for thought.

It's a house rather than flat but let unfurnished. My concern with hard flooring would be scratches, as whilst I could leave or request pads be used I can't be sure they would be and wear and tear is inevitable no matter what.

I'm unsure of budget as flooring is being replaced after floor damage so will depend on what the insurance company will agree to. The previous flooring was carpet, brown colour wore reasonably well but obviously very dependent on who lives there.

I'll add a poll to the thread - many thanks for replies again.