Free furniture that isn't scummy

Miss_Sparkly_Star

Am just getting my property ready to rent out.

After spending a fortune on new cooker, washing machine and fridge freezer I need to cut back on the other bits of furniture. Luckily the bedrooms have lovely built in wardrobes..what i do need is as follows

1) Sofa
2)Dinining table and chairs
3) Beds and maybe a chest of drawers.

Does anyone know of any free sites that i can have a look at - freecycle can't get on the site for some reason

Also..is it really worng to hang around my local tip - are you allowed to take what you want or is this illegal

have scoured the local newspaper but they go so quickly especially adverts that say free to collector (funny that!!)

Any advice would greatly appreciated

ioscorpio

You need a yahoo account to get on freecycle

HugoSP

ioscorpio wrote: »

You need a yahoo account to get on freecycle

www.freecycle.org

Or, try the following:

Furniture stores, some of them are quite willing to let you raid their stuff that they get asked to take away. A few were happy for me to look for settees etc.

Tips - ask the people that manage it. Some that are ran by LA themeslves don't whereas others that are run under licence by independent operators will sell stuff off cheaply.

Put a wanted ad in the paper.

Put a wanted ad in freecycle - above.

Try some auction houses, but don't overbid

Put wanted ads up in supermarkets etc

Ask around. Several people will be buying new stuff and may want to avoid paying to get their old stuff taken away. Friends of ours had a very little used double bed. When they ordered a new one the retailer wanted to charge them to take the old one away. Instead we took it away FOC!

ormus

freecycle for a free sofa. theres been at least 2 on my local FC in the past month.
asda and BQ for a cheap chest of drawers.
poss ebay for a dining set and beds. i think you should buy new beds for tenants.

adandem

I would be careful with old sofas for tenants, you'll need to comply with fire regs.;)

I agree with ormus, def. new beds.

eta - the malm range of drawers in Ikea are quite cheap but very good, you may find you are constantly maintaining/replacing things if the quality isn't very good.

Miss_Sparkly_Star

Yes I agree new beds are important..i wouldn't want to sleep on a used bed so will be a bit hypocritical if i expected my tenants to.

Sofa fire regs - does this mean if the sofa caught on fire i could be done???

Also..what do people think about renting furnished vs unfurnished...

SS

BobProperty

Miss_Sparkly_Star wrote: »

....Sofa fire regs - does this mean if the sofa caught on fire i could be done???.....

All new furniture after a certain date (late 80s?) has to have a label on it stating how resistant to fire the fabric is. (something like that anyway - came about in part after the fire in the Woolworths store in Manchester). Renting a house where you have supplied the soft furnishings where there are no tags is a criminal(?) offence. Only exception are antiques. Basically, don't do it and make sure the fire tag labels are there on any second hand stuff you acquire.

Edited to add link to story:
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/13/13934_woolworths_lessons_that_went_unheeded.html

ormus

dont worry too much about the new furniture regs now, youre highly unlikely to see/find a sofa not up to the regs. a used sofa would have to be yrs and yrs old.
the style would prob tell you thats its just too old. ie a 70s/80s style.

BobProperty

ormus wrote: »

dont worry too much about the new furniture regs now, youre highly unlikely to see/find a sofa not up to the regs. a used sofa would have to be yrs and yrs old.
the style would prob tell you thats its just too old. ie a 70s/80s style.

Only one snag with that, although you are probably correct, the law says the tags must be on the furniture. Some people have been known to remove them (especially cos they are big 3" square things) which is fine if it is your own house but not if it's used for a tenant. There have also been concerns in past over imported stuff not being to standard.

ormus

yes you are correct on both counts. but its rare.
i repeat youre very unlikely to come up against any of this.

adandem

ormus wrote: »

dont worry too much about the new furniture regs now, youre highly unlikely to see/find a sofa not up to the regs. a used sofa would have to be yrs and yrs old.
the style would prob tell you thats its just too old. ie a 70s/80s style.

Not necessarily true if the sofa has been re-upholstered.

My MIL has a sofa that looks great but has all the original foam etc and although it does not look that old, it is.