Standard of Furniture required for rental

handlemaster

Wondering what the standard of furniture has to be for rental house. Will be renting mine out. The couch and arm chairs that I have are clean and very comfortable but have a very old looking pattern on them. Altought its not faded. I'm thinking some throws should do. what is the opinion of renters / landlords ?

navandiver

I would say once you are happy with the standard of the furniture and would be willing to live with it yourself if you were renting then it ill be fine.

djimi

How it looks isnt all that important; the tenants will view the place before they move in and always have the option of not moving in if they dont like how it is decorated. What matters is that its in decent condition and is fit for purpose.

quaalude

handlemaster wrote: »

Wondering what the standard of furniture has to be for rental house. Will be renting mine out. The couch and arm chairs that I have are clean and very comfortable but have a very old looking pattern on them. Altought its not faded. I'm thinking some throws should do. what is the opinion of renters / landlords ?

That sounds just fine, handlemaster.
Every renter I know (including myself) wants clean and comfortable, and doesn't care about the pattern.
The worst: those black faux-leather cheapo sofas so many rentals have that look OK, but are horrible to sit on - they're angled so you just slide right off!

See also that horrid Ikea chair much-favoured by the inconsiderate landlord:



Has anyone ever bought one of those monstrosities to sit on in their own home?

Grolschevik

quaalude wrote: »

T
Has anyone ever bought one of those monstrosities to sit on in their own home?

I have! (though Bargaintown version, not Ikea). It's one of the most popular chairs visitors like to sit in!

edellc

^^^

speak for yourself

I prefer those faux leather sofa's that look nice and I like those IKEA chairs, what I dont like are dated patterned furniture that go with nothing and throws just look so crap on them, I also dont like 1970's carpets and floor to ceiling dark wooden monstrosities for storage.

Something nice and modern, and clean, especially for those of us that have children and want to make a home and not just live in a house for a year and then move on to the next....and before anyone says anything about buying, not everyone has the means to do that and have the security of owning your own home, give me a noose of a mortgage around my neck with negative equity any day over renting in this country.

quaalude

edellc wrote: »

^^^

speak for yourself

I prefer those faux leather sofa's that look nice and I like those IKEA chairs, what I dont like are dated patterned furniture that go with nothing and throws just look so crap on them, I also dont like 1970's carpets and floor to ceiling dark wooden monstrosities for storage.
.

Nothing wrong with modern stuff of good quality.
I'm talking about the cheapo stuff that looks OK at viewing, but is horrible quality and not fit for purpose.

markas

I do not know about standards, but just judging on what is being offered, there is none. That question should be really to your tenants... There are very different tastes and needs.

I can only tell you that you may lose a good tenant is you put this furniture as the only option. What I would suggest is, in case you have a good candidate but not too enthusiastic about the furniture, that it may be worth replacing, or removing it all together and keep the 'asset' which is paying off

bleary

It really depends who you are renting to and how much you are charging. Students fine, any relatively short term renters who are getting value ok. Anyone that you want to keep long term get decent furniture in.

handlemaster

bleary wrote: »

It really depends who you are renting to and how much you are charging. Students fine, any relatively short term renters who are getting value ok. Anyone that you want to keep long term get decent furniture in.

are you a renter or landlord ?

djimi

bleary wrote: »

It really depends who you are renting to and how much you are charging. Students fine, any relatively short term renters who are getting value ok. Anyone that you want to keep long term get decent furniture in.

The furniture should be decent regardless of who is moving in. The impression I got from the OP was that the furniture in the place was in good nick but just wasnt the easiest on the eye, which is fine; there is nothing to say that it has to be top of the line furniture, or indeed that it would be even wise to leave expensive furniture in a rental property. So long as it is fit for purpose, ie it is in good condition, will last for a fair length of time and most importantly is actually comfortable then that is all that can be asked, and that goes for all rental properties.

The only exception to that might be if you are renting out some top of the range apartment for €4000 a month or something; in this case while older looking furniture may be acceptable, youre probably going to get a lot more people interested if the standard of the furniture meets the high standard of the property!

BostonB

Personally I would rent unfurnished. It just causes no end of hassle, for tenants and LL's.

djimi

Id imagine its a lot harder to find tenants in Ireland for an unfurnished property though; its just not in our rental culture over here.

edellc

djimi wrote: »

Id imagine its a lot harder to find tenants in Ireland for an unfurnished property though; its just not in our rental culture over here.

oh i love an unfurnished property, pity more are not like this are even partially furnished its such a better option and means you dont have to put up with crappy furniture that may be comfy but matches nothing, or even worse a uncomfy bed and having to deal with LL's that dont give a sh*t and wont replace or remove it

BostonB

Is that not something you can see when you check the place out?

djimi

edellc wrote: »

oh i love an unfurnished property, pity more are not like this are even partially furnished its such a better option and means you dont have to put up with crappy furniture that may be comfy but matches nothing, or even worse a uncomfy bed and having to deal with LL's that dont give a sh*t and wont replace or remove it

I can see the benefits, but that doesnt change the fact that in this country I would hazard a guess that the overwhelming majority of renters expect the place to be furnished, as that is the way the rental market has tended to be over here.

BostonB wrote: »

Is that not something you can see when you check the place out?

Of course. But it will still greatly reduce the number of potential tenants the place will attract. Im not saying dont offer it unfurnished, but I dont see how it stands to benefit the landlord to remove the furniture just so that they can offer the place unfurnished to a much smaller percentage of the potential pool of tenants.

BostonB

djimi wrote: »

I can see the benefits, but that doesnt change the fact that in this country I would hazard a guess that the overwhelming majority of renters expect the place to be furnished, as that is the way the rental market has tended to be over here.



Of course. But it will still greatly reduce the number of potential tenants the place will attract. Im not saying dont offer it unfurnished, but I dont see how it stands to benefit the landlord to remove the furniture just so that they can offer the place unfurnished to a much smaller percentage of the potential pool of tenants.

I meant can you not see " crappy furniture that may be comfy but matches nothing, "

bleary

handlemaster wrote: »

are you a renter or landlord ?

Im a renter from student days to today , so a long time at it.
As a student comfortable and clean was fine, these days would prefer something a bit nicer. Price , location and general condition all important but definitely if the landlord has just dumped in all his cast offs , it puts me off. In my current place for a few years so guess we are both happy enough with that
By decent i mean something you would not be embarrassed to have yourself in your own house

sunnysoutheast

djimi wrote: »

Id imagine its a lot harder to find tenants in Ireland for an unfurnished property though; its just not in our rental culture over here.

When we were responding to potential tenants (large family home) pretty much every realistic candidate tenant who contacted us said how difficult it was to find unfurnished places to rent.

In the event we rented part-furnished but have agreed that the tenant can replace our furniture with their own if they want to. We will store ours.

Several potential tenants also commented on the fact that many excellent houses had God-awful old tatty furniture that the landlord wouldn't remove. I think the "rental culture" has a lot to do with amateur landlords.