To Furnish Or Not To Furnish - That Is The Question

To Furnish Or Not To Furnish - That Is The Question

Author: Daniel Latto

As a landlord myself, and owner of a lettings agency, I constantly get asked whether to furnish the property or not.

There are a few advantages in not installing furniture, price, time and damages are three of them.

However, it depends on where your property is,and if there are any damages, then that´s what the bond is for !

These days, many towns and cities now have a very transient population, which means that people come and go every 6 or 12 months. Often these tenants have a "weekend" family and go to the property during their working week.

As more and more tenants become transient, its the unfurnished properties that miss out as the ones with furniture get taken up first.

So it makes sense for many reasons to furnish your property, but the main three are :

Tax Break - you can claim 10% depreciation against the rental income for fair wear and tear

Reduce Void Periods - Furnished properties tend to rent quicker than unfurnished ones, mainly due to the transient nature of tenants

Increase in Rental amount - You can usually increase the rent a little each month due to the property being furnished.

The best thing for your tenant is to make the property as attractive as possible, and there is only one way to do that, and that is through the use of furniture.

Sure, you can bring the price down, but if another 20 landlords are all doing the same, then everyone loses out.

You need to differentiate your property as much as possible, and this is only possible by making the property look nicer than everyone elses.

Daniel Latto has over 40 properties (at the time of writing!) and is constantly growing his portfolio. he also owns his own letting agency ("due to being fed up with others") and writes for the National Landlords Official Magazine, the Residential Property Investor.

Daniel also advises residential property investors new to the market and has a monthly newsletter.

His website can be found at http://www.thethinktankgroup.co.uk