The loan of Granny’s old dining room
table, stores full of popular furniture, often offering interest free credit, and dual
disposable incomes coupled to personal preferences and the stringency of the furniture and
furnishing regulations, all have wrought a total change in tenants’ attitudes towards
taking unfurnished property. So, too, have the economic and social changes that have
attracted older tenants back into the rental market. They invariably want their own
furniture and possessions with them.
At all levels and ages, the trend is towards
unfurnished property to rent, sometimes known - especially outside London - as
‘part-furnished’ as all rental property that lets successfully comes with
carpets, curtains, electrical fittings, fully fitted kitchens and attractive bathrooms.
With the exception of the furniture itself, a property being shown to let for the first
time should look no different from a builder’s show house.
The objections to unfurnished property stem
from the pre-1974 era when disposable incomes were lower, the cost of furniture relatively
high and unfurnished property was thought to be a charter for sitting tenants. That
impression was firmly quashed by the courts 21 years ago and again by the 1988 Housing
Act.
The only exception to the swing to
unfurnished property to rent is the very specialist central London corporate market.
For the investor landlord, the change to an
unfurnished market is welcome. Properties that let quickly need no more than quality
neutral decor along with plain colours for the carpets and curtains. It should all form
the backdrop for an incoming tenant’s own choice in furniture and the fabrics of the
soft furnishings; and, kitchens and bathrooms aside, only electrical fittings should be
left in place as properties cannot be re-wired at the end of each tenancy.
All of this helps the investor landlord with
the Fire and Furnishings (Safety) regulations. If furniture - that is soft furnishings:
the covers and fillings of mattresses, pillows and cushions - is supplied by the landlord
in the course of business, all of it must comply and be properly labelled as having passed
the appropriate tests.
However, whatever possessions the tenant
moves in with, the landlord will always be responsible for safety involving gas
installations and appliances. These must be subject to annual safety checks, with proper
records kept. Regulations also cover the safety of electrical installations and appliances
while common sense dictates that carbon monoxide and smoke detectors are fitted in all let
property.
Letting agents have spent years mastering
these complex safety regulations, the constant up-dating and changes to them and the
timings for when the different sections became a legal
requirement. They are not difficult to comply with, nor - for the investor landlord coming
into the market - are they costly; but expert guidance is needed from the outset.
