Unfurnished?

Zulu

Our old tenants have moved out and we're renovating currently.

While they were good enough tenants they did a lot of the more typical issues - dried clothes on the kitchen chairs which are now all black and the varnish is gone, didn't dust, didn't clean or defrost the appliances. As a consequence I'm taking the opportunity to fit a new kitchen, new floors, new bathroom etc..

I'm seriously considering letting this unfurnished going forward.
Pros:
no cost replacing furniture, and no damages going forward
longer term tenants more likely

Cons:
smaller tenant pool

Am I missing anything obvious? Seems, in the current market, a no brainer, but thats built on the premise that there's a pool of such tenants. Is there such a pool?

handlemaster

I would go with unfurnished. Tenants do respect the new furniture that is put in. As is at the moment there is so much demand there is no need to purchase furniture unless you are in a very low demand area.

The_Conductor

I'd 100% definitely go unfurnished.
You might be surprised- your tenant pool is very likely a good deal larger than you imagine.
Lots of people would welcome the opportunity to use their own furniture.

Samuel T. Cogley

Tenant pool will undoubtably be smaller so you'll probably only have 100 or so applicants.

The_Conductor

Haha!
Seriously though- renting unfurnished is not going to be any impediment to getting decent tenants- I'd argue that tenants who furnish the place themselves are more likely to take far better care of the place- than those who are supplied with Ikea or similar furniture that they view as cheap replaceable crap.

myshirt

The_Conductor wrote: »

Haha!
Seriously though- renting unfurnished is not going to be any impediment to getting decent tenants- I'd argue that tenants who furnish the place themselves are more likely to take far better care of the place- than those who are supplied with Ikea or similar furniture that they view as cheap replaceable crap.

+ 1 million.

Give it a go at least, put it out there. You can always keep it in the back pocket that you'll go furnished if it's not working out.

steamsey

100% unfurnished, things have changed in the market

GingerLily

Legally do you still have to supply all the standard kitchen appliances if you rent unfurnished?

Del2005

GingerLily wrote: »

Legally do you still have to supply all the standard kitchen appliances if you rent unfurnished?

There's a list of what's required. A landlord would be silly to supply anymore than that in the current climate.

The_Conductor

GingerLily wrote: »

Legally do you still have to supply all the standard kitchen appliances if you rent unfurnished?

Yes. You still have to comply with minimum rental standards.
Ideally this would be revisited to take into account unfurnished units, however, the situation as it stands, is one must comply with the letter of the law regarding minimal standards, as they pertain to kitchen appliances.

Zulu

I'll be providing a full kitchen.

As an aside - anyone know how you clean the yellow from cigarette smoke from doors and skirting boards? I'm hesitant to simply paint over as I want to get the stink out.

steamsey

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The_Conductor

Zulu wrote: »

I'll be providing a full kitchen.

As an aside - anyone know how you clean the yellow from cigarette smoke from doors and skirting boards? I'm hesitant to simply paint over as I want to get the stink out.

Use a strong solution of vinegar and water and if that doesn't work- bleach and water- and after you've gotten rid of the nicotene off the paintwork- you'll need to dry it properly- and then repaint........

The vinegar works best for trying to get rid of the stench- but no matter what you do, its going to be noticeable.

John_Rambo

handlemaster wrote: »

I would go with unfurnished. Tenants do respect the new furniture that is put in. As is at the moment there is so much demand there is no need to purchase furniture unless you are in a very low demand area.

+ 1 have experience renting out my place unfurnished and furnished. Place was treated like a home when they furnished it themselves.

You're going to get "experts" with no experience tell you otherwise.

CosmicFool

I'd go for an unfinished apt/house in a heartbeat over a furnished one. The amount of crap that's in them. Current renting an apt and it's just littered with absolute crap and very cluttered and nowhere to store anything.

katiek102010

Unfurnished. As a renter it's impossible to get unfurnished properties.

Way more are needed on the market

Saudades

Zulu wrote: »

Pros:
no cost replacing furniture, and no damages going forward
longer term tenants more likely

Cons:
smaller tenant pool

Am I missing anything obvious? Seems, in the current market, a no brainer, but thats built on the premise that there's a pool of such tenants. Is there such a pool?

You can claim capital allowances from Revenue on the cost of the furniture in the property. The current rate for these allowances is 12.5% of the cost per year, for a maximum of 8 years.

But I'm not sure if you can make a new claim for new furniture if you've already previously claimed for 8 years under old furniture.

Edgware

The norm in a lot of European countries is to rent unfurnished. With the increase in immigrants coming to work in the IT industry etc you might just get a good one. If a tenant has to furnish they are more likely to stay long term.
I never had a problem with non Irish tenants unlike some of our own who seem to have no concept of what a lease is

Lux23

I would prefer unfurnished as well, we replaced all of our landlords furniture and it is annoying we won't be able to take any of it with us.

Zulu

Quick one for you all. Unfurnished means no cutlery also, right?

_Kaiser_

Zulu wrote: »

Quick one for you all. Unfurnished means no cutlery also, right?

Correct. I've always bought/brought my own anyway and left anything previously there in storage until moving out

_Kaiser_

My current place was rented unfurnished and I was happy enough with that even though it meant having to buy a bed and couch etc.

But from a tenant's perspective, I can see it becoming an issue when I have to move again.. most LL's will probably balk at the idea of having to remove/store whatever stuff they may have in a place leaving me likely in a bind with what to do with my own.

Zulu

By way of update, letting unfurnished didn't work unfortunately.
It's impossible to tell accurately, but I need to offer furnishing in order to let it.
Maybe next time.

Samuel T. Cogley

Zulu wrote: »

By way of update, letting unfurnished didn't work unfortunately.
It's impossible to tell accurately, but I need to offer furnishing in order to let it.
Maybe next time.

Thanks for the feedback Zulu good to get actual experience.

Woshy

Zulu wrote: »

By way of update, letting unfurnished didn't work unfortunately.
It's impossible to tell accurately, but I need to offer furnishing in order to let it.
Maybe next time.

Sorry to hear that it didn't work out. I am surprised though, we let our house unfurnished and has no issues at all. We had huge interest in it.

Claw Hammer

The rental market is slowing down and has been for about 6 months. whta was commonplace a year ago is not happening now.