The best items for furnishing a property is up for debate amongst landlords but there are some staple items that should be in all homes.

What are the best items to pick for your property?
If you were to find the most appropriate items that must be in all properties regardless of if they were unfurnished or furnished, you would probably need to add in furniture such as:

Stove
Bed/ bedframes
Wardrobes
Cupboards

The reason why these would be the best is because they are the hardest to add into the property as they are the largest items or they would be hard to set up in the property. For example a gas stove will need piping and specialist expertise to set up correctly

Is there anything that landlords have to provide?
Landlords should look to provide whatever is in the tenancy agreement. Depending on where your property is, the landlord may also have to make sure that the equipment they do provide is safe and conduct the right test.

For instance, if there are electrical appliances in a property in the UK then these will have to be tested for EICR amongst other tests.

Other than this, a working cooker, and gas in the property is usually the bare minimum requirement for being able to rent the property in the Uk and most of Europe. You may also find that there are a lot of properties on the market that don’t have anything else in the property but working gas as a result.

Does your mortgage payment go up if you furnish a property?
Most of the time, if you furnish a property you will be eligible to charge a higher rent on the market. As a result, you may be able to qualify for a higher mortgage.

This does not mean you will be paying more for your mortgage so you can’t afford it, it means that the additional rent will make up for the mortgage payment that you have to make every month.

If you are at all confused about how this works, you should try to obtain a mortgage in principle first which will give you an idea about what kind of property you are eligible for.

What is the difference between a furnished and unfurnished property?
If you were able to choose between a furnished and unfurnished property, you would find that an unfurnished property would rent for a lot cheaper than a property that wasn’t able to be rented.

Also, furnished property tends to rent for a higher amount but furnished property also has the problem that you then have to take care of the furniture as you change between tenants.

Should you even furnish your rental property?
The decision as to whether to furnish or unfurnished will come down to your personal preferences as well as the goals you have for the property.

In general, there are a few benefits to be aware of if you were to furnish the property. This includes the fact that you can charge a higher rent when you find a tenant. If you don’t have quality furniture, this may also be a factor in the amount you can charge for rent too.

Another advantage is that you will be able to attract the right tenants. Usually, unfurnished properties do not attract the same amount of tenants and this results in you having less people to choose from as a landlord. So, furnishing the place will give you a wider pool to choose from and increase the likelihood that you find the tenant right for you.

Some landlords prefer families whereas some prefer working professionals. Without casting your net wide enough, you may have to settle for a tenant that does not meet your requirements.

How should you choose the right furniture?
One of the first steps in making the right decision with the furniture you should buy is looking at furniture that is easy to clean. As tenants live in a property, they may end up making a mess. As you change tenants or even in a mid term property inspection, it could be a good idea to clean furniture.

If your furniture is already easy to clean it makes things a lot easier and you may ot even have to pay for professional cleaning as you could give the furniture a wipe yourself.

The next thing you should do in your journey of choosing furniture is avoid any decorations. This is because it is something that the tenant or someone moving into the property will do themself.

Everyone is unique and styling a property to your taste may not be the most productive thing you should do in a property if you want to make sure it is appealing to rent for a wide range of people.