Landlords: Four Key Advantages to Furnishing Rental Properties

The rental market is an extremely lucrative one at present. Demand for rental properties is higher than ever, as more households are priced out of acquiring their own property; it has also been made relatively easy for landlords to expand their portfolio using buy-to-let mortgages, and to better build a business from the discipline.

There are a number of ways in which landlords can actively re-invest in their property portfolio, whether using rental income to subsidise quality-of-life renovations or accessing wider asset-backed funding resources to pay for major expansions such as extensions and loft conversions. Any form of shrewd re-investment can serve to strengthen a business operation’s standing, and consistent recalibration of your relationship with business investment can keep you competitive in a saturated market.

But, for the smaller budget, there are some simple changes you can make with a powerful impact on growth and stability, both in the short term and long term. The leading shift you can make with a relatively small amount of capital – in comparison to investment in new properties or infrastructural enhancements – is to furnish your properties before offering them up for rental. What follows are four reasons why furnishing your properties can be transformative for your rental operation.

Higher Demand

Firstly, investing in furnishings and appliances can have a considerable impact on interest in your properties, increasing demand for them and providing you with crucial consistency as a result. While the rental market is arguably strong now, owing to the increased volume of households seeking rental solutions in the short and medium term, this does not mean that all properties are regarded equally by prospective renters.

Indeed, being able to offer essential furnishings and white goods will make your property more desirable to a key demographic of renters. Shorter-term renters such as students are much less likely to own their own furnishings, locking you out of their customers if you do not furnish your own lets.

Quicker Availability

Not only can you increase demand in your properties, but you can also turn them around for new tenants quicker. Your demographic for furnished lets will naturally be seeking shorter-term arrangements overall; while this means more potential downtime between lets over the course of a five-year period, the provision of furniture minimises the time needed to allow for moving out.

Higher Rent

One of the key advantages of the above is that you can more closely follow the movements of the wider rental market. There are some specific laws you need to follow regarding raising rest mid-tenancy, but you can address rising inflation much quicker by engaging short- and medium-term tenants.

Besides this, offering furnishings and appliances enable you to fetch a higher general rent for your property. You are providing additional amenities to tenants, and your rental value can reflect this in a way that measurably improves your business.

Reduced Property Damage

Last but not least, keeping your own furniture and equipment in a property can keep moving-related damage to a minimum. This shaves time and money off any renovation work you may wish to undertake between tenancies and makes the deposit return process simpler in a majority of cases.