Dress to impress

Rather than the afterthought it may once have been, especially in rental properties, furnishing is now critical in buyers’ and renters’ minds. There are a number of factors that have led to its increasing importance; the fact many renters expect to rent for longer, the difficult sales market, the desire to have an ‘Instagrammable’ home and the recent emergence of build to rent, to name a few. THE RISE OF THE RENTER The most recent English Housing Survey, released last July for the period 2015-16, revealed that the number of households living in private rented homes doubled since 2000 to 4.5 million. The average length of tenancy is now 4.3 years, with 10 per cent of those surveyed having lived in their current home for 10 years. With tenants staying longer in rental accommodation, rented properties are increasingly being seen as homes rather than temporary stopgaps and tenants are becoming more discerning about what’s in them. “Gone are the days when tenants will just rent any property with any furniture in it. Landlords used to use rental properties as an excuse to get rid of their old furniture. You just can’t do that now,” says Andrew Clark, Managing Director at…