A majority of tenants are seeking unfurnished properties despite a minority of landlords offering this on their listings, research claims.
Comparison website GoCompare surveyed 1,000 tenants in June about their priorities when renting a property and then compared their ‘wants’ to 1,546 rental listings on Rightmove.
Most tenants (60%) said they wanted a property to be unfurnished, but the research found that just 14% of landlord listings offered this.
Additionally, just 3% of listings advertised a cleaning service despite 16% of tenants valuing this.
There were also differences over parking spaces, with 22% of tenants seeing this as important and just 11% of listings showing this, while another 18% wanted a gym or swimming pool, something offered by just 11% of listings.
Most listings (58%) claimed a property was close to work locations or a university, something only 16% of renters felt was important.
The insurer has also produced an interactive tool showing the difference between what tenants want and what landlords are listing.
https://www.gocompare.com/landlord-insurance/what-tenants-want/#/
| Property Features | What Tenants Want | What Landlords Offer | Difference |
| Unfurnished | 60.29% | 14.29% | 46.00% |
| Distance to Schools | 23.16% | 15.33% | 7.83% |
| Parking Space | 22.72% | 11.00% | 11.72% |
| Garden/ Roof Terrace | 22.64% | 44.63% | -21.99% |
| Gym / Pool | 18.28% | 13.00% | 5.28% |
| Quality Aesthetics of Area | 17.00% | 39.92% | -22.92% |
| Close to Work / University | 16.88% | 58.34% | -41.46% |
| Cleaning Service | 16.21% | 3.04% | 13.17% |
| En Suite | 15.78% | 20.12% | -4.34% |
| Furnished | 12.78% | 34.41% | -21.63% |
| Both Either Furnished | 11.00% | 5.37% | 5.63% |
| Concierge Serviced Accommodation | 6.54% | 2.70% | 3.84% |
Where on earth are they looking??
I don’t think we’ve offered a furnished property for 10 years!
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Same. I’ve furnished bedsits – but that’s it.
Only landlords who are trying to avoid storing their own furniture seem to ask about letting with furniture and we steer them away from that idea pretty sharpish. Might as well cut out the middle man and dump it yourself really.
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The research is flawed on so many levels I almost don’t know where to begin. Different property types and different locations are either furnished or unfurnished to suit the respective audience.
Landlords of three bed houses will almost never furnish as their tenants are likely to be families who have their own furniture.
A quick two minutes on Rightmove showed 55 three bed and above properties in my area for rent, with absolutely none furnished. Zero. that is 100% unfurnished Gocompare just a tad out of kilter with your survey.
Meanwhile a one/two bed flat in the centre of a major city will almost certainly be furnished because of the transient nature of the audience. Surely these guys get that. Surely they think about it just a little bit before delivered their little pearls of wisdom to the waiting world.
Factor in the increased responsibility and ongoing cost that comes with furnishing and ignore what all landlords know, in that once the tenant puts their furniture in the house, it becomes in their eyes their house. They generally will then treat it much better than a furnished rental.
Maybe next time they can ask a landlord.
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Just done a Rightmove search, in Cambridge lots of 3/4 bedroom homes being rented furnished by the room, yet Rightmove says they are 4 bedroom homes for rent. (OnTheMarket is just as bad.)
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I cant remember the amount of times I have complained to RM regarding room lets appearing as houses/flats. They claim they have filters but unless you go out of your way to use them, you will see roomlets masquerading as houses.
I too agree this research is rubbish, or as usual Londoncentric.
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Bilge. For years the majority of lets have been unfurnished.
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What a load of utter nonsense that not only anyone in the industry will see as rubbish, but also any prospective tenant, by simply looking on any property portal.
Makes you wonder what the point/agenda is for GoCompare to have even gone to the effort of bothering to publish this.
Also, apparently 13% of Landlords offer property with Gyms/pools…really?! Over 1 in 10 properties with a pool or a gym?! Maybe in select areas but this seems way off to me.
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Large puddle in the front drive and an old excercise bike left in the shed by a past tenant – that might qualify. 🙂
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No mention of availability of broadband, SKY, Virgin etc…….top of the list with most tenants.
We still have Landlords who……despite advising to the contrary…..still do not accept that a tenant cannot claim squatter rights in unfurnished. Many readers were probably still in primary school when this legislation was changed.
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A big reason for unfurnished was always council tax was charged in furnished properties to the landlord when the property was empty. Now they just charge anyway.
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