Renovating rental property

[AnnaleeP]

My mum's old house which she left to me suffered a leak with last months cold weather which I didn't discover for a week

Anyway, carpets have all been removed now and the house is (slowly) drying.

Looking at renting it out, and am wondering whether carpets or laminate downstairs would be best? The kitchen, utility and bathroom are tiled anyway. Or a mixture - carpets in the sitting room, laminate dining room, hallway.

Unsure what would be best value for money.

[Jon66]

It needs to be good quality otherwise it won't last. Lounge carpet is good with laminate, karldean or cushionfloor in hall and dining.

[MajesticWhine]

Carpets tend to cause more trouble. As a landlord I have had to replace carpets at various times due to leaks and moths. And well chosen laminate can look really good. If you’re measuring up anyway then you could get quotes for both.

[DBoo]

Im a Tennant. Ours is carpeted. I love carpet byt since moving in we got a dog and I feel laminate would be much more practical now.

[JoJoSM2]

I think laminate might last you longer. But a durable, man-made carpet can be sturdy and easy to clean to. Also depends on your target market - if you're likely to have children or pets. I've actually got a cream carpet in one of my rental properties and it's looking pristine a few years later. However, the property is high spec and rented at a premium so it's appealed to very home proud tenants.

[AnnaleeP]

Hmmm. Yes, it's a lovely house, detached, it would be rented for a fair whack.

I just wouldn't want to spend money on a premium floor that would need replacing between tenancies. I guess that's more likely with carpet, in terms of spills and stains.

[swivelchair]

It needs to be good quality otherwise it won't last.

I've heard this. But I have the second least expensive laminate in both my houses (in each case, I was living in the house, planning to stay living in the house, but was skint and needed to cover the floorboards with something cheap and resilient) - and it still looks great, 15 years later in the case of one house! (the one I had without kids, so didn't have a bike dropped on it, or one corner flooded from the downstairs bathroom which has made the second house's laminate suffer a bit more)

As a renter, I have had tiles, polished stone, carpets, laminate, and real wood. I prefer tiles and laminate - I can always put down rugs, real wood is too much of a responsibility (as is polished stone), and carpets in rentals just always get so icky (or the landlord puts in beige carpet, seemingly just to cause me to worry about spilling and staining it).

[Jon66]

A good quality wool carpet should last years. Mine certainly don't get changed after each tenancy but are professionally cleaned in between. Very light beige come up like new.

[specialsubject]

Make life easy for tenants. A mid range no loop synthetic in a neutral colour that doesn't show every mark. Spend on the underlay.

It will be deemed worthless in eight years so buy accordingly.

[NotMeNoNo]

Agree with PP, no very light or cream carpet anywhere that is high traffic, stairs or hallway, or lounge if it has to be walked through. It's the last thing you want to see as a tenant, might as well write "lost deposit" across the floor.