Am I wasting money on this rental?

[Happydaughterhappymum]

For reasons other than becoming BTL investors we have ended up with a small bungalow which will now need to be rented out fairly long term (prob at least 5 years+). In my research of letting agents I've been appalled by the generally poor condition of the houses advertised for rent around us (semi-rural, not South East) -they all look cold, dated and depressing, and I want to offer something warm, homely, up-to-date and to basically the same standard as our own home.
I'd value the views of any long-term renters out there:
Is it worth spending extra money on higher end decorations, curtains, kitchen appliances etc. or will they not be looked after/ do you not really care too much about that?
Would you be prepared to pay extra for a better quality of house or is it all about space/ location and are you not too bothered about the finish?

I think clean, new modern bathroom/kitchen, flooring and paintwork in neutral colours, plus good central heating and windows/doors that seal well are all selling points. I wouldn’t be bothered about high end appliances or fancy curtains as they might not be to the tenants’ taste. Plain curtains or blinds would probably be better.

You need to work out what kind of tenant you’re targeting and decorate accordingly. Speak to local letting agents about what there is demand for and get their views. Better to let unfurnished as most tenants have their own furniture these days and the rent is not much different plus then you’ll have to replace them too potentially. Knowing your market is key.

I think clean, new modern bathroom/kitchen, flooring and paintwork in neutral colours, plus good central heating and windows/doors that seal well are all selling points. I wouldn’t be bothered about high end appliances or fancy curtains as they might not be to the tenants’ taste. Plain curtains or blinds would probably be better.

This^

I've been renting for a couple of years now. A nice, freshly decorated house in neutral colours, neutral curtains to match and adequate, clean and functional appliances are really all that's required.

I've been looking for houses to rent as we are about to move. I've seen some terrible houses on the rental market that are nowhere near ready to be on the rental market. Board my dog there (if I had a dog) a couple of them wouldn't even qualify as a pig sty.

Most recently, the nice, cosy house that stank of raw sewage. Other than that, it was a nice house. I asked the letting agent why it smelled. 'I'll speak to the Landlord' was all the letting agent could say. Needles to say, we aren't interested in renting it.

To answer your last question: we rate all three of your categories: high end finish, space AND location (central London). HTH

Things DP and I look for when renting:

• decent energy efficient boiler, not a relic from the 80s that may cause all manner of issues and high bills (bitter experience in current rental)
• mould free windows that keep the heat in and are sealed properly
• decent flooring/carpet. Shiny floor tiles aren’t important. Just flooring that’s easy to clean and you can’t go skating on
• no sign of mould/damp on the walls or around windows
• if there’s no window in the bathroom then good ventilation
• decent shower. Don’t need a fancy walk in etc but even an over the bath one that gives out more than a trickle would be great
• ample cupboard and worktop space in the kitchen
• don’t need a dishwasher but a decent size draining board is a must in that case.
• we only rent unfurnished. We have all our own furtniture. Much prefer the furniture to be our style etc
• plug sockets! In our current place we have one socket in our bedroom which is annoying
• decent heavy duty washing machine. We don’t have a tumble dryer and manage fine.
• a pre fixed wall bracket for a TV would have been amazing, would save floor space!
• good size fridge and freezer or space to buy our own. Currently have a small fridge-freezer and can’t batch cook or store much at all. The last one broke and we asked our landlord if we could buy our own or pay towards a bigger one. He refused and got an even smaller one. And no space to buy a small chest freezer

We treat the places we rent as our homes. We aren’t bothered about fancy high tech things. Much rather a landlord/landlady who fixes issues quickly and is approachable.

We tend to rent rurally and are price and external space focussed. Some places have been nice, some complete dumps, but ultimately we move on so often following work we tend to pick on price only and tend to do bits of diy as required albeit at minimal expense to keep places ticking over.

I found that when I tried to let a furnished flat, either the tenants trashed it, or they wanted to put their stuff in anyway, which meant I had to take mine out with nowhere to store it

The last place we rented, we paid slightly more to have a house with a clean, recent kitchen and bathroom including electric shower and a slimline dishwasher. Our previous homes had included delights such as floor level vents (the better to admit slugs), old decommissioned items (dishwasher and gas fire) taking up space pointlessly, serious condensation problems that meant nothing could touch any external walls, and clothes moths. So we were primarily looking for clean and modern and paid a bit more to get it.

The other big improvement on our last place was that our landlord paid for British Gas boiler cover and gave us the details, which meant that even though the boiler had its moments we could always get someone out promptly and didn't have to wait for the landlord to get back from holiday to authorise a call out or scrape together the cash to pay his dodgy mate to have a look. So if you do that and include it in the listing that would be a big bonus.

The thing about renting is that if you're paying all that money towards someone else's mortgage/long term investment, it feels especially galling when things aren't right in a way that it just doesn't when it's your own mortgage. The antiquated heating and dodgy double glazing in my flat now don't bother me at all because I know I'll get round to sorting it eventually. In a private let I'd be grumpy about having to put up with it while funding someone else's retirement.

We definitely paid some attention to the finish of flats to rent but what sold us more so was the letting agents treating it like our home--aka we can decorate, hang up pictures, etc. So I would go with something relatively neutral and not be too precious about good tenants making it feel like theirs.

Just remembered another- we’ve never been in a place that allows us to hang things on the walls. If you were to follow the same rule- please have picture rails! It makes a huge difference.

I would go for stuff that is easy to maintain.
We are in a similar position- we rent out a house we previously lived in. It has fixtures and fittings I would never put in rental. Ie wood work tops.
Prospective tenants are always excited by the stuff, but honestly it’s just a pain.
Clean, functional, easy to maintain.

We let out a bungalow which we inherited and was v v tired. We put in basic but v neutral kitchen and new neutral dark taupe carpets. Painted it fresh throughout but kept everything v simple. We were thus not over preoccupied with what we had spent on it or precious about what tenants hung on walls etc - bit of filler in any holes, another coat of dulux and good to go again.

Biggest draw for our tenants was our being totally relaxed with them having cats!

We were renting for a long period (family). In my experience you need reliable boiler, good fan in the bathroom ( especially if there’s no window), good shower. Our carpets were the cheapest so after 5 years it became noticeable but you might be better putting the cheapest carpets and changing them before new tenants. Our kitchen is very basic. I would love more cupboards but ... Cooker and fridge are Hotpoint. Good medium model but not the best. We have mixture of curtains and blinds, all very basic, neutral colours. You do appreciate functionality and practicality much more when you are renting. We do care about things but I love that they are not very expensive so less headache for me, especially when our DC was small. Our house has great location and rare bonuses of garage and garden for this location so of course it’s the main attraction but it was clean, easy to maintain, think basic but ticked all boxes so we stayed for longer than planned initially. At the very beginning of our search we saw a nice house even with a greater location but packed (literally) with more expensive type furniture, white sofa and chairs. We couldn’t go for this, too complex for a family with small child.

I agree with a lot of the posters about it being modern, clean and functional. It depends on your market but I think it should be unfurnished, blinds and curtain rails as if it’s going to be long term they may want to put their own curtains up anyway. Definitely a dishwasher, basic kitchen with inbuilt job and oven - no white goods as people generally have those too.
Clean and modern bathroom - just basic white, but a quality shower. I used to have having those with no pressure!

With regard to the garden I think it’s best to have it fenced properly so if they have kids they can play safely.

Oh and if there are is an awful brick fire place or woodchip paper, I’d get rid.

Thanks everyone- it's so useful to hear your take on things. It's reassuring to know that we're on the right track so far- we've installed a new combi boiler with British gas cover, new mid-range kitchen with solid worksurfaces, nice induction hob but a simple oven, integrated dishwasher, new bathroom with good shower, and replacement double glazing so it's warm and cosy.
It sounds as though I should avoid buying more kitchen appliances and I'll rein in my interior design ideas and keep colours, curtains and blinds simple (even though it sounds a bit boring to me). There is a large garden which we're trying to reclaim from the wild and a well (a real one) which will I suppose will attract some but may put others off.

It did have artex and woodchip everywhere but the walls and ceilings are now beautifully smooth.

I just hope we can find nice mumsnetty tenants now :) - though as it's a bungalow I suppose they may be more mature!