Blank canvas: interior design is a question of taste for tenants — rather than landlords

Most self-styled property gurus will tell you that if you furnish a rental home, you will find tenants faster than if you leave it empty — and that you will probably get more rent.

However, if you’ve got rubbish taste like me, or indeed, no taste at all, I would urge you to leave your properties empty, or at least provide only the basics and leave the flat as a largely blank canvas for tenants to furnish themselves.

My idea of interior design is to throw a few bland, mainly beige items into a room and hope that the place looks inoffensively homely. Usually the effect is just “meh”.

I once decided to be a bit more daring and brighten a dull living room by investing in a green rug. The last time I saw it, the tenants had shoved it under the sofa.

Even if you think you have got excellent taste in home décor, there’s no guarantee your tenants will agree and I think those viewing rental homes are far more likely to be put off a furnished property than wowed by something the landlord thinks is fabulous.

My target market is metropolitan millennials and I realised recently when showing a few couples round my soon-to-be vacant one-bedroom flat in south London that I have absolutely no idea what is cool.

The current tenants, City types in their mid-twenties, have furnished it with what I consider a hideous mishmash of ludicrous objects and I was so worried their furniture would put viewers off that I even considered waiting until they had moved out before showing the place to anyone.

But the would-be new tenants all gushed over the oddly shaped carved wood dining table, raved about a kitsch cocktail cabinet I’m sure must have come out of a skip, and wanted to know where they could buy the giant bean bag that set my teeth on edge.

The flat looked entirely different a year ago, as the previous tenants, also in their twenties, had gone for modern Scandi furniture, all from Ikea. So you see, it’s pointless to try to second-guess what they might like.

In my experience, a furnished property doesn’t attract a higher rent than one left empty and tenants don’t seem to expect any furniture, except possibly a bed and occasionally a sofa, so I favour providing only the bare essentials — if they ask for them.

There used to be a tax advantage to letting out a property fully furnished as landlords were given a 10 per cent wear-and-tear allowance, but since this was removed in April 2016, there’s really no point in going to the trouble and expense.

Let them put their stamp on it. After all, it is always interesting.