In order to attract the best quality tenants to rental properties and get the best return on investment, landlords need to present their property in the best way possible and create a space potential tenants could see themselves living in.
By taking the time to properly decorate your rental property before taking it to market, you can be sure that you will attract the highest quality tenants to live in your space, which is why we have teamed up with the décor experts at DotcomBlinds.com to give you some tips for decorating your new rental property to ensure it’s hot property!
Provide Ample Storage Space
The first step to making your rental property more tenant-friendly is to add as much storage space as you can. By doing this you’ll notice a few benefits to yourself as a landlord such as: if there’s ample storage, tenants are less likely to attempt to add their own via DIY which could damage your property; with enough storage space, the property will be kept tidier as the tenant has spaces to store their items; and by having a high level of storage space, your property will be more attractive to potential tenants.
There are a multitude of ways that you can add storage space to your rental properties, whether by adding storage units such as cupboards and wardrobes, by using built-in storage solutions like shelving and walk-in storage areas or if you offer a furnished space to use furniture which has storage built into it, such as a bed with drawers built in.
Create Sleep Friendly Bedrooms
One common complaint from tenants in rental accommodation is that bedrooms aren’t always properly set up for sleep in rental accommodation. As most landlords don’t ‘test drive’ their rental properties it’s easy to make mistakes when decorating bedrooms that lead to them not being well suited for sleep.
But, the most common complaint in regards to rental bedrooms is an easy issue to fix, most often when complaining about poor bedrooms the issue lies in the window shades used in the room. In a bedroom setting you should always use made-to-measure blackout blinds to block out light and create a suitable space for sleep, you should also only opt for solid blinds like roller or roman blinds, rather than multi-part blinds like vertical and venetian blinds, which leave gaps for light to leak in.
Only Use Fool Proof Appliances
When you’re kitting out a new rental property, it can be tempting to use high-end appliances in order to make your property more attractive to prospective tenants. It makes sense that tenants will see the newer appliances in your property and be more likely to choose your property rather than another, but this can cause problems down the line.
The major downside to using high-end versions of modern appliances, is that your average renter may not use them with proper diligence or not properly maintain it, which will cause issues for you when things break. A great example of this is glass top oven hobs, which look very snazzy during viewings, but when not properly used they’re incredibly easy to scratch, chip and damage, so it may be more viable to opt for a gas hob instead.
Choose Neutral Colours
As a landlord, it’s important to know that you can not make everyone happy with your design choices, no matter what you do, some people will love it and others will hate it. But what you can do as a landlord to keep your property attractive to as many people as possible is to avoid making design choices which may turn off potential renters, such as using bold colours in your décor.
All seasoned landlords know about the power of magnolia and other creamy off-white colours, neutral colours like beige and magnolia aren’t very exciting, but they’re inoffensive and provide a neutral backdrop to the property that your tenant can personalise with soft furnishings. So, magnolia walls may not win you any design awards, but you won’t be turning off prospective renters either.
Don’t Decorate For Yourself
This is a trap that many novice landlords have been victim to over the years, thinking that they need to decorate their rental space with wall art and accessories to attract potential renters, but this often limits the appeal of your property as you’ll end up decorating for your tastes, rather than the tastes of whoever ends up renting the space.
There’s no real point in spending your hard-earned cash to hang up wall art when it could be turning away potential renters, for renters to ask you to remove it after they’ve moved in, or worst case scenario having to replace pieces if they’re damaged. For decoration and style, it is usually better to leave it to your tenant to decorate and accessorise for themselves.
Keep Long Term Costs In Mind
Another trap that gets many first-time landlords, is prioritising short-term costs over long-term savings, while it may be tempting to save money when decorating a new property you may cost yourself more money in the long run by making short term choices.
This can come in many forms, but a good example is tiling a bathroom vs painting a bathroom. Painting a bathroom will be cheaper than tilling it at first, but tilling is far more durable in bathrooms than paint is, which will result in a painted bathroom costing more when you factor in how frequently you’ll need to re-paint the space compared to tilling which has a much longer lifespan.
After following these handy tips, your rental property will now be ready to take to market and you can rest assured that your property is going to attract the maximum number of high-quality tenants for years to come.
If you’ve read this handy guide and you think there are any must-know decorating tips for newbie landlords that we’ve missed out, let us know in the comments below!
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Millie is a perfectionist with a passion for property and writing articles. You’ll find her researching the latest housing trends and the newest up and coming areas worth investing in. Read more about Millie here.
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