You can move furniture out any of these ways
1 Get a moving service to take it to a storage unit
2 Hire a van to take it to the local tip
3 Donate it to a charity which collects it
Or say the tenant must move it.
Or let the letting agent find companies to do it for you.
Useful Websites
Removals
British Heart Foundation for donations
https://www.bhf.org.uk/shop/donating-goods/book-furniture-collection-near-me
Website on using A1
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15499329/Too-busy-clean-home-agent-gives-tour-Use-AI-pictures-Inside-bizarre-new-property-trend-house-hunters-called-misleading.html
In Singapore in a block of flats, when you moved in or out, you had to give the management at least 24 hours notice and pay them a fee for putting padding in the lift and around entry doors, and protective padding along the path from the car park to the building entrance, and from the entrance to the lift, and from the lift along the corridor to your flat, and around the door frame which belonged to the building. On request, they could also do the same inside the landlord's flat.
Some landlord's prefer to provide an unfurnished flat, less wear and tear to worry about, less admin, less to be checked on an inventory, less cost of buying and replacing.
In some places in the UK, when a flat is vacant, no furniture so it cannot be lived in, the landlord is not liable to pay the council tax which covers the public utilities such as taking away the rubbish.
I prefer to supply furniture. This is a leftover from the days when I was letting out my late parent's flat, then my son's flat when he was married with a child and moved into a house. I left the furniture there, less trouble, liked it for sentimental reasons. And it was convenient to have it there if I wanted to move back in. Even showing the flat, it was convenient to have a chair and a kettle.
At one time I thought that it was easier to get tenants to vacate if they had no furniture. It was less hassle for them to move. Less costly. Quicker to organize.
I have had tenants who wanted to buy their own furniture when items broke or got old and tired looking.
I also had requests for extra beds when they had long term guests, or had children.
If they move in a large piece of furniture, such as a bed or wardrobe, the danger is that it will damage the door frames or doors.
This makes the flat look unsightly when you show it to the next prospective tenants. If you are a fussy, particular person, every dent or scratch or chip is annoying. You might think it is easy to repair, but it isn't. You might spend three trips of an hour or more going to DIY stores trying to match paint, find enamel paint to repair a chipped bath. Or order online and pay postage.
We had the hallway and guest toilet walls repainted. The walls had to have the paper and paint stripped off one weekend, the lining paper or undercoat the next weekend, the final top coat of paint the next weekend. Photos of areas to be painted taken and estimates. Then trips to check the work, and open the door for the painter.
The paint alone cost a hundred pounds. The worker has to factor in the cost of the materials, time to buy the materials, his petrol, working time, and travel time, and time doing the first inspection, and sending photos of work done for the landlord and inventory.
When we asked for the skirting boards and doors to be painted, the cost was another four figure sum.
Letting agents make a monthly charge for management. Some agents include in that price four visits a year, check in, two three monthly visits, and a check out. |They then add fifty pounds for every extra visit, which covers the time spent travelling to and from the property, arranging access, checking the situation, making a report, filing the report.
Aa a landlord managing your own property, you need to have the time to do this, visiting, correspondence, taking photos and keeping records. You and to factor in your extra costs, the petrol, camera upgrade, computer upgrade, office.
The letting agent contract will stipulate that all furniture must be returned to its original place for the checkout.
If the tenant moves the wardrobe and desk from a bedroom to a living room, its hard to compare the old inventory with the new one.
If the tenant moves in another bed or wardrobe or desk, it's hard to work out which one is their and which is yours. This also causes confusion when the prospective tenant for the next tenancy looks at the residence or photos and asks, which items of furniture do you supply? Is the bed yours? Is the desk enabling us to work from home supplied.
In theory a tenant can sublet, and in a shared flat they can give the larger living room to the sublet tenant, and give each of the two or three people a bedroom as their own small private living room or daytime work from home study.
However, if tenants or sub-let tenants leave the furniture there, and the next tenancy is for a family, somebody has to move the bed and wardrobe and desk back from the living room into the bedroom. This could require two people, not just one landlord or letting agent to visit. And somebody strong and willing. Not an elderly landlord with a hernia!
Moving furniture leaves indentations in the carpet where the furniture rested. The carpet or flooring could be a different colour where it was under furniture. Moving leaves dust marks under the furniture or around the edge, or floating out, requiring more cleaning, or even replacing the carpet and flooring, which could cost two thousand pounds per room.
Replacing furniture is costly. Nowadays many company charge for delivery, charge for unpacking, charge for inserting a built in oven, stove, or fridge, or washing machine, or dishwasher, or tumble dryer, charge for connecting. You need an electrical inspection to check the appliance is safe, and to supply the certificate of inspection to the letting agent or tenant.
Furniture needs to have a label saying it is safe, and if the tenant removes the label, the furniture cannot be proved to be safe for the next tenant and must be replaced.
The landlord is required to supply and display certain certificates showing that the annual gas safety and electrical safety inspections have taken place.
You may want to put in the contract that the tenant must not remove fire safety warnings, phone numbers for repairs, nor guarantee of safety certificates.
Portable Appliance Testing
Will cost about £95 including VAT. Jan 2026 website price.
EICR
Will cost about £115 for a 3 bed area, £95 plus £10 per room.
