Buy to Let Properties - Keeping it Neutral

Article written and submitted by Arianna Vaccaro

If you love all things pink and have a real urge to put in a mustard yellow bathroom suite without forgetting your desire for floral carpets please proceed with caution. What you are about to read may well save you some money in the long run. Yes I thought the ‘m’ word would get your attention.

When buying a property that you are planning to let out to tenants, please try to reign in all your personal decorative tastes. That means using white interior doors and light coloured flooring. White doors will keep the property looking fresh and clean which will appeal to many people meaning you will be more likely to get it let out quickly.

Those who like dark features and darker decoration in a property actually do exist. Hard to believe I know. Although it is difficult to please everyone and when it comes to decorating a property which will be put on the letting market, the safest and most economical thing to do is to keep everything neutral and clean.

Neutral does not have to mean boring though. If you really want to make the property stand out you could add some interest such as placing some colourful cushions in the living room or adding a vase of flowers in the kitchen.

If you have a few properties on your portfolio this straight forward neutral approach will save you a lot of time and money. Many property projects run to tight timescales so if you already know you will be decorating in a neutral style, you can use the same cream paint, glazed white doors and light flooring for all your properties. There will be no time wasted looking for paint samples or deciding if that particular carpet goes with the colour of the walls. This also means that even the most clueless of us will know that the end product will look good. Result all round I say!

As the property will be decorated in a neutral style it can be dressed in whatever may you want. So think about where you’ve hidden away those urges for splashes of pink and purple floral carpets. Have you found it? Good. Now use that creativity to dress the property in a classic and homely way. Use cushions, curtains, rugs, tablecloths and bedspreads to add appeal to the property while people view it.

As tenants are usually not able to re-decorate themselves, there would be nothing worse than someone having to stare at a charcoal wall for a year if that is not their personal taste. No matter what they think about it they cannot change it. So by keeping everything neutral even if the tenant things the walls look a bit ‘bare’ they can add wall hangings and pictures to make the property look like home for them. They can also add their cushions and homely touches then too.

When decorating a property which will be let out think of it like a blank canvas. That why when it comes to getting in a prospective tenant or when it comes to selling it on- the property will be more appealable to more people. As the old saying goes ‘you can’t please them all’ but when it comes to property, when you keep it neutral you will come pretty close.