The Appeal of Furniture Hire

I was recently reading an article in Wired Magazine about how ideas of ownership are changing.

The article Is This the End of Ownership? discussed how we are seeing a shift from owning a product to a "Subscription Economy." Thanks to Spotify my music library has more than doubled. And remember actual libraries? The bricks and mortar place with actual books? Well they've had this whole lending over ownership thing down pat for years- they're even moving into the 21st Century by lending ebooks.

"The way in which we buy and consume products is rapidly changing. The world we once knew -- where we owned physical products...is rapidly coming to a close."

Ok so the article was discussing the leasing of cds, dvds and computer software but the same logic can be applied to furniture hire.

There is a definite appeal to leasing, renting, pay-as-you-go and subscriptions. As someone who is quiet transient (like most people living in London), moving from property to property, city to city, country to country, I try to keep my ownership and accumulation of things to a minimum. Not only does it make it easier for me to pick up and go, it means that I can experience the best of everything without having to work out if I'll be able to cart it to my next destination or what the resale value of the product is (not very high in today's mass market).

For renters there are not many options when looking at buying furniture. Do I buy flat packed furniture that I know will probably break in the next 6 months or do I run the risk of buying nice furniture that I may not be able to take with me to the next property? Or even if you do purchase nice furniture then there's the hassle of hiring a van and moving your furniture and what if it doesn't fit in your next property? All these questions are enough to give a renter a hernia.

For a first time renter looking to fully kit out their property they can look at spending well over £1000. A quick online shop at Ikea tells me that even their low cost, low budget furniture range would set me back £700 and that's without many essentials including a dining table, TV, lamps, curtains or any kind of personality. Furniture hire on the other hand gives renters access to high quality furnishings with the freedom to choose whether they want short term or long term furniture hire, a bespoke package or a few select items.

For landlords too, furniture pack rental can be appealing. Leasing a property that has high quality furnishings will help you attract the best possible rent for your property.  And as an added bonus furniture hire is a business tax deductible for landlords.

The next time you think about buying something, look at the rental alternative.