Furnished or unfurnished letting: what changes for a foreign landlord

Furnished and unfurnished are two distinct letting regimes. The furnished lease runs for one year, renewable, the unfurnished lease for three years, the statutory furniture list applies only to furnished lettings, the notice periods and the arrangements for taking the property back are more flexible there, and the income falls into different tax families. Furnished letting brings flexibility and demands logistics, unfurnished brings stability and lightens the equipment to maintain. For a landlord living abroad, the right choice depends on the property, on local demand and on the time available to look after the letting.

This choice is made before the property goes on the market, because it conditions everything else: lease, furniture, tax treatment, day-to-day organisation. This page compares the two formulas from the perspective of a non-resident owner. It complements the guide to letting your property from abroad, which covers the whole letting journey.

What are the main differences between furnished and unfurnished?

The table below summarises the differences that matter to a landlord based abroad. Each dimension is detailed in the rest of the page.

Dimension	Furnished letting	Unfurnished letting
Length of the lease	One year, renewable	Three years, renewable
Tenant’s departure	Short notice, high mobility	Longer notice, settled tenant
Taking the property back	Simpler non-renewal at expiry	Notice restricted to limited grounds and longer timescales
Furniture	Statutory list to provide and maintain	None, the tenant brings their own
Income	Profits from a furnished letting activity	Land income
Upkeep borne by the landlord	Furniture and equipment to repair and replace	Fabric and fixed fittings of the property
Typical tenant profile	Job mobility, students, stays of a few months	Long-term main residence

The formula you choose sets the rhythm of the letting, the money tied up in equipment and the time spent keeping it alive: better to decide with full knowledge of the facts, not out of habit.

Why do the lease length and the tenant’s departure change everything?

In the furnished case, the lease runs for one year and renews on the same terms. In the unfurnished case, it runs for three years when the landlord is a natural person. These durations set the tempo of the whole letting: furnished, you adjust, change tenants or react more often, unfurnished you settle into the long term and your decisions space out.

The tenant’s departure follows the same logic. Notice is markedly shorter in a furnished letting: this attracts mobile profiles, people on secondment, students or expatriates, but it multiplies the possible void periods and the refresh work between two occupants. Unfurnished, the longer notice leaves time to plan the relaunch of the property, and tenants stay longer on average.

Taking the property back does not carry the same weight either. Unfurnished, the landlord may only serve notice at the end of the lease, on limited grounds and within framed timescales, which makes it hard to recover the property at short notice. Furnished, deciding not to renew at expiry is simpler. If you keep in mind one day occupying the property, selling it or reconfiguring it, this gap weighs heavily on the decision.

What must a furnished property contain?

A furnished letting is not an unfurnished one with a few pieces of furniture added: the law sets a minimum furniture list, organised room by room, and that list conditions the entire regime of the letting. Without it, the property risks being requalified as unfurnished, with the three-year lease and the deadlines that go with it. The list covers, in essence:

• Bedding, with a duvet or blanket.
• Cooking hob, an oven or a microwave, a fridge with a freezer compartment.
• Crockery and utensils needed to prepare and eat meals.
• A table, chairs and storage shelves.
• Lighting in every room, plus shutters or curtains on bedroom windows.
• Cleaning equipment suited to the property: vacuum cleaner, broom, cleaning products.

The furniture must be present, but also in working order: faulty or missing equipment may be enough to tip the qualification. Hence the fundamental reflex of the furnished landlord: a precise inventory, room by room, with photographs, signed by the tenant on arrival. This inventory can be signed remotely, just like the lease itself: our article on signing a lease remotely covers the electronic signature, the delegated check-in inventory and the power of attorney.

Where does the tax border between the two formulas lie?

The two formulas do not produce the same income, and the border is clear. Rents from unfurnished letting fall under land income: a wealth income, taxed under the regimes provided for that purpose, with the possibility of deducting the property’s actual costs under a real regime. Rents from furnished letting fall under industrial and commercial profits: furnished letting is treated as an activity, which opens up, under a real regime, the deduction of depreciation on the furniture and on the property itself.

As a non-resident, two further mechanisms come into play. First, withholding tax on income received in France. Second, the tax treaty between France and your country of residence: it allocates the right to tax between the two states and organises the elimination of double taxation. These mechanisms combine differently depending on the formula chosen, furnished or unfurnished, and on your country of residence.

The detailed figures, rates, thresholds and filing obligations, therefore depend on your personal situation: the country guides by residence gather the rules country by country, and the simulators let you compare the two formulas as applied to your property.

Flexibility or stability: how should you choose from abroad?

Logistics is the real criterion for an absent landlord. Furnished letting suits mobile profiles and cities where demand is strong: it re-lets quickly, adjusts often, but requires a local presence, refresh work between tenants, repeated inventories, follow-up, replacement of worn furniture. If you live abroad, that support must be organised before the first listing, not discovered when the first tenant leaves.

Short-term furnished letting pushes this logic to its extreme: brief stays, constant turnover, welcoming travellers. It requires a prior declaration at the town hall and, in certain large cities, an authorisation to change the use of the property. Its daily follow-up, key handover, cleaning, linen, welcome, is entrusted to a short-term rental concierge, which keeps the property running while you are away.

Unfurnished, conversely, seeks stability: a tenant who settles in, a regular rent, spaced-out interventions. Management is lighter day to day, but every step counts double: the choice of tenant commits you for a long time, taking the property back is framed, and the void between two leases lasts longer. For this formula as for the other, letting management remains a regulated activity: French Realty frames your project and points you towards a partner property manager, the lease being concluded between you and your tenant.

What upkeep should you plan for each formula?

Furnished, the equipment works hard: appliances, bedding and furniture wear out at the pace of successive occupants, and replacements always fall between two lettings. More heavily used paintwork, frequent small repairs, regular checks of the inventory: upkeep there is frequent but often modest. Unfurnished, upkeep concentrates on the fabric and fixed fittings, boiler, roof, facade, plumbing: it is more spaced out, but the interventions weigh more heavily when they arrive.

In both cases, the landlord’s obligations are the same in nature: delivering and maintaining a decent home, handling repairs other than the tenant’s, respecting deadlines. From abroad, the difference lies in the watching brief: a furnished property is inspected more often, an unfurnished one is checked on a regular schedule. This organisation, and the initial choice between the two formulas, is prepared with the same method as the rest of the letting journey described in the Location & rendement category.

Furnished or unfurnished, letting a property from abroad is prepared like a file: a formula chosen with full knowledge of the facts, compliant furniture, and a monitoring arrangement identified before the first listing. If you are hesitating between the two, the personal study offered by French Realty lets you weigh them against your property, your distance and your plans, with your dedicated contact.