furnished vs unfurnished rented property

[Guest]

Hi. I am debating about renting furnished or unfurnished or partial furnished property when doing accommodation searching. I will be moving to Singapore to work for longterm in 2 months time. Would like advice with regards to this. What to expect for a furnished flat ? And, if my company is paying relocation expenses that included household effects, how much would you bargain for the furniture etc if I were to go for unfurnished flat (say, i go for minimum requirement and not luxury product)? Thanks.

[dot dot dot]

furnished often means that you will find everything basically there: couch, dining, chairs, kitchen equipment, laundry machine, TV, stereo etc etc. But in most cases not the best quality, bit aged and depending on your presonal likings... not always the right stuff you prefer.

If you rent unfurnished (most condos are being rented out furnished btw, unless new developments), expect not to pay so much for furniture here. For your electronics and white stuff, go to places like best denkis, harvey norman, courts etc. For furniture, there is a big IKEA here, or otherwise there is local chains with some nice stuff as well, for example Barang Barang for the colonial style. From my experience, furniture is here about half the price you'd pay back in Europe.

If you are into antique chinese or korean or any other Asian furniture, check out the area around South Bridge road in Chinatown (and Pagoda street), good and affordable stuff.

Eric

[jj05]

I will be in the same situation as above. My company will refund up to $3,000 for household effects. Is this sufficient to get unfurnished flat for a single female ? How much things i can buy for that sum of money ? I would like to go for cheaper furniture or even 2nd hand. Was told that unfurnished property will be cheaper than furnished property.

[dot dot dot]

unfurnished is cheaper in most cases indeed. Like I said, most new developments for rent are unfurnished, or you can tell the landlord straight away you want it unfurnished.

Older places (rented out before I mean), tend to be in most cases furnished. Still, you can negotiate to have it unfurnished, if they are willing, expect to pay about 200 to 300 less per month.

S$ 3,000 for furnishing is not a lot of money: if you wanna buy basics like a laundry machine, bed, couch, tv, table, chairs and a few others.... not easy. On the other hand, if you wanna buy nice furniture, you might wanna invest to bring it to your next place after your assignment here, but that is a different situation to think off of course.

Eric

[Carpe Diem]

Guest and jj05: Something that you probably don't know...
If your employer pays for your rent and you stay in a furnished apartment, you will have to pay more income taxes (provided that you will pay income tax in Singapore). See details on IRAS website.

[jj05]

Thanks Eric. I suppose i can also consider going for partial furnished and still managed to get some furniture that i like then.

[mark at singapore]

Hi Carpe Diem,

Thanks for your message. I have just recently moved to singapore and staying in a condo, fully furnished, paid by my company. Is this really true that I have to pay more taxes?? How come I haven't heard about this before?

Can anyone give me a link for more information?

Mark

[Carpe Diem]

Hi Carpe Diem,

Thanks for your message. I have just recently moved to singapore and staying in a condo, fully furnished, paid by my company. Is this really true that I have to pay more taxes?? How come I haven't heard about this before?

Can anyone give me a link for more information?

Mark

Well it's true otherwise I would not mention it.
You can have a look at IRAS website and especially http://www.iras.gov.sg/ESVPortal/resour ... latest.doc

[mark in singapore]

Hi carpe diem,

thanks for you mail. Now I didn't quite understand the taxable benefit. It said that it's 10% of my yearly income or the value of the housing allowance, which ever is smaller. So if 40k a year, then I have to pay 4000$? Or have I misunderstood something here?

thanks.

Mark

[Carpe Diem]

Hi carpe diem,

thanks for you mail. Now I didn't quite understand the taxable benefit. It said that it's 10% of my yearly income or the value of the housing allowance, which ever is smaller. So if 40k a year, then I have to pay 4000$? Or have I misunderstood something here?

thanks.

Mark

In the case your benefit (or more exactly the % of it, as you calculated) is 4,000 you have to add this to your income.

So if your income is X, then X + 4,000 becomes your TOTAL INCOME (to which you also have to add other benefits, such as car).

Your CHARGEABLE INCOME (the one which is used for tax calculation) equals to your TOTAL INCOME minus the PERSONAL RELIEFS (S$ 1,000 for you, S$ 2,000 for your spouse if you are married and S$ 2,000 per kid if you have any).

So if TOTAL INCOME is for instance S$ 50,000 per year and you have 2 kids, your CHARGEABLE INCOME will be 50,000 - 1,000 - 2,000 - 2x2,000 = 43,000. It means your income tax is calculated on S$ 43,000.

Then you can find on IRAS website the tax rate for your CHARGEABLE INCOME.

Hope this clarifies. And quite surprised you did not get all these details from your employer.