The Terraces, Business Bay: what a smart home and Roche Bobois furniture mean for the owner

Furnished or unfurnished?

In The Terraces the product has already answered the question, but the economics are still worth understanding. A furnished flat lets faster and for more, attracts expatriate tenants with no furniture of their own, and suits medium- and short-term lets.

The price of that is wear, and the owner’s responsibility for the condition of the furnishings.

Unfurnished flats win with families moving in for a long stay with their own belongings. Such tenants are steadier and more careful with the property, but the rate is lower and the search takes longer.

For a finished designer flat the rational target is a tenant who can afford, and knowingly pays for, the ability to move straight in: senior professionals on long contracts, or the better end of the medium-term market. Undercutting with a furnished flat in the mass segment gives away the wear and collects no premium.

What about insurance and management?

Contents insurance comes first: for a flat with expensive furniture and appliances a policy on the contents is a necessary cost, not an option. The tenant’s deposit should likewise be discussed with the value of the furnishings in mind.

An owner who is not in Dubai should use a management company with experience in the luxury segment. It pays for itself in the quality of tenants and in control over the condition of the flat.

Regular inspections with photographs keep a tenant disciplined and provide evidence in a dispute. A registered tenancy contract with transparent renewal terms protects both sides.

How do you take handover of a flat like this?

With a longer protocol than usual. Beyond the ordinary checks of finish, screed and services, test every function of the system: lighting scenes, climate control, blinds, locks, the intercom and the mobile app.

Check the furniture against the annex to the contract item by item — brand, model, quantity — and record any discrepancy in writing before the handover certificate is signed.

Ask for the full set of documents: warranties for appliances and furniture, manuals for the system, and the administrator credentials for the smart home. Establish the warranty periods on the building services and the procedure for reporting defects after moving in.

A thorough handover takes several hours. It saves months of correspondence with the developer over problems discovered along the way.

Will the technology and the furniture hold their value?

The hardware lasts a long time; what keeps a system feeling current is software and small updates. Choose flats on widely used platforms and set aside a small budget for modernisation. It costs less than it seems and preserves the premium on the rate.

A tenant who does not care for the technology is not a problem, since the basic functions work in manual mode. The premium comes from the option being there and from the general standard of the flat, not from obliging anyone to use scenes.

Branded furniture does, as a rule, help at resale, chiefly through the speed of the deal and the impression made: a finished interior sells the flat at the viewing. Do not expect to recover its full cost. Count it as something that speeds up liquidity.