What exactly does furnished mean.........

Our previous place in London was "fully furnished" - and it was - included all whiteware and furniture and kitchen utensils, pots and pans, cutlery, plates, cups etc, even an electric kettle and a vacuum cleaner.  It didn't have a TV though but some places even have that.  Sometimes you get lucky and the previous tenant will have left some kitchen things or a TV behind.  Having said that we got fed up with the landlord's furniture. The bed was really uncomfortable, thw wardrobe was too small and the two three seater sofas in the lounge took up too much space.  We moved to an unfurnished place and while it meant shelling out quite a bit of money to get kitted out, it's nicer to have our own stuff.

THANKS GUYS FOR YOUR INPUT.......MORE THAN LIKELY WE WILL ONLY BE IN THE UK FOR 2-3 YEARS AND THEN MOVE BACK TO THE STATES UNLESS I GET SO COMFORTABLE I COULD NEVER IMAGINE MOVING BACK STATESIDE. 

SO WHEN YOU FINALLY FIND THAT PLACE THAT YOU CAN CALL HOME, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, HOW MUCH IS DEPOSITS ECT, AND ARE THE LANDLORDS/ESTATE AGENTS EASY TO WORK WITH.  WHAT ABOUT PETS DO MOST PLACES FROWN PETS IF YOU ARE RENTING.

SO WHEN YOU FINALLY FIND THAT PLACE THAT YOU CAN CALL HOME, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, HOW MUCH IS DEPOSITS ECT, AND ARE THE LANDLORDS/ESTATE AGENTS EASY TO WORK WITH.  WHAT ABOUT PETS DO MOST PLACES FROWN PETS IF YOU ARE RENTING.

What happens next:
- you pay for between 4-6 weeks as you deposit (ours was 6 weeks), your first month's rent (4.3 weeks of rent) and possibly an amount to the letting agency.  They also have to do a credit check of sorts (info about job, bank, etc).   My landlord lives in Singapore, so we did everything through out estate agent who is wonderful.  He helped us with getting in touch with our utility companies, and will help us if anything goes wrong with the place.  Some estate agents are better than others.  Some places allow for pets, others don't.  That will be something you need to talk to your estate agent about and they'll only direct you to places that do allow for pets (assuming you have one).  I know a lot of the families who go to the American school have dogs, so I'm assuming that they live in rental properties that allow for pets.