VOID. It’s a four letter word alright!
And one that puts a shudder through many a landlord’s bones. I know it certainly puts some fire under my pants if I have a room coming empty soon and I haven’t yet found a replacement, let alone the stress I feel if a room or more are empty for any period of time.
This is a stress I have luckily kept at bay for a few years consistently now – my annual occupancy tables sit at 97% to 100% for each house, and 100% rents received (although, I admit, I experience an occasional late payment).
Yet for many landlords, non-payers and voids are a regular, and quite damaging experience.
Here’s what we do to ensure 100% occupancy in our rooms:
Advertise upcoming rooms immediately
It’s obvious right. But on the odd occasion when a tenant hands in their notice two or even three months before they will be leaving, it might seem pointless to advertise a room in a professional HMO that far in advance. Well I beg to differ, as you might just come across a super organised and eager person who will snap it up. I’ve captured a few of these in the past.
Respond to enquiries promptly
This is especially important during the slow season (ie, not summer). It’s simple – if you have less enquiries coming in, you need to work harder to get a viewer to your door, so aim to respond to any enquiries within two hours of receipt, and be responsive during the hours your professional tenants will be available – unfortunately for you that means from 6 or 7am, right up to 9pm at night.
Photographs
Get great photos that accurately represent the room and house (getting beautiful pics of your HMO as soon as it’s been renovated is a fab idea, but make sure you capture up-to-date photos as things change). Many viewers comment that my houses look just like in the photos – apparently it’s not that common.
Keep the houses clean and well maintained
In my article “Are your HMO profits leaking away?” , I discuss the common management mistakes many HMO landlords make, one of which occurs when your cleaners become ‘grime blind’. You must monitor the work of your cleaner.
De-cluttering shared areas
It’s a fine balance this – you need to allow the tenants to be comfortable in their home (the more comfortable they are, the more clutter will accumulate), but you need to keep the shared areas tidy and clutter-free to attract new tenants, as well as keeping the tidier tenants happy and comfortable too. I tend to allow the existing tenants a bit of freedom here and just reign them in if personal belongings in the shared areas become a health or safety hazard (lots of shoes lined up in the hallway for example), but then I also rally the tenants together once a year to do some deeper de-cluttering.
Keep shared areas scuff-free
If I was renovating a HMO from scratch, I’d have exposed brick walls along the stairwells ( see my post on tips to improve your HMO rental values about why they are such a good idea), but since I have what I have, I like to paint the high traffic areas in Pure Brilliant White. The bonus with PBW is that there is no pigment so the ‘colour’ doesn’t fade over time, which means a good painter will be able to touch up any scuffed areas and blend the paint so it looks freshly painted again, without going to the expense of painting an entire wall. I’ve seen houses where painters have tried the touch up technique on Magnolia or other coloured walls, and it is horribly obvious and just looks cheap and unprofessional, so it’s a trick reserved for the PBW’ers only.
Arrange back-to-back viewings
I’ve heard people talk about doing block viewings in HMO’s, but it’s something I would not recommend. One-to-one viewings give you the opportunity to casually ‘interview’ the viewer to determine whether they would be a suitable tenant, so instead, arrange them so they are 15 to 20 minutes apart from each other. There’s three purposes here. One is obviously that it minimises the amount of time you need to spend at the property. A second benefit is the viewers see each other lined up so they are well aware there are others interested too, creating a sense of competition. Number three – if you get no-shows (which sadly, still happens even after receiving a text confirmation of the viewing on the day), it’s not a complete wasted journey.
My secret weapon
Many landlords aren’t clear about the notice periods tenants need to give, and so they lose out on one of the techniques that actually helps to keep your voids to a minimum. When an AST kicks over into a statutory periodic status, a tenant must give their notice in line with their contract’s period date, rather than a clear one month (as many mistakenly believe). So if a tenant’s contract started on the 15th of the month, and the tenant gives notice on the 1st of May, their notice would take them through to 14th June. Typically, a tenant will actually want to move before their contract end date, so I always ask the tenant what date they ideally want to move (ie, earlier than the contract end date), and I advertise their room and do whatever I can to get a new tenant to replace them at the earlier date. If I’m successful, I refund the vacating tenant the pro-rata rent between the new tenant moving in and the vacating tenant’s contract end date.
Pricing
Price yourself in the mid-range of your price bracket (i.e., if your rooms are top end, and top end rents in your area are £550 to £600, price your top end rooms at £575. You will then be in the position to choose the best of the applicants
Make seasonal adjustments
Adjust rent prices slightly as the market conditions change. For example, summer is peak time so you generally achieve the best values between July to September, and you may need to reduce rents slightly at other times of year. I have a general rule – if I haven’t filled a room within five or six viewings, then the price needs to come down a touch.
Have a Styling Kit ready
As soon as a room empties (in some cases, the room will still be paid by the vacating tenant for a little while – see my secret weapon above), fit it out with a styling kit.
It’s not just about filling rooms…
Voids aren’t just about getting people in quickly. Part of the reason our voids are low is because we retain our customers – one tenant has been with us for ten years this coming August (yes, that’s in a houseshare), there have been many tenants who did four or five year stints, and our typical stay is 2 – 2.5 years.
Focus heavily on giving great customer service to your existing tenants. Be responsive, be respectful, be efficient, be transparent.
Want more?
Did you know SenecaRooms offers HMO business consultancy services? We’ll help you improve the performance of your HMO landlording business – increase your profits, increase tenant satisfaction, and increase your freedom and enjoyment from the business too!
Book a free initial chat with us here: https://senecarooms.com/contact-us/