10 Simple Tips to Maximise the Value of Your HMO Rents Pt 1
Times are changing in HMO land. The marketplace is highly saturated and tenants have a plethora of choice from sharing in a Luxury Mini-Mo (as small as a two bedroom flat with concierge and gym), to a Mega-Mo (complete with cinema room, pizzeria, even a yoga studio). So, to attract the best professional tenants and reduce voids, you need to …
New HMO Licensing Regs – get clear, get ready.
There are so many different laws, regulations and guidelines we need to consider as HMO landlords, so it’s no wonder that a relatively minor change to the HMO Mandatory Licensing regulations has sent a lot of people’s heads into a spin. The current (as at March 2018) arrangements are that any HMO occupied by 5 or more people over 3 …
Licenses vs Leases in HMO’s – which should I use?
Despite being a really simple answer, this seems to be a question that confuses many in the HMO world – with potentially disastrous consequences. I’m not pointing the finger in judgement here – as I too was one of the landlords who didn’t understand the difference, and made an incorrect choice on one occasion as a result. After discovering my …
Are your HMO profits leaking away? Here’s 6 common pitfalls to avoid.
HMO’s are a great income producing asset class, but the additional yields generated can easily be eaten up by poor decisions. Check this list of 6 common profit-leaking pitfalls to look out for, and make sure you tighten the tap in all of the areas mentioned. 1. Under-estimating bills When I did my training, I was taught to account for …
Qualifying HMO Tenants – How to ensure you always choose the best.
I have a shameful admission to make. During my first years as a self-managing landlord, I definitely took the lazy approach to carrying out a lot of the typical processes. (I reveal some the consequences of this in my first blog article Landlords Beware – Rapport Alone Won’t Protect You https://senecarooms.com/2017/08/07/rapport/). I had been hiring and firing staff since the …
If you want to increase the wealth you keep, turn the thermostat up!
When I started buying properties, times were so easy. The “self-cert” mortgage market was in full swing which meant myself and many of my unconventional or self-employed friends could jump on the property ladder, sometimes even with a loan of 120% of the property value! They were practically giving mortgages away back then. This environment was perfect for me as …
What do you do to make your tenants feel special?
From day one, our approach as HMO landlords has always been to treat it as a business where the tenants are our customers, rather than a passive-income stream. That’s fortunate really, since self-managing a HMO portfolio is far from passive! So we developed a heavy emphasis on customer service and periodically look into new and different ways we can bring …