The days of cramped, dirty unkept bedsits managed by stereotypical unruly landlords are well behind us. Mostly behind us, of course the odd independent landlord lives up to the media hype of the evil penny pinching zero tolerance mind set. Though what we forget is that there is a demand for Landlords simply due to; the affordability of houses for first time buyers, more single occupants preferring to live in shared housing, population growth, stationary average incomes, free flow of foreign work force.
One hundred years ago 80% of the UK population was renting, these houses were owned by a small share of national Landlords. Apart from a change in ownership perception during the last 30 years activated by banks and accessible mortgages, the trend is heading back towards a tenant based society. Institutional funds are developing tenant only apartment blocks much the same as multi-family units in the US, though in UK the focus is on single occupants. With this in mind every person leaving home needs to start somewhere. That somewhere is now classed as a HMO – House of multiple occupants.
A HMO and bedsit’s are effectively the same, though now the government has set firm standards to ensure the quality of living spaces are safe and to a high standard throughout the UK, every Landlord has the responsibility to keep up to date of the standards put forward.
Owning a HMO (a modern term for a bedsit) as a Landlord has the benefit of increased yield vs single lets, though with a higher yield as in any business comes increased demand on management. Plus with more competition from other landlords in the same sector, the service to tenants (who have more choice) is very important. Self-managing a HMO or bedsit often becomes a lifestyle choice or hindrance to a landlord who wants the income, though in reality would prefer stable income and time to focus on their main business or occupation.
At Meklet we focus on stability and peace of mind for Landlords and service for tenants. We manage HMO’s though we pay a flat monthly fee to Landlords giving stability then we take care of managing the rooms and tenants to a service level equal throughout all the properties we manage.
Call us on 01183282873 to find out how we can manage your HMO.