How Can You Tell If A Property Can Be Used As a HMO? (Part 2)

So, you’ve found a property which is near town, near some local facilities, has some element of off-road parking and looks fairly attractive from the outside.  So, you can now buy it?  Right?  Wrong…

What you need to do now is a thorough evaluation of the inside and the more you do, the quicker it will get for you.

Its not as easy as finding the property in the right area, you now need to find the right property.  And this can sometimes be very tricky – in fact, I would go so far as to say that I reject 4 out of 5 properties I look at because they do not meet my criteria.

I generally try and do my review of a property online although its not always possible – it depends on how much information the write-up gives you but you’ll certainly have a good idea from the description even if there isn’t a floor plan.

So, what do you need to look out for?

1. Generally you’re looking to use one of the reception rooms as a bedroom. 

If you have a front-to-back living room/dining room with an arch-way seperating them, you may not be able to do this.  You may be able to if they have doors seperate them but its not ideal as you would have to either fill the doors in, soundproof and put a large wardrobe in front of the doors or spend additional money making that extra room.

2. You need plenty of bathrooms. 

If you are putting 4 or 5 people in a house, then you can get away with just one bathroom but it will be tight.      I would recommend allowing one bathroom per 4 people with the ideal being one ensuite and four bedrooms sharing the one bathroom PLUS another toilet/sink in a cloakroom or similar.  My best house has four bathrooms – one ensuite, one jack-n-jill bathroom, one family bathroom and a cloakroom.

3. Every room needs to be a minimum size.

This does vary according to council but the national guideline is 6.5 metres square (which is a small single) with many councils now trying to enforce a minimum size of 8.0 metres square.  So look carefully at room sizes and make sure they are big enough!

4. You need a good combination of room sizes.

Its not use just having singles or doubles, you do need to have a mixture so that your house is aimed at 2-3 price brackets.  We generally have 1 ensuite, 4 doubles and 1 single per house which allows for a good cross-section of people and prices to aim our marketing at.

5. Kitchen needs to be big enough to take at least 2 fridge freezers plus washing machine/tumble driers if you don’t have a utility.

Never skimp on a kitchen as most of the tenants will be using it every day for at least two meals.  If they have somewhere to sit, then that makes it even better.

These are the five rules that I always follow when buying a property – I would suggest that you use them when searching for property on and off line and this will save you time, avoid wasted viewing trips and allow you to hone down on the exact property that will fit your needs – and give you massive cashflow.

Is there a perfect HMO – well no there isn’t otherwise I would have one.

But there are some types of houses that lend themselves so much better to being a HMO than others.  Have a good look at some floor plans from some new build developers and you will see what I mean (more about that in another article another day)!