Hello, my name is Laura King and I am delighted to have joined Lextons as a Property Manager.
I bring with me 23 years of experience in Student Lettings and Accommodation management across three Universities in Oxford and Brighton and will be developing and building the HMO portfolio for Lextons.
Of course it isn’t just students who live in HMOs (Homes of Multiple Occupancy) but professional sharers too, from those embarking on their careers to those in later life who may be divorced or have other reasons for opting for HMO living as a practical and affordable housing solution.
We’ve come a long way from traditional seaside boarding houses and TV’s Rising Damp model of shared living. Today’s HMOs are increasingly well converted, not just to comply with HMO legislation, but because landlords genuinely see the value in creating a desirable residence to promote a good standard of shared living which in turn will garner a decent rent yield and minimise voids and void lengths. And as we all know in the HMO sector, the better quality the property, the better the property is likely to be looked after. A basic quality property will often attract poor treatment by the tenants who surmise that if the landlord doesn’t really care, why should they? That said, everything in an HMO will sustain significantly heavier use than in a domestic family property setting so benefits from being cleverly sourced and selected.
HMO standards have also been driven up in recent years by having to compete with all the university campus developments and high-end private student blocks going up.
There have been many debates over the years about ‘studentification’ of urban areas and how this may impact on the make up of neighbourhoods. However although HMOs are typically more weighted to the student market in university towns and cities like Brighton and Hove, the picture of HMO occupancy nationwide is around 71% professionals v 29% students.
I take the view that successful HMOs are all about good management no matter what demographic the tenants comprise and that’s where I come in, providing the standards and service level that both landlords and HMO tenants deserve.
It is important to note there have been seismic changes in the student accommodation market in the last two years since the pandemic as student numbers have been impacted, specifically by its effects on course completion confidence and international travel. This means that more universities are now able to offer whole-university career campus accommodation, which they couldn’t in previous years, to fill their own rooms. The knock on effect is that those students who move out into the community are fewer and are often making a personal decision to move towards more independent living, rather than because they are being forced to move off campus in their second year and beyond as used to be the case. However, having been used to living in an environment where everything was provided as part of their all-in rent – utility bills, wifi, security, block management, grounds maintenance and cleaning, successful student HMO’s also require skill and experience to manage and tenants will expect them to be fully-furnished in most cases.
In my own experience it is not so much about which demographic shares an HMO, but about how well that HMO is managed. Though with social cohesion in mind it is always better when tenants enjoy a good relationship with one another and I have long advised that students, in particular, form a strong housemate group with a few shared objectives prior to looking and booking an HMO.
In Brighton and Hove it is noticeable that many agents are struggling to shift HMOs in the student market for October 2022, with a large number having to discount these properties more than once to tempt the student market.
If you are a landlord in this market who has also noticed this, perhaps you and I need to talk about how to re-angle and optimise your property rental prospects and widen your potential market.