Back in the 80s and 90s it was a rite of passage to share a home with a group of young professionals. Back then there were very few regulations, in fact Houses of Multiple Occupations (HMOs) were not even defined in the housing act until 1985, before that they were labelled as “overcrowded accomodation". I was recently chatting to current HMO owner who recalled to me their experience: “one of the rooms in our 6 bed house had a series of tartan rugs nailed to the floor as “carpet”. A house mate painted a piece of furniture white in the garden then dragged it across the afore mentioned floor leaving streaks across it. We then all spent a couple of hours with felt tip pens filling in the patterns. We found it hilarious and the landlord couldn’t tell the difference!” Now obviously I’m not suggesting that it is a good idea to colour in carpet stains with felt tip pens (I don’t think my boss would be happy if I did), this will also not work most of the time. However the story does convey how much fun living in an HMO can be!
HMOs went out of favour when getting on the “housing ladder” became a higher priority but times are changing again. In part, of course, because home ownership has become more elusive but also, the work force has become more mobile and young people are keen to move where the work is. They don’t necessarily want to commit to the responsibility of a mortgage until they know for sure where they will settle.
After it was reported that on average 3 people per week died in HMOs between the years of 1985 and 1991, the government decided it was time to start imposing stricter compliance guidlines. In the Housing Act of 2004 mandatory licensing for HMO's was finally introduced! Nowadays HMOs must be licenced and adhear specific rules and regulations such as 30 minute fire doors on all bedrooms along with mains powered smoke alarms, “adequate" bathroom and kitchen facilities, and rent and deposit protection services. This is all to ensure the safety and contentment of the tenants.
The Covid 19 pandemic has also changed the general outlook on HMOs; Most companies now offer the option to work from home, which is becoming a more and more popular choice, especially with young professionals. This means they have more freedom to choose where they want to live. This is great, but, there is one very common downside to home working, isolation. And that’s where HMOs come in! Apart from being a much more affordable option, living in a houseshare, particularly if you’re moving to a new area, creates a great opportunity to make friends straight away. You can keep to yourself whenever you want to but you always have the option to socialise with a whole new group of people without even having to leave your front door.
To end I want to go back to the HMO owner quoted previously: “the house was a dump but we had so much fun, made friendships that have lasted a life time”, it’s these kinds of stories that illustrate how much fun it can and should be to live in an HMO. Except these days you are much less likely to find one that can be fairly described as a dump and even if you do, I can assure you, on behalf of HouseShaw, there are other much better options out there.
