This week’s blog will be discussing the little things you may have overlooked or not known about in your HMO. By applying just a few of these tricks you could go from a bog standard landlord to an exemplary one!
Time-o-Stat: Time-o-stats are a really useful addition to any HMO. They give some freedom to the tenants without being wasteful for the landlord. As well as being economical it is also ecological; with a time-o-stat the heating can be boosted for a maximum of two hours after this it will automatically turn off, this means that when no one is in the heating will not continue running.
Key Safes: At almost every HouseShaw managed property you will find one of these, they make viewings far easier and more versatile for us. And for the tenants it adds a much easier way to get into the property if they lose their keys, instead of having the call a locksmith to get back into their room they can call us up and we will give them the code to get into the key safe so they can get back into the property straight away. I would highly recommend, to any HMO Landlord, installing these.
Door Numbers: This may seem obvious to some of you, but I’d say about 50% of the HMOs i have visited do not have physical numbers on each of the bedrooms. Though it may seem unnecessary to put a physical number on each bedroom door it is actually very helpful to, tenants, viewings, and maintenance workers. If there is a problem in a specific room having a number on the door makes it easy for the tenants to report and for the contractor to locate the right room. Bonus tip: it’s also a good idea to number the allocated storage in the kitchen.
The Little Details: This one is just about the little details that can really show the tenant you care. Things like supplying their first toilet roll in an ensuite, leaving a small token gift in the room to welcome them or maybe just leaving some cleaning supplies under the sink. These seemingly small gestures are often the difference between a good or a great landlord.
Management: Now this may seem like a marketing ploy, and I guess in a way it is but at the same time, hear me out, it is actually good advice. As I’m sure any HMO landlords are aware, house shares are not easy to manage. maintaining any property has its challenges but after adding a bunch of strangers all sorts of problems arise from petty squabbles to specific bedroom issues to overall structural issues. Trying to handle all of that by yourself can be quite a daunting task that's where we come in! At HouseShaw we specialise in HMOs and have years of experience dealing with almost any problem you can think of in a house share.
