Theming your HMO to attract the right tenants for your property
The key to creating a harmonious House of Multiple Occupants is to create the right mix of tenants within the property. One way to support this is to theme your HMO. By theming your HMO, you will tend to attract tenants with similar backgrounds or personalities.
Why is it important to get the right mix of tenants in your HMO?
The type of people living in HMOs are often young professionals or those who have had a significant change in circumstance recently, and as such, both these groups are unlikely to stay in the same property for years and years. It is far more likely they will either move around to follow work opportunities or move on to a single-family property with a partner or similar as they settle down.
This means that the group of tenants living in an HMO changes relatively frequently. You need to remember that the occupants of an HMO are effectively strangers, so when you introduce a new member to the household, it is always going to cause some level of friction in the short term.
Getting the right mix of tenants helps to reduce friction within the house and improves both inter-tenant relationships and the relationship between tenants and landlord.
What do we mean by theming your HMO?
What we don’t mean is theming an HMO so strongly it is like a theme park or Disney land. What we mean is to create a tone or style for the HMO: a bit like a brand style if you were talking about a company. This style should be consistent throughout the property and should match the type of tenants you want to attract.
For example, one HMO owner we work with has a consistent style across all their HMOs which is a slightly industrial-modern-masculine style. Think grey/blue colour scheme with lots of steel style metal fittings. This style targets a young male professional type of tenant as it has quirky bar or industrial chic eatery vibes which suits this type of creative young professional.
As such, this HMO owner tend to attract tenants who are from similar backgrounds, have similar goals, and are at similar life stages, all of which helps to reduce conflict and maintain a consistent house dynamic even when new tenants join or others move on.
By the same token, you could theme the property towards creative professionals who like bright colours and co-working spaces and similar activities. This might affect the furniture you choose, the decoration choices you make, or the layout of the property.
Theming can be limited by the type of HMO. For example, if it is a newly built or renovated HMO, you will have more scope to make changes compared to an HMO that is long-established with an established group of settled tenants.
Theming doesn’t need to be expensive or fancy, it is simply about creating a consistent style that not only helps to attract similar tenants but also shows the care taken by the landlord towards the HMO, which is attractive to new tenants.
How can theming help to reduce conflict?
Some of the best HMOs we have worked with are those that have a level of theming. Theming isn’t about excluding anyone, but rather positioning your HMO as a particular dynamic or house culture.
For example, if you have an HMO where all the tenants happen to be men in their 20s who are creative young professionals, it is unlikely that a 50-year-old man who has always worked in a physical job would gel well within the existing group. That doesn’t mean to say it definitely wouldn’t work, but you would be more likely to find a good fit from someone of a similar age and lifestyle to the existing group.
As an extension of this, it is important that your letting agent has a clear idea of the existing dynamic within the HMO and the type of tenant you think would be most suited. With this information, a good letting agent will communicate with potential tenants to get a good understanding of whether a particular HMO would be a good fit for them and will explain to the potential tenant why one property might be more suitable than another.
What types of HMOs benefit from theming?
It is worth saying that when we talk about theming an HMO, we are generally applying this to HMOs with 6 or more tenants. Some of the properties we work with have up to 10 or even more tenants.
If you are managing an HMO of 3–5 people, it is less likely that theming will have a significant impact on reducing conflict, as the small group of tenants means that conflict can be managed on a 1-2-1 basis more easily. However, if you are renovating or redecorating your smaller HMO, do consider how your choices might impact the feel of the property and how this could influence the type of tenants you attract.
Managing an HMO can be time consuming
If you already own an HMO, you will know that managing it can seem like a full-time job, and if you are a full-time landlord you may be happy to deal with the time an HMO takes. But if you are a newbie landlord, have become an accidental landlord of an HMO or are looking to have less stress from your property, then bringing on a letting agent to manage the property is a good step.
At Bright Star Lettings, we manage multiple HMOs around Torbay, the South Hams and the surrounding areas. We pride ourselves on our personal touch that allows us to match tenants to the right HMO for them and to manage or minimise conflict wherever possible.
We take a hands-on approach and can offer flexible service options for HMOs, from one-off services to ongoing management, or something in between.
So, if you have an HMO that is taking up too much of your time, get in touch today for a chat about how we can help.