“Anyone else got a lot of empty rooms?” What 100+ HMO landlords are saying right now

A simple question posted in the HMO Group on Facebook this week triggered a response that will feel familiar to many landlords.

“Anyone else got a lot of empty rooms? Market seems dead.”

Within hours, more than 100 landlords had replied.

Some were blunt.

“Worst it’s been in 10 years.”
“Rooms taking months to fill.”
“Quality of applicants is dreadful.”

Others were quietly confident.

“Fully occupied.”
“More demand than I can handle.”
“Ten enquiries per room.”

That contrast is what makes this interesting because both groups are describing the same market at the same time.

A market that no longer behaves uniformly

Reading through the thread, one thing becomes obvious very quickly, there is no single story.

In Peterborough, one agent shared data showing a clear swing into oversupply. A few months ago, they were tracking roughly one tenant per available room. Now, there are significantly more rooms than applicants. In parts of London and the South East, landlords reported longer void periods and weaker enquiry quality, yet in Hull, Liverpool and pockets of the Midlands, others are still full, some expanding, some even turning tenants away.

That is not a market that has stopped working; it’s a market that has stopped behaving predictably.

“Everyone jumped on the HMO bandwagon”

Several landlords said the same thing in different ways; more HMOs, more competition, more rooms chasing the same tenants.

It is hard to argue with that because for years, HMOs have offered strong returns relative to single lets and that naturally attracts capital, conversions follow and new entrants arrive. The lag between investment and oversupply can be subtle. Then, suddenly, it is visible everywhere; fifty rooms on one estate, dozens of listings in the same postcode, and landlords competing not just on price, but on who fills first. Some contributors were already calling it what it is; saturation.

“It’s not the demand, it’s the people applying”

One of the most repeated frustrations in the thread was not a lack of enquiries, but the nature of them: applicants not turning up, forms not completed, and references not stacking up. That raises a more interesting question: has demand actually fallen, or has it changed?

There are a few possible explanations being discussed openly by landlords:

• Young professionals staying at home longer
• Remote working reducing the need to relocate
• Cost of living pressures limiting affordability
• Fewer overseas workers in certain sectors

None of these are new in isolation. What feels different is how they are now combining.

The result is a tenant pool that looks different to the one many HMOs were designed around five or ten years ago.

Pricing, quietly under pressure

Some landlords are holding firm, others are already adjusting – “We’ve had to drop rents for the first time.” – “Same rent or less than before.” That is often the first real signal of a shift, not headlines, not policy announcements, jst landlords making small, practical decisions to get rooms filled, and once pricing starts to move, even slightly, behaviour tends to follow.

The migration debate, in landlords’ own words

It would be impossible to ignore the number of comments linking this to migration. Some landlords pointed to reduced visa numbers while others to changes post-EU exit. Some were more direct in their views, particularly around who is and is not occupying housing stock. Whether you agree with those views or not, they are clearly influencing how landlords interpret what they are seeing. What is interesting, though, is that the outcomes are not consistent. Two landlords in similar regions can describe completely different experiences, which suggests that while migration may be part of the picture, it is unlikely to be the whole explanation.

The landlords who are still full

Among the noise, there are quieter voices worth paying attention to.

Landlords who are still fully occupied tend to mention similar things:

• Location, particularly close to transport or employment
• Higher specification, often ensuite rooms
• Careful tenant selection, sometimes prioritising fit over speed
• Holding their nerve rather than panic-filling

One landlord mentioned tenants staying for years. Another said they receive multiple enquiries per room and simply choose not to show them unless they meet a certain standard. It is not that they are in a different market; it is that they are positioned differently within it.

A shift, not a collapse

It is easy, especially when facing empty rooms, to conclude that “the market is dead”.

The discussion in the HMO Group suggests something more subtle; in some areas there is clear oversupply, in others, demand remains strong. In many, the issue is not volume, but alignment between product and tenant. At the same time, alternative demand is being mentioned more frequently:

• Supported housing providers
• Council-backed arrangements
• Longer-term leasing models

These are not new ideas, but they are being discussed with more urgency, which usually means something is changing.

Over to you

The original post asked a simple question but the answers were anything but simple.

Some HMO landlords are experiencing their toughest letting conditions in years, while others are as busy as ever. Many are somewhere in between, trying to work out whether this is temporary or something more structural. So it is worth asking again, here:

Are you seeing longer voids in your HMO’s?

Are applicants changing?

Have you adjusted rents, or refused to?

Or are you one of those landlords who is still full and wondering what all the fuss is about?

The conversation in the HMO Group is still ongoing.

It would be interesting to see whether Property118 readers are seeing the same patterns, or something different altogether.