Devil is in the en-suite detail

In my opinion your own bathroom makes life twice as comfortable 🙂

I try to maximise the number of showers, WC’s etc but installing one in each bedroom is often impossible unless its a major refurb. Something to keep in mind when purchasing an HMO though as even students want their privacy/comforts.

Hi Rob – thanks for the comment.. Yes this option makes sense when we buy a property which is typically in the need of a full refurb…….
When we buy some of the more recently built houses (say 2007+) these need minimal funds invested for any refurb… So we would tend to leave these with shared bathrooms……
However if we are buying a typical 3 bed sem ex la which needs a complete overhaul, then the extra, small investment at this stage is well worth doing. Thanks

I don’t see how you can do a full refurb, going from 3 to 5 bedrooms, including 5 ensuites, for only £26,000. That’s a pretty big job.

david, hi – thats our UsP ? we actually over spent slightly, we were expecting lower…….. the key to it is(on top of the resiliance to save money on kitchens, bathrooms, tiles and flooring) the labour! We use our own guys and I project mange every refurb. We have typically 6/7 going on at anyone time so this allows us to use the same teams across multiple projects…. So easily done ?

Dear Dan

We regularly get to value HMOs for a high street bank and there is a big difference between the average and the best. In fairness there are very few really poor ones these days, the market is quite mature and landlords know the score on the regulations. You are right that the devil is in the detail and the best we see really treat their tenants as individuals and concentrate on what they want. There is usually underlying strong management of all aspects of HMO lettings with the better ones. En-suites are now more and more expected; a lot of campus accommodation now has them as well as the private sector.

There is competition for good tenants and this may increase if we have less overseas students post Brexit (some institutions are already reporting less overseas demand for course running beyond two years).

A nicely presented HMO which is well maintained with good facilities and good management will show a great deal of added value when you come to refinancing. You need to make a business proposition rather than just having an altered house.

Graham

How big are the bedrooms in these houses, and how large the ensuites? A standard 12 x 12 room is going to be pretty cramped with an ensuite bolted in.

Also, a five-bed five-ensuite former 3-bed council house sounds like it may have no communal space at all, just a kitchen. Are you confident this is going to pass the space requirements if Norwich introduces compulsory HMO licensing (if it hasn’t already) or when the Valuation Office is invited by Norwich Council to treat these as 5 separate Band A properties for council tax purposes?

Hi Tony – thanks for the message we do try to add a kitchen dinner with an additional living space. This particular house has both ?
We work closely with the council and invited them to see the property pre and post refurb.
Thanks again

It certainly transforms yield in comparison to a standard family dwelling but I have a few questions.

When you come to sell, will it be harder because your market is limited to investors??

Also, most houses have a single soil pipe running to the drain and rooms on the other side of the house may be some distance. How did you overcome this to get so many WC’s installed? Did you have to get another soil stack put into the drain and were there any issues with building control concerning the length and diameter of waste pipes/ plumning regs, etc?

Have I been misinformed? I was told that giving a room its own bathroom facilities rendered it self-contained and liable to a higher rate of council tax. Is it different for HMOs? This, if correct, I would class as the ‘devil’.