HMO Investing Do's & Don'ts - Day 6
Do position the laundry in its own area. Ideally away from the kitchen.
Position your laundry facilities in a separate utility away from the kitchen. If space doesn't allow, create a zoned laundry area at one end of the kitchen away from the high traffic areas where there is less food preparation and cooking going on.
Laundry facilities are one of the most common causes of friction amongst tenants in an HMO so it’s really important that you get it right. Knowing where to position the washing machines and tumble dryers and how many to provide for the number of tenants is key.
Let’s play out a few real life scenarios causing HMO tenant friction….
Sally puts her washing on before leaving for work only to find when she gets home Brazen Bob has stopped the cycle and dumped all her wet clean clothes on the kitchen floor.
Peter is hangry. He can’t cook dinner because Methodical Mike has chosen the kitchen worktop to sort out his 3 laundry baskets and is pondering whether to wash his darks, lights or colours.
It's Saturday morning, Darren's first job is his washing. Selfish Sally has chosen the 4 hour drying cycle on the one machine available to dry a few t-shirts.
All frustrating scenarios that could be avoided if the laundry facilities provided were ample and moved away from the kitchen.
What’s the ideal number of laundry machines to provide?
Register for our free guide below to find out what our washing machine and tumble dryer ratio to tenant is in our HMO.
Don't mix tenant types. It will only end in tears.
Don’t fill HMO rooms without thinking about how your tenants will get on. You want to create harmony amongst the household. It's important that you or your managing agent consider, “Is this tenant likely to get on well with the existing tenants?”.
Are they likely to have a positive experience, make friends and build relationships with the other tenants?
We've had issues with tenants who had a significant difference in age, a full HMO of females and people who've just left mum and dad's place living with those who have lived independently for 10+ years.
Try as best as possible to group tenants together who have the same interests, lifestyles, ages. And when it comes to a large age gap, considering how much a tenant who is 48 will have in common with a 22 year old.
But you can’t force people to get on?
No, you can’t and we fully appreciate we are dealing with people so it’s inevitable some personalities, regardless of age, lifestyle or sex, will clash but you can mitigate this by not mixing different tenant types.
And never mix students with professionals. They have different lifestyles, living standards and priorities. Don't do it!
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What to expect on Day 7 HMO Investing Do's & Don'ts
For the final blog of the series we discuss why you can’t afford to treat HMO investing like a hobby and what will go wrong if you do. For our last Do, we share our top tips for creating quality communal spaces that stand out from the crowd and will help foster a community within your HMO.