Photo by Property Touch
Running an HMO business in the 21st century is a lot like playing “its a knockout” for any of you old enough to remember that particular 70’s tv show.
You start off with your first HMO, having gone through the process of securing the property and getting it into a pretty good resemblance of your HMO vision. You’re pretty chuffed with yourself, and so you should be!
But what often happens as you begin to tackle the course that is HMO business scaling; you come across opposing forces. Take your pick from Governmental money grabs, Local Authority bureaucratic overreach and an ever-growing sense of expectation and entitlement from a portion of your clientele. It feels like the business is quite literally running you (instead of the other way round) and mostly ragged if the conversations we have with landlords and portfolio owners is anything to go by!
It can quickly become a journey from enthralled and enthusiastic entrepreneur to a somewhat jaded perhaps cynical business owner that is being pulled in every which way imaginable.
Over the last 4+ years we have seen this frequently with clients who come to us for help running their portfolios.
So in the spirit of that show here is why being an HMO landlord is akin to running the “its a knockout” course (minus the jovial Hughie Green), with some of the less obvious things you probably didn’t sign up for when becoming an HMO landlord and why building a virtual team is the fast track lane to the finish line.
The Public Scrutiny Zone
Today’s HMO landlords are increasingly creating brand identities and TikTok accounts, to ‘share the property investor journey and to entice tenants with great colour schemes and homely spaces. Social media also plays a huge role in maintaining your reputation. How you run your operations and treat your tenants – both good and bad – can quickly become fodder for online forums and platforms.
More and more renters are leaving digital landlord reviews, and websites like rateyourlandlord.org.uk have been created to give renters a platform to review their landlord. Creating slick operations with clear processes and running an organised business will help keep those good reviews coming.
Managing the Managers
Many property investors have taken the path of using letting agents to manage some or all of their HMOs, from finding and vetting tenants to acting as first line support for when the washing machine goes on the blink.
The thing is, not all letting agencies are equal, and several of our clients have told us that over time, there is often a slow descent into apathy where the responsiveness and attention to detail is diminished whilst the fees applied remain ever constant. This gradual entropy forces landlords to pay extra attention to the managers they’ve hired.
In response, we assist many landlords by stepping in to manage the letting agents themselves, acting as a buffer and relationship manager for clients with larger portfolios. In some cases, we’ve even taken over a significant portion of the letting agents’ responsibilities, at a considerable discount compared to the annual percentage-based management charges. Our VAs approach those tasks with the same gusto as a property developer tearing up old carpets to reveal pristine parquet floors.
Saving You from Yourself: The Compliance Minefield
Controversial as it may sound, some of the biggest obstacles lurking beneath the surface of an HMO business come from the landlord’s own ideas about what’s important versus what’s compliant. Let’s face it, humans are pretty good at making to-do lists, but the way we prioritise those tasks often depends on how simple or complex they are to complete.
Many landlords see compliance as a confusing, ever-changing minefield, and it’s tempting to focus on more straightforward tasks. But ignoring compliance can lead to costly penalties down the road. Failing to tackle these requirements early on will eventually catch up with you, leading to avoidable headaches and fines. In the end, neglecting compliance isn’t just delaying the inevitable—it’s setting yourself up for a bigger fall. When we start with a new client, we begin by auditing property and tenancy compliance so we know what is / is not in place and we keep you on the right track addressing any gaps before they become larger issues.
The Secret Weapon: A Knockout Team
If It’s a Knockout taught us anything, it’s that success isn’t just about individual effort—it’s about having the right team behind you. With skilled support, the challenges of running an HMO become far more manageable.
An experienced property VA is more than just administrative help, they bring specialised knowledge in lettings and property management to your portfolio. They act individually or as a reliable extension of your team, ensuring that daily operations run smoothly and efficiently so you can focus on growing your business. Let’s be honest, running an HMO is no small task. It’s a constant balancing act of managing expectations, admin, people, and repairs. But with a strong, experienced team in place, that balancing act becomes significantly easier to handle.
If you would like to find out how one of our experienced VA’s can help your business you can book a chat with one of us here.
About the Author:
Jane Scroggs is the founder of Beam Virtual Property Support, in partnership with The HMO Roadmap. Her team of virtual assistants handles all aspects of lettings, compliance, credit control, and property maintenance, always focused on streamlining your operations. Learn more about Jane here.