Photo by Dragon Property

Empty rooms are more than an inconvenience. For most investors, especially those with HMOs, they represent a steady drip of lost income and mounting admin. Every empty room means another week spent answering enquiries, renewing ads and chasing people who never show.

Our VA team’s feedback is that the HMO lettings process has changed over the last year. Enquiries are up, but commitment is down. Prospective tenants shop around, cast a wide net and often disappear without warning. Responding to this shift means rethinking how enquiries are handled and what steps come before a viewing is booked.

Enquiries management: More operations than sales

It’s common for property investors and letting agents to think of lettings as purely a sales function. In practice, it’s more operational than most realise and this part often gets neglected. The bulk of the work involved in finding a new tenant sits firmly in the admin camp:

• Checking that listings are live and visible
• Updating photos and descriptions to reflect the room accurately
• Responding to incoming messages in a timely, helpful way
• Screening for basic criteria before suggesting a viewing
• Following up to avoid losing interested parties
• Tracking the process tightly so no enquiry is lost in a busy inbox

A good process also removes unnecessary obstacles. It’s important to ensure that once someone is qualified and ready to view, there are no delays or dead ends. For example, if viewings are only available at limited times or if no one is available to host them due to holidays or conflicting commitments, leads can be lost. In these situations, services like Viewber can help bridge the gap. The aim is to keep the operation open and responsive.

When this process is inconsistent or delayed, good tenants drop away and void periods grow longer. Consistency and speed make a big difference, even if the ultimate decision about who gets the room remains with the landlord. 

Improving the funnel

The biggest challenge in modern lettings is not a lack of interest, but a lack of structure. Many landlords are dealing with a wave of enquiries that go nowhere. People looking for rooms far in advance, people who ask detailed questions and then vanish, people who fail to show up despite confirming the viewing. And they are trying to manage it all whilst doing every other thing required of them as a property investor!

One area often overlooked is the qualification process. Some landlords link a lengthy, formal questionnaire that feel off-putting in a casual platform like SpareRoom. Others book viewings without checking key information like affordability or move-in date. Both approaches can waste time and energy.

A more balanced process typically involves:

• A short, clear set of basic screening questions aligned with your tenant criteria
• A sense check on affordability before confirming a viewing
• Avoiding unnecessary barriers to initial engagement 
• Prompt follow-up with clear, friendly tone
• A phone call if needed to qualify or clarify information quickly

It is also worth thinking about automation. Some of our VA team implement tools like Calendly with routing forms that auto-filter applicants before allowing them to book their own viewing slot. This simplifies the journey, speeds up decision-making and reduces the likelihood of drop-off. Much like online shopping, if a process feels too long or clunky, it often ends with an abandoned cart.

Reducing friction early on while still filtering out unsuitable applicants helps reduce wasted viewings and increases the likelihood of finding the right tenant sooner.

Laying the groundwork for smoother lettings

Lettings is one of the most time-sensitive parts of portfolio management. Delay a response by a day and the lead goes somewhere else. Send out mixed messages and applicants start to second guess. A consistent process does more than create efficiency. It helps build trust with prospective tenants and keeps things moving during periods of high turnover.

Structured workflows, clear response protocols and good record-keeping all contribute to smoother lettings. When processes are well-defined, they’re easier to hand over, replicate or improve. For portfolio landlords or those planning to grow, this kind of systemisation is what enables scale.

The role of support

While the focus here is on improving the process itself, it’s worth noting that this kind of work takes time. Many HMO investors start out managing it all themselves, but as portfolios grow the burden of day-to-day lettings admin becomes harder to sustain. We work with many HMO investors and HMO letting agencies to create reliable, repeatable processes that reduce voids and make lettings less reactive, and take the pressure off our clients to do it all themselves.

Done well, the lettings funnel becomes a structured, high-priority operation rather than a daily scramble. That shift makes space for landlords to step back from the day-to-day and focus on the parts they are better at, they enjoy and are more worthy of their time.

Curious to know more about how our team of virtual assistants manage the lettings process for HMO investors? Click here to book a discovery call with us. 

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.