Property Seminars and a Word on HMOs by Letting Focus

For our NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors click here:
Next Property Investing Seminar and Networking Event
Our latest seminar event took place on 4th November 2009. Sorry, if you just missed it!
These events take place only once every 6 months and at each event we have somewhere between 18 and 30 people - so it is all very small and informal and a world away from the big property shows.
At our events, unlike some "Landlord Meets" and "Property Meets", no one will try a hard sell on you but you will learn a lot from our very eloquent speakers and from other attendees in the hour before we start the talks, in the short breaks between the talks and afterwards.
To reserve a place at the next event, please email me David@LettingFocus.com

Speaking At the Property Shows
As usual, over the autumn, I have been speaking at the big property and landlord shows.
They are well worth going to but you sometimes do have to work hard to find the good people to listen to.
If you go, the Old Grand Daddies of property investment and fountains of knowledge Tom Entwistle and Richard Bowser should not be missed.
And it’s always worth listening to Paul Shamplina of Landlord Action too. I’m pleased to say that Paul came down to speak at our Seminar Event on the 4th November.
Paul’s business is mainly about recovering property for landlords from defaulting tenants for a fixed fee but recently he has also been recovering money from property firms too who supplied less than value "below market value" leads on property to wpuld be investors.
You an see Paul on BBC1 Iplayer on the "Inside Out" Programme. He is seen doing a recovery from a property sourcing firm who supplied leads for below market value properties for investors.

Duff Property Leads
Some of these property firms have been in the business of supplying leads for what were supposedly below market value property.
What happened was that would-be Landlord-Investors seeking the Holy Grail of “financial freedom fast” paid property firms up front cash for access to high quality “below market value” property deals –which turned out not to be er, well, not that much below market value at all.

Paul Shamplina’s Talks
Paul Shamplina is a real mine of information. He usually talks about how to recover property from non-paying tenants, how to avoid getting a problem tenant in the first place and also on the danger of using property finders and sourcing companies to get access to “great property deals”
(There are good sourcing companies - just make sure you use one.)

Tax and Landlords
Another speaker, Geoff Everett talked about tax and how it affects landlords.
And this is an area that has got very interesting recently.
In my view, taxation on landlords is relatively light.
Capital gains tax was reduced 2 years ago to 18% and there are lots of legitimate ways a landlord can ameliorate (and often completely reduce) the impact of tax with a bit of forward planning.
Now that there is real talk of the Government stopping higher rate tax relief on contributions to pension schemes, property as an investment will become relatively more attractive still.

HMO, Houses in Multi Let Properties
Finally, I would like to say something about HMOs
Many people think you can get a much greater return by letting rooms in big houses individually to tenants (i.e. room by room) rather than putting them all on one agreement.
Well, I have done it both ways over many years with a “mid market, nothing special” 6 roomed house in S London.
I can tell you that the excess on NET RENT of individually let rooms compared with doing it via a “single let” is about 18%.
But what about net PROFITS?
Well, the downside of letting room by room is that there is definitely more work as tenants change over quite a lot and you sometimes have to get involved when they don’t “get on” - which is a a real pain, very time consuming and a real “no win situation”

Disputes
You also have more wear and tear and more disputes over inventory with singly let rooms, sometimes an HMO licence fee to pay too (though on the plus side you do normally have less voids overall).
Based on my long experience and the type of property I have, there is not much in it profit wise, certainly after allowing for the cost of your own time.
Letting individual rooms in big multiple let properties is not a panacea to riches, nor a way to huge yields compared to other property investment opportunities.
But it would be good to hear what others experiences with singly let rooms in HMOs is in different types of market is – especially more up market places and properties in different locations.
Click on the Categories box at the bottom of this post for more posts by me on HMOs and Houses in Multiple Occupation.

ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON
We are LettingFocus.com - the landlords’ expert and I’m David Lawrenson, the author of “Successful Property Letting” - the UK’s top selling property and buy to let book for the last 3 years.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years.
At LettingFocus we offer independent unbiased seminars for buy to let investors and landlords as well as one to one advice covering all aspects of being a landlord and investing in property.
Unlike many in the still largely unregulated buy to let and property “advice” business I am not linked to a property company, developer, estate agency or bridging loan provider.
As such I am able to give unbiased independent advice on where to buy (which areas), what type of property to buy, when to buy and how to buy property at a low price. I can also explain how to reduce the risk of getting a bad tenant.

OTHER PAGES:
ONE TO ONE CONSULTING click here: Property Consulting
CLIENT TESTIMONIALS from past customers click here: Testimonials
BUY THE BOOK click here: Buy the Book at Amazon
THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR OUR WEBSITE?

TO VIEW RELATED POSTS select a “Category” at the bottom of this page.

Dont miss the NLA Conference:
http://www.landlords.org.uk/conference/nlaconference.asp

WANT TO ADD A COMMENT OR VIEW OLD COMMENTS?
To add a comment to this post, simply click on “link to this post” to add your comment and to view comments of other people.

Are HMO properties or multi let houses worth investing in asks of Letting Focus

I spent all of last weekend at the Property Investor Show in London, which has great fun and very interesting.
It was pleasing that record numbers of people came to hear me speak at the show and my own private seminar last night was well attended too.
These events all require (and then generate) a lot of work for me but they are fun to do - and it is nice to help people and meet bright clued up investors – which I’m pleased to say is the kind of people we always seem to attract.
And I also always learn a thing or two from the other speakers and from people who come to the stand and the seminars.
Anyway, today is a beautiful day and it is nice to be back and “ready to roll” at my own property investments.
Expanding my portfolio of properties and managing those that I have already got probably takes up 80% - 85% of my time with my speaking and consulting work, (including talking to journos), accounts only accounting for 15- 20%.
But in the run up to the two big property shows in London and the ones in Manchester and Brum, there is always a lot of work to do, which means my own work as a landlord investor has to take a back seat for a few weeks.
So, it is really good to back in the saddle and looking to buy more property for myself.
Unfortunately, the opportunities now being presented to me as an investor as a result of the falling property market has meant that my own seminars and networking evenings will now only take place just twice a year.
DO get in touch if you want to arrange a private one to one consulting session. I enjoy doing them and can always fit them in.
Anyway, I’m sure you would rather speak to someone whose primary business is actually BEING A PROPERTY INVESTOR rather than someone whose main source of business is from property education.
After all, anyone in search of education about property investment should validly ask the presenter, “If you are such a good investor then why do you spend all your time running these seminars.”
A fair question, I think!
For me the answer is that I actually get a bit bored of landlord work so from time to time, meeting people and networking is always good fun. It is just that right now I can’t afford to do too much of it.
The current property market is really exciting for me as I have not bought in the capital for 5 years (as prices have been too high) but there are signs that property is becoming more sensibly priced. So, I fully expect to make a few additions to my portfolio in 2009.

HOUSES IN MULTIPLE OCCUPATION or HMOs
One thing you get from going to the property shows is a shift in mood and emphasis on certain sorts of investments. (It’s a shame that few property journalists bother to leave their desks and go as they would be better informed for the experience if they did.)
At the show last weekend I detected an increasing number of people asking me about HMOs or Houses in Multiple Occupation
One or two new players are now on the scene advocating that you invest in these shared houses – hence the interest, I guess.
What do I think?
Well, it all depends.
A House in Multiple Occupation can certainly be a good investment and they can outperform more standard lets. There are areas where you can get a higher net rent by renting out each room separately (or you could of course put all the tenants on one agreement.)
But there are downsides, which as someone who has ran an HMO over many years, I feel well qualified to highlight. These are:
First, the management of a large shared house is without doubt more demanding for a number of reasons, principally because turnover of tenants will be higher. One eternal problem is that you will always struggle to know who is actually living in your property.
Second, there are quite a few rules and regulations to cope with and getting a licence (if that applies in your area or if the property is more than 2 storeys and 5 or more tenants) can be very expensive.
Third, mortgage finance will be more costly and harder to obtain.
Fourth, your wear and tear costs will be higher than under a standard let.
Fifth, many letting agents are not interested in letting individual rooms (if that is the way you want to manage it) so you may have to do this on your own.
So, look at multi let properties carefully and consider the increased costs and management time that you will spend on them.
ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON
I’m David Lawrenson of property experts’ lettingfocus.com.
I’m the author of “Successful Property Letting - How to Make Money in Buy to Let” which for the last 3 years has been the UK’s top selling property title - buy the UK's top selling landlord book.
It is fully up to date with all the recent changes to tenancy deposit schemes, HMOs, licensing, capital gains taxes and it has new sections on buying property below market value.
I’m an expert property journalist, property speaker and a well known buy to let blogger
I contribute to newspapers and a host of property websites, write a number of columns in the press and I provide general property investment advice
I also work as a consultant helping banks, building societies, housing associations and web portals with their buy to let and property products and services and am a regular speaker at property shows.
You can read more of my blog & find details of my networking, advice, property training programme at my website.What’s unique about lettingfocus.com is that we offer you help as an independent landlords' mentor because unlike most people in the buy to let and property “advice” business we are not linked to a property company, a developer, an agent or bridging loan financier and do not receive commissions from any of these sources.Copyright: David Lawrenson 2008. This blog is updated once a week.
WANT TO BE KEPT UPDATED WITH OUR LATEST BLOGS?
It’s easy.
Go to the bottom of this post, and click on “Link to this post”
Our home blog page should then open & you should then see my smiling profile. Then page down a bit and on the right it will say “Site feed” - click there and away you go.
You then just copy the link that comes up into your News Reader or News Aggregator. Even a non techie like me managed to do all this.
Please note if you are thinking of reproducing material here - that’s fine but we DO require the full links shown in each blog to be included including also the links in the section “ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON” Please contact us via the Contact US button at our main site http://www.lettingfocus.com/ if you have any queries about this.

Houses in Multiple Occupation Rules in Relation to 2-storey Houses?

Suppose a landlord has a 2 storey, 3-bedroomed house, not covered by mandatory licensing (as it’s less than 3 storeys) and assume also that the local authority has not extended licensing locally to smaller HMOs.
In this scenario is there anything to stop a landlord putting in six or more tenants in such a property and staying outside the HMO regulations? If so, what regulations would then apply to prevent this?
This is a tough question which even I did not know the answer too and I’m grateful to the guys at the Residential Landlords Association at http://www.rla.org.uk/ for supplying the answer.
The RLA experts say that the property would, of course, be an HMO (assuming the tenants are not members of the same family). However it would not nned a license as it is only three storeys.

'Elf and Safety
But a landlord trying to stuff it full of tenants would be stopped by other rules. The legislation applying would be: the HMO Management Regulations, the Housing Health & Safety Rating system coupled with Part 1 of the Housing Act 2004 which provide local authorities with the powers to deal with any hazards at the property, the Housing Act 1985 Part X which deals with minimum room sizes and the Housing Act 2004 which deals with the prevention of overcrowding in HMOs.
So there you have it!
If you want to find out more, ask us.

CHECK OUT OUR SITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:

THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
ONE TO ONE PRIVATE CONSULTING click here: Property Mentoring
NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors:
Next Property Investing Seminar and Networking Event
We have GREAT OFFERS on a range of services and products for landlords too; click here including landlords insurance, tenant referencing, tenancy agreements and more: Services and Products for Landlords
For general info on our SEMINARS AND CONSULTING click here: Property Seminars, Networking Evenings and Consulting

TO READ PAST CLIENT TESTIMONIALS – both commercial and private click here: Testimonials
BUY “SUCCESSFUL PROPERTY LETTING” click here: Buy the Book at Amazon

ABOUT US

LettingFocus.com are the experts on landlord issues and I’m David Lawrenson. I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years and am author of “Successful Property Letting” – which has been the UK’s top selling property and buy to let book for the last 3 years.
We help landlords and property investors make money in property by coaching them in ways that work, which are ethical and which involve minimal risk.
At LettingFocus we pride ourselves on giving independent unbiased buy to let advice for property buyers and landlords both on a one to one mentoring and coaching basis as well as through occasional group seminars.
With no link to property firms, developers or bridging loan providers, at LettingFocus, we can advise on where and what type of property to buy for investment, when to buy and how to buy property at a low price. We also show you how to manage tenants properly and in ways that take up as little of your time as possible.
We also do consultancy and writing for companies such as banks, local authorities, property websites and social housing providers – helping them with their landlord or buy to let facing strategy.

To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!
IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR OUR WEBSITE?
SELLING STUFF TO LANDLORDS – YOU COULD BE A PARTNER ON OUR AFFILIATE PROGRAMME. PLEASE GET IN TOUCH!
TO VIEW RELATED POSTS select a “Category” at the bottom of this page.
WANT TO ADD A COMMENT OR VIEW OLD COMMENTS?

HMO, Houses in Multiple Occupation - Still Money There (In Brum at Least!)

Whilst at the Birmingham Property Investors Show, I stayed with my young nephew in his multi let student house in Selly Oak.
What a fascinating area - it's pretty well all student HMOs here.
My nephew's place was not fully compliant in respect of the fact that though there were 6 of them living there, they did not have wash basins in each room.
However, it was decent enough accommodation - there were lots of other amenities - and for all I know Birmingham City may have adopted a softly softy attitude on when the wash basins must be put in - perhaps giving landlords time to make the changes (and for the government to change its mind on this rather daft aspect of licensing).
But wow, the yields here were good.

Good Yields on HMOs
I calculated his landlord would have been getting about 6.75% gross, though running costs on this kind of property will probably peg back net yields to 5%.
And student demand was very high. This was clear from the fact that most properties had notices on them to stop students calling to make enquiries about next year.

Downsides of Houses in Multiple Occupation
However, there are downsides to HMO lets for a landlord.
There is a lot of work checking people in and out and recruiting new tenants - especially if the tenants are all on separate tenancy agreements.
HMO properties also tend to get a lot of wear and tear -and it can be hard to get people to pay up for damage - as each tenant will blame the other. Expect to be asked to mediate a lot between warring tenants. This all takes a lot of your time up.
Often you have to pay the council tax and electricity and gas, especially if you are letting each room separately. And you may have to pay an HMO licensing fee if the property is big enough or if the local authority requires it.
This all hits the net yield.

ABOUT LETTINGFOCUS.COM and DAVID LAWRENSON
We are LettingFocus.com - the landlords’ expert and I’m David Lawrenson, the author of “Successful Property Letting” - the UK’s top selling property and buy to let book for the last 3 years.
I have been a landlord and property investor myself for over 25 years. I know all about HMO and multi let property as I have let one for over 20 years.
At LettingFocus we offer independent unbiased
seminars for buy to let investors and landlords as well as one to one advice covering all aspects of being a landlord and investing in property.
Unlike many in the still largely unregulated buy to let and property “advice” business I am not linked to a property company, developer, estate agency or bridging loan provider.
As such I am able to give unbiased independent advice on where to buy (which areas), what type of property to buy, when to buy and how to buy property at a low price and whether or not to go for Houses in Multiple Occupation. I can also explain how to reduce the risk of getting a bad tenant.

CHECK OUT THESE PAGES AT OUR SITE LETTINGFOCUS.COM:
Our Events only take place twice a year.
For our NEXT SEMINAR AND NETWORKING EVENT for Landlords and Property Investors click here:
Next Property Investing Seminar and Networking Event
We have GREAT OFFERS for landlords too, Click here: Services and Products for Landlords to see our Landlords Resources (Useful Links) page. (Selling services to landlords and property investors and have a national coverage? You could be a partner, please get in touch!)
For general info on our SEMINARS AND CONSULTING click here: Property Seminars, Networking Evenings and Consulting
ONE TO ONE CONSULTING click here: Property Consulting
CLIENT TESTIMONIALS from past customers click here: Testimonials
BUY THE BOOK click here: Buy the Book at Amazon
THE HOME PAGE OF THIS BLOG click here: Blog
THE HOME PAGE OF OUR MAIN SITE click here: LettingFocus Home Page
To JOIN our Free QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER simply send an email to david@LettingFocus.com - Please note we WILL NOT send spam or sell our mailing list to advertisers!

IF YOU HAVE A SITE WHY NOT LINK TO THIS BLOG OR OUR WEBSITE?

Read this Related article on Multi Let Houses: http://www.lettingfocus.com/pages/myarticles_HMOAdvice.html
Read this article on landlord licensing:
http://www.lettingfocus.com/pages/myarticles7.html

WANT TO BE KEPT UPDATED WITH OUR LATEST BLOGS?
Over on the right hand side you will find a button which says “Site Feed.” Simply copy the site feed link into your News Reader or News Aggregator.
If you have a website & are thinking of reproducing material here, that’s fine but we DO require a link to the blog to be included, including also all the links in this section. (The full article including all links must be available to ALL VIEWERS of your site and not restricted.)
TO VIEW RELATED POSTS select a “Category” at the bottom of this page.

WANT TO ADD A COMMENT OR VIEW OLD COMMENTS?
To add a comment to this post, simply click on “link to this post” to add your comment and to view comments of other people.