To accept a huge loss on my house

It's probably due to more reasons than the HMO that it's not selling tbh.

Do they not need planning permission to change the use of the house to a HMO? They are supposed to IMO, because at the very least safety issues, fire etc.
Am sorry if not the case with you.

The ideal community is a mix of different types of housing, and HMOs are a part of that.

Ideal for who exactly?

Who are you?

It was applied as a HMO. 14 rooms.

I’d wait until the budget is announced at the end of November. A lot of people are holding off buying due to uncertainty. You might find you get more interest in the new year.

Bambamhoohoo likes to be controversial on every topic. Doesn't matter what it is, will argue against common sense.

14 flats wouldn’t be a HMO, it’s just a small block of flats?

It’s strange because shared houses have always existed. Call them a HMo and that appears to mean they become populated with smoking men, as opposed to say, students or low paid shift workers.
We all know how expensive houses are to buy- how else do single people live nowadays?!

and I have every sympathy for OP- there is no one who wouldn’t be devastated to lose that amount of money. I’m more surprised by the fact it’s become such an unpopular buy that the price has plummeted so much.

We had one put up to the council too, 14 flats in a newly empty barclays bank. It was fought by the neighbours getting together and putting in representations. To stop it being granted is much easier than trying to get it changed later down the line am sorry to say. You should've been made aware afaik, in local press, a letter. I think informing the neighbours is a legal requirement.

The ideal community is a mix of different types of housing, and HMOs are a part of that. However, I know that some councils are limiting the number of HMOs in one area because too many are beginning to have a detrimental effect on some areas.

I would speak to your local councillor and or MP before you make a decision, as PPs recommend

Any house could have men who hang around outside and smoke and chat.

Maybe ask the landlord to let them smoke inside?

I'm surprised they smoke in the front garden. Does it not have a back garden?

Because for a 'change of use' from a private home to a HMO the next door neighbours have to be informed and have the right to object and hopefully over rule.

In this instance the Op clearly was not informed.

And maybe you live in an urban area where everyone always was squashed in and more anonymous, but the Op bought a semi detached private house - now she is living beside six men who smoke and don't appear to work - and can only sell her house for £100k less.
Living beside 6 men who loitered and smoked in close quarters to my front door would really distress me (I can't actually see the difference from a homeless hostel... And yes, homeless hostels do have to be somewhere, but not without proper planning permission) - very few people would want to move in, so she has suffered a big financial hit. That really is not fair.

I don't understand your 'most strange' comment at all - what is it meant to convey?

People only notice the HMOs that are trouble...so selection bias. Neighbours often cause problems.

If anything homeowners are the worst. Bad tenants get evicted.

Try selling a house when your neighbour is running a loud business out of it without planning permission.

Lol at the response of some Mumsnetters to this sort of thing:

"Why on earth would someone not want to live next to an HMO? They're usually full of hardworking, wholesome young professionals, aren't they?"

Sure they are, Arabella. Sure they are....

We sold our house, which had nightmare neighbours, for a huge loss after 12 months on the market. I've never regretted it. Sanity is worth far more than money.

People advising OP to go to the council..in many cases councils are fully aware of illegal HMOs and use them as temporary accommodation so they will not be in a rush to close any down.

The London borough I used to live in has a housing waiting list of over 30,000 and the council places homeless families in horrific, illegally built HMOs (one was featured in the Guardian recently) where families of 4 are trapped in a single mould-infested room that includes a kitchen and poorly functioning toilet🤢. They really don’t care.

OP, I’m sorry about your predicament. We recently sold our parents house and rejected offers from various Developers who clearly intended to turn the house into a HMO as we just couldn’t do that to the neighbours. Our EA completely understood even though it meant we accepted a lower offer which obvs hit his commission.

Would second the advice to approach the HMO landlord. Have you also considered selling at auction? You will make a loss if selling to a cash buyer but it hopefully won’t be as much as £100k.

@CurlyHairMare1 Is it a loss when you factor in the money you've earned from renting out the house?

Sometimes they are used by people who are neighbourly and no trouble. But very often, they're trouble. I wish they weren't, of course many very nice and pleasant people live in HMOs, but people really aren't wrong to have concerns.

Isn't that property blight so could you make a claim? Not sure who's at fault though cos they need licensing...

Talk to the owner next door. The issue is you make a loss irrespective of who buys it unless you convert yours to a HMO and sell it on. The agent should be marketing it as an invesent/ HMO opportunity in any case...

You are about to lose £100k.

So to make £100k think about what you would do?
Get a solicitor and challenge the HMO license, challenge the planning permission (if any), do a Clare’s Law on names of next door neighbour.
Check Companies House for landlord name (should be on HMO license)
Report to HMRC for lack of tax paid (if suspected)
Get the landlord details and call every time anything annoying happens on the property. A bin bag left out - call them. You see a rat, call them. Hassle them - day and night if any encroachment on your property.

Make it your full time job to address the situation. Because resolving it will save you more than you’ll earn in a year/ 2 years / 3 years.

I livve next to one and am about to put mine on the market.
The HMO is empty but it is kitted out as one so will appeal to someone to keep it as one.

Bins (no-one putting them out /using the correct ones and them overflowing ; vermin ) and parking are the main issue (although I have a drive and garage )
The noise wasnt an issue and the tenants were decent people (high turnover of them though !)

This should be bloody illegal. No HMO should be legally allowed to operate in a street with non-HMO properties. I’d be contacting my MP - not that that will help you now - sorry can’t be of more help but I do have sympathy. Only idea would be to turn your own home into HMO or Air BnB it? Good luck with whatever you decide to do.