To buy a house near a HMO

There was a thread a couple of months ago where a MNer in the NE was worried about a HMO, and when you read the thread she had good reason.

There was an absolute pile on from people from other areas saying “they’re full of professional people YABVU”.

Not every area is full of professional people though and I know of at least one HMO that caused a crime wave and was eventually closed by the Police.

It does sound like the one in the OP is probably ok though.

There are lots of arseholes and drug users/dealers who own their houses. Anti-social behaviour is not a phenomenon restricted to people who live in HMO's or social housing. Contrary to what the Fail and the Excess would have you believe, the majority of people just quietly get on with their lives.

It depends who lives there, is this an area with lots of professionals?

professionals, ok. But I can think of many undesirables who would live in HMO with ASB at best, fear for my own and my children’s safety at worst

You need to know what type it is really. Student housing may be a noise nuisance, a bail related one I would avoid completely, a reasonably expensive one in a nice area which is neither of those should be absolutely fine.

It entirely depends on the HMO as others have said. The house next to my DD has been converted and she’s not had a problem. There is one a few streets away from here that the Police closed down as there was so much drug taking and dealing going on.

It could be a bit of a risk.

Is this HMO phobia a regional thing? In London it’s pretty common and house prices mean it is pretty typical for young professionals. But maybe in cheaper areas it’s more of an issue??

I'm bloody glad this anti HMO attitude wasn't around when i moved for a new job and lived in one for a few years. It was the only way I could afford to save up for a mortgage deposit. I and my housemates were professional people who either couldn't afford to rent alone or buy, or preferred to live with others when first relocating. Could all the anti HMO people please advise where people like me should live if not in HMOs?

I wouldn't buy this house.

The current HMO landlord might be good but he could sell tomorrow to another who is not so professional or nightmare tenants could move in as HMOs can have high turnover. Don't risk it.

There were four HMOs on my old street, which I lived on for 6 years, including one directly opposite and I never had a problem with any of them. I only ever encountered problems (noise) from one tenant in a private rental a couple of doors down from me.

Totally depends on what type of HMO it is.

If it's five professional people then I can't see it being a problem.

If it's five asylum seekers then I'm sorry to say but this would be a huge risk.

Also OP the landlord of the HMO is crucial. If they don’t care about the fabric of the building, they may not engage with roof/chimney repairs, fences and you will end up paying for it yourself (as in our case.) But if you love the house/street go for it X

If it’s Uni students they sign an agreement to be quiet from 11pm onwards which helps. I would find out what type of renters they will be. Five renters, add a guest each, banging up and down the house at 3am, always shouting cos drunk, parties, rubbish out the back…but our HMO has been fine this year.

I found out the house opposite was planned to be an HMO and worked with a group of neighbours to object. The owner tried twice but finally gave up and sold it to a family.

I recently moved away from next door to an HMO. It became one four years after we moved there and was so-called 'supported' housing for addict and criminal men. For periods of time it was ok but there's always a few bad apples dealing drugs, bringing unpleasant people to the door, the relentless stench of weed and the odd fight. Never any loud music though. The turnover of people in these places is incredibly high and there WILL at some point be residents who do whatever it takes to ruin things for the neighbours.

@mondaytosunday I live next door to a HMO. It wasn’t a HMO when we bought the house. They tried to make it an 8 bedroom HMO last year, which was rejected. Then I found out they’ve made it a 6 bedroom HMO without consultation this time and it passed. Since it was changed we’ve had a number of issues with weed being smoked outside. At all times of day and night. I had to complain to the council a number of times and I think the person who was responsible has finally been moved on. There is a HMO about 4 doors up from us, albeit much smaller. However, there has been nothing but issues with that one. Police raids, drug use and various other problems. Thankfully we haven’t had the brunt of issues with that as we are a few doors away. If I’d known next door was going to become a HMO I wouldn’t have bought the house.

Why not? What’s this big fear of HMOs? Is it a halfway house? My DD lives in one - she’s a uni student. Lots of young professionals live in them them as rent in London is so high.
So if you’ve asked around and it’s ok I don’t get why you are questioning it.

I would avoid it. My relative is on a street of standard 3 bed semis but somehow they manage to fit about 100 people next door. Loads of cars parked down the street. I visited today and had to put some of their rubbish in the bin that they left in front of relative's house.

Only small positive is that they kind of provide 24 hour security/surveillance as constantly people in the garden.

You keep mentioning the narrow road. Sounds like you don’t want to buy it.

Is the HMO for 7/8 Uni students?

My brother lives next door to an HMO. He has lived there many many years before it was turned into one. He lives in a quiet smart residential street near a beautiful park. He’s had nothing but trouble….police surveillance at all hours, police raids, even when the tenants changed it would still
go on. Their rubbish in the garden and the front of the house is disgusting. They’re loud at night. It used to be such a lovely tidy house and it’s an absolute dump now. My brother would certainly struggle to sell his house.

Don’t do it OP

We have one about 5 doors down - only became one last year. I honestly only know it’s a HMO because I looked it up when I saw the to let signs. No noise, no rubbish, bit annoying how many cars they have, rarely ever see a person to be honest!
My guess is ours is young professionals or post-grad students - we are a suburb of a university city with a major hospital about a mile and a half away.
I’d be much more concerned if we lived in one of the areas of town where students gravitate to, mostly because there’s more like to be noise when they’re coming in, and they’re probably less likely to keep the house looking nice.