To accept a huge loss on my house

[CurlyHairMare1]

I live in a semi detached house in a quiet cul de sac. I’ve spent a lot of money doing it up and making it lovely. Early this year my neighbours (the ones I’m attached to) sold their house incredibly cheaply as it needed an awful lot of work doing to it.

A man bought it to do up and rent out, I understood he had a property business so assumed he’d be the landlord.

Fast forward to now and he’s actually turned it in to an HMO. He has a number of them across the city.

I put my house on the market in Spring and I just can not sell it due to the HMO. I’ve had a number of offers accepted and they have all pulled out when they have found out what I’m attached to so I’m now declaring it up front.

Would I be unreasonable to sell my house for way under asking price just so I can get rid of it? The estate agent has suggested it would need to go for nearly 100k less to even get any kind of interest.

I’m exhausted with the whole situation.

Which city is this? Can you ask if the landlord would buy yours too?
If you advise on the city - happy to do some research for you as cant imagine how difficult this is for you!

@CurlyHairMare1 "I put my house on the market in Spring and I just can not sell it due to the HMO. I’ve had a number of offers accepted and they have all pulled out when they have found out what I’m attached to so I’m now declaring it up front.

Would I be unreasonable to sell my house for way under asking price just so I can get rid of it? The estate agent has suggested it would need to go for nearly 100k less to even get any kind of interest.
I’m exhausted with the whole situation."

How are the potential buyers finding out about the HMO next door? it's not something you have to declare on seller forms, is it?

Worth a look....

https://urbanistarchitecture.co.uk/do-i-need-planning-permission-for-hmo-house-in-multiple-occupation/

Thats actually such a good idea!

I lived right next to HMO, a small 3-bed which every room was turned into an occupied one, with around 10 people living in it, at my previous house. Luckily it didn't bother my purchasers and I believe nearly 20 years later, they are still there today.

Have you considered going down the auction route and selling that way?

HMO is a house with multiple occupancy

@RogueFemale Believe OP said in the thread that they are often outside, at the front of the house, so buyers no doubt have seen them and its put them off.

I see others have posted in a similar vein.

I would suggest you check in this order:

1 Check council website for planning permission and for correct procedures have been followed e.g. where notifications were posted.

2 Check council website whether the property is licensed as they have a statutory register of HMOs and the conditions.

3 Consult with Citizens Advice before complaining to The Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman who investigate complaints about local councils,

Be warned, homelessness is such a problem for local councils that, unless there is a complaint, they don't investigate breaches of planning laws.

surely the man who bought the property was dishonest when he brought it. Could you not contact the council and ask them to remove the HMO license? It seems so unfair that you should lose such a large amount of money so that he can make loads of money.

Haven't RTFT.
We had awful neighbours in our old house. We part exchanged for a new build. I would highly recommend looking at this as an option.
Second option - auction.
Get out of there and good luck.

Check he has planning permission for the changes he made to the house. I recently saw a house for sale that was an HMO. Council planning dept had refused his planning application but he did it anyway. The dept that gives the HMO licence is not necessarily joined up.

That is really shit, very unfair the HMO is devaluing your property, forcing you to move from the home you've loved.
There should be planning permission so residents can object to the hmo.

Expect more of this kind of behavior as the immigrants currently housed in crappy hotels are turned out but still need to be homed here rather than being returned.

You do need planning permission and OP should check if they got it. It’s often refused if it’s going to negatively impact neighbours.

Remortgage and rent?

honestly don’t go 100K less…no..

I'm mid terrace & houses either side are HMOs. They have never given me any trouble (except for when he was actually converting the place). They're usually only there for short stays. They're crammed in though. 3 & 4 bed house, 5 people in one, 8 in the other. I think the kitchen must be the only communal area left. I live opposite a hospital so I can see why he did it.

Do check the planning but also be aware councils often put single homeless men into this type of accommodation.

My house was up for sale last month and the only offer I got was from a hmo speculator. They make vast sums of money and don't think about communal spaces. They turn sitting rooms and dinning rooms into further bedrooms so these men (it's nearly always men) have nowhere to spread out. It's becoming a big problem in residential areas. It's also greedy and stinks of 1970s rent racketeers. I said no to this buyer but it's cost me £70k @CurlyHairMare1

You can take your welcome and your demographic code. I live next door to an HMO hasn’t made any difference to house prices on either side. I’ll go for another estate agent and approach the council about antisocial behaviour.

Just to confirm, he didn’t apply for planning permission and despite our local council having an article 4 direction (which means he needs planing permission to covert to an HMO), he was still giving a licence.

Most of the licensed HMO’s in this city didn’t get planning permission.

That’s a great idea

Didn't know this is a thing. Surely the majority of housing in Britain is shared houses?

HMO's are the new lodging houses and are very lucrative money makers for landlords.Serco run them in the North for the government to house unemployed people and Asylum Seekers.

There has been an absolute outcry from neighbours complaining about rubbish dumped ,noise and inappropriate behaviour.

I think rented separate room facilities for flats and houses are fast becoming a thing from the past due to high rents and shortages.

And HMO's are championed by the government as a solution

I would have thought that if rooms are being split up. They could be over crowded.

I certainly would not want to live next door to one. But there again even home owners can get bad neighbours when someone new buys their house next door.

House buyers can come from all walks of life and are not allowed perfect people.

Fair enough. I've lived in 3 HMOs and we were nothing but polite and relatively quiet! But we did have 3 cars!!

Report back to the council that it doesn't have planning permission. Sounds like they've brokem their own rules by giving a permit without pp? (It's worth a shot!).
My house has a covenant in it; one house per plot, one family per house. Check the covenants on yours to see if you have similar.

HMOs are only really good for landlords. I share with 5 others.
We get minimal heating. The promises of a weekly cleaner never happens. The same with general maintenance including the outside areas.
We now have an alcoholic living in the house who keeps smoking in his room and despite the constant complaints the landlord is refusing to do anything.
So I do understand why a family may be reluctant to live near one as the management can be shocking.
The house was a 3 bedroom home. But having squeezed 6 bedrooms in now the landlord is receiving approximately £3000 in rent a month so he isn't doing to bad from it.
I asked for a council house /flat but got told no.