Is this a bit ott for renting?

[atasteofhoneyy]

We are moving abroad and putting the house up for rent. It’s a 4 bed terrace. We live in inner London and it’s likely we’ll get a group of young professional housemates rather than a family.

We’ve just got a fireproofing guy to come and check the house to make it renter compliant. He has told us we need to plasterboard a load of walls/ under the stairs. Plasterboard the ceiling. Emergency lights to replace our light fittings. He’s charging £3.5k just to come and install fire alarms.

I understand we have to have fire doors and fire alarms/ PAC testing. Emergency exit signs fine. But the plasterboard, drilling through the living room wall to install a special fire alarm (we already have Nest protect on each floor), putting in emergency lights, feels a bit over the top and a bit ‘HMO’.

AIBU? Whenever we’ve rented in the past we’ve not had these kinds of set ups.

Not sure about house shares
I let out a house to a family
I have electricity certificate and gas certificatev with everything checked
Other than that it's a normal house
I don't have emergency lighting etc

Thank you, this is what I thought I would have to do

If you're renting to a group, do you need planning permission as it'll be a HMO? I genuinely have no idea but it's something else to consider.

You need to find out what your local authority requires. The man you called out is trying to make money from you. Dh rents a house out and he just has gas and electric safety certification. They have tightened up the rules a bit, but you need to dig deeper. Are you going to use a lettings agent, as they'll tell you what you need.

If it’s going to be a HMO then you need a licence and there are much more stringent requirements. You need to check whether 4 housemates would come under those rules as they well could.

Thank you. Does he rent it to a family?

It might be for HMO licensing. Have you checked if you are in an HMO License area? If you are, you will need to meet the standards for an HMO and purchase a licence once you have met the standards. HMOs vary from area to area. I have a rental in Bristol that requires licenses for 1 bed flats, but in other areas they are for 3 or more people sharing a dwelling.

If you’re renting to a group of young professionals then it’s a HMO, hence the extra necessities.

i can’t think of any council where 4 individuals sharing wouldn’t be counted as a HMO.

Here anymore than 2 households counts, so you can have one couple and one other or two couples and it’s not a HMO, but three solo people is.

Yeah unless each room is a separate dwelling, or with kitchenette and shower/WC, then it's just a regular house? I think he's trying to chance his arm or assumes you're trying to make it a hmo.

If it's rented as one property and it just so happens the inhabitants aren't family it shouldn't mean you need all this bizarre fire measures? It's just a house with bedrooms and shared communal facilities? I think?

Get a second opinion!

Out of curiosity though, why do you think you wouldn’t be able to rent to a family/couple? Lots of families - even quite wealthy ones - rent in London, eg while renovating their own home, to get into a good school catchment area, because they are only here for a couple of years for work, because they are looking to buy and want to be chain free when they do, etc.

Because four lots of rent coming in, probably from desperate young people, makes them more money.

It will be because of the HMO regulations. It used to be any more than two people who are not related living in the same property. A lot of Councils require you to have a license now that meets certain conditions regarding heath and safety. There are less restrictions if it’s rented to a single family.

Maybe let to a family instead then ?

Instead of making it a HMO i would rent to a family. HMO you need to jump through so many hoops.

Multiple inhabitants of a house not being a family, but share facilities (kitchen/bathrooms) are exactly what makes it a HMO, and they require more measures than a family home legally.

Do you have a loft conversion?

You only had one guy come over and quote? Get multiple quotes. Always. For Everything. And get them to provide explanations for everything.

Really? Just a regular flat share? I guess I'm wrong then. And I've definitely been a victim of slumlordism! Or they changed the rules?

I used to do social research and we classed an HMO as lockable rooms with no shared space other than bathroom and kitchen that were rented out as separate units. Separate contracts. Not as one house/flat.

Surely, there are loads of families looking to rent a 4 bedroom house? We are not in London, but it’s exactly the sort of property we were looking for when we rented and competition for those properties was fierce.

Not necessarily - depends entirely on the local supply and demand.

There will be a market for families just like there will be for groups of individuals. What's most desirable will depend on the area and what else is available etc. As you say, lot's of people rent family homes in London for a multitude of reasons.

@BillieWiper rental regs have changed and are also changing again, especially on building standards required which is why lots of small landlords are selling up. My legislative knowledge is out of date now but I did work in housing for quite a while.

A house let out as four rooms will rake in far more than renting as a single house. I’m not in London but my local area for a 3 bed house is 1.1k per month let as single rooms comparable properties are 550 each room per month. So your rental income is doubled. Plus if you have a void of a room then it’s just part of the house.

I was never a landlord I did toy with the idea at a time when property was still affordable but when it goes wrong for landlords with bad tenants it tends to go very wrong.

It’s based on the number of people or households living in the house. Two people sharing a flat is fine. In many places three sharing is fine, but in others anything over two households is a HMO.

There were big changes in 2018.

The lockable doors thing would have been too easy for LLs to get around.

DH has a house he rents to uni students. The uni have a department which act like a real estate agent, and manage any issues. The generally change every year- the students I mean. They don't get their degree if they leave it a mess. DH had to have plaster board installed under the stairs too.

Its rented as a house, there are no locks on bedroom doors and its generally a group of friends renting together. There are fire doors but no illuminating fire exit signs! I too would be getting more quotes and checking the requirements from your council. If you are near a uni, it might be worth getting in touch with their housing team to see if that might be another option.

It used to be the case that with more than 4 housemates the house needed an HMO license. 4 people or less, it did not. I rented a house with friends that had 5 bedrooms but was only marketed as a 4 bed because the landlord didn't want to make it a HMO. This was about 5 years ago, not sure if rules have since changed.

You do however definitely now need a license from the council before you rent to anyone. It's a new law brought in quite recently, they are about £500 and will last about 5 years.

And get another quote for the electrics.