Buying an HMO to be family home

[ISmellLikeRobin]

I've just spotted a house that would be perfect for us which says it's chain-free but also mentions it's currently an HMO. I've no experience at all with being a landlord so, while it would be financially possible to buy it as an HMO with a view to moving in at a later date, I'm a little reluctant to jump into something I know basically nothing about!

I'm also a little concerned about what would happen if one of the tenants decided not to leave before we moved in if we sold our house on the same day. We have some friends who moved to another country & let their house out & then had awful trouble trying to get their tenants to actually leave when they wanted to sell. I don't know how common that is though!

Does anyone have any experience of buying an HMO as a family home?

(Potentially relevant information: we own our current home with no mortgage, new house would be about 1.5x the value of our current home but we have an inheritance to cover the rest so could do the whole thing mortgage-free if we moved the same day, or would need a mortgage/bridging loan to buy & continue letting it out for now. We're not in any hurry to move but we do have young kids & could do with the extra space!)

I don't have experience of this but my concern would be about being surrounded by other HMOs/it being a dodgy area.

If that's okay, then you'd obviously need to be making sure it's vacant possession is in the contract.

I wouldn’t buy it as a HMO and take on the legalities of being a HMO LL.

If they’re selling as a HMO I’d be concerned about the fact tenants haven’t been given notice and the process of tenants leaving can take an age.

I’d ask the estate agent some questions about the HMO. There’s one in our street, for example, where the tenants are all junior doctors at the local hospital. They never stay long and it would be easy enough to wait a few months for them to finish their rotations and just not take any new ones.

whereas another locally is temporary housing for people waiting on social housing. They’d have to go through the whole eviction process or lose their waiting list places and round here atm that could be 14 months.

Having lived in an HMO, I would also ensure to do massive checks on the standard of the property as neither the landlord nor the tenants looked after it tbh. I moved out of the one i lived in as my landlady refused to fix a leak in my bedroom ceiling.

If the current owner is looking to sell to another landlord the advert should say its available to investors only or with sitting tenants. Does it say this?

If not, enquire with the estate agent about your queries etc. The tenants might already have left or are on notice.

You may need planning permission to convert it back to a family home. Though I can't see the council objecting to this.

If there is a shortage of housing in the area they may well object.

I wouldn't touch an HMO with a bargepole, OP. If you do go ahead, make sure you get the fullest possible survey, legal advice on being an HMO landlord, evicting tenants and any necessary planning permission plus (if nec) initial advice from the local authority.

Years ago we purchased a (stunning, large Victorian) house that wasn't an HMO but had been divided into bedsits and small flats (five in total). They were let to a mix of young male professionals and other young males on benefits. We planned to convert it back to a family home.

It was a private purchase from the FIL of an acquaintance of mine. The vendor - an elderly man - lived in the US and didn't have much of a handle on the situation so it was a long drawn out process, not helped by the two tenants in receipt of benefits refused to leave till a) they were evicted/bailiffs went in and b) they were paid a sum in the thousands to smooth things along. We had already completed on our sale and it took a further two months before we got vacant possession to exchange on the new house.

It was such an amazing, quite unique house (only three of the design were built) - albeit in terrible condition in some areas after decades of neglect - so worth it to us, but actually getting it across the line was a massive slog and with young DC, having to camp out at my parents' with our stuff in storage wasn't much fun. Once we'd DIY renovated it, the house made a wonderful family home!

Only you know if you want to take the risks involved @ISmellLikeRobin but I definitely wouldn't do anything without vacant possession!

I don't see a problem.
My previous home was a hmo before we rented it but new laws made the landlord decide to rent it to a family instead.
All it meant was there were extra safety stickers and a random 3rd toilet in a cupboard.

Am HMO doesn't mean it was made into units or bedsits. It was just a big houseshare of students