A tricky one this, you have a number of issues to consider, however your Grandad sounds like he knows what he is doing, why are you not following his advice? If you want certainty and are rule orientated, running a HMO is not for you. Sorry to be so blunt. Getting back to answer your question:-

First the planning/conservation aspect You will need to check this out with the conservation and planning department to see if your suspicions are correct as without their approval, you will only be able to single let the property. The recent relaxation in the planning law which now allows up to 6 sharers without planning permission does not apply to conservation areas. Any breach of planning use in a conservation area is a criminal offence. This is not the case with normal breaches in planning use unless you ignore an enforcement notice. Also appreciate that the conservation officers can be very difficult to deal with, time consuming and may add enormously to the cost of converting. Note also that conservation restrictions not only involve the outside of the building but may well apply to the inside of the building as well.

Where possible, get the planning and conservation departments to confirm their advice in writing, as they have been known to deny later, information they have given. If the departments do not confirm in writing what they say, write to them with confirmation of what you think they said and keep proof that you sent the letter i.e. fax, email or recorded delivery. I would do all three!

Secondly, I do not see why you have involved building control. I try to operate a “do not involve” approach to any department unless I am legally bound to do so. Building control should only get involved if you carry out any structural changes, and this can be very widely defined by a building control department which is looking for work. Sound proofing and sound tests are generally only involved when you convert a property into flats. A shared house could be so interpreted to be the same as flats by a cautious building control department looking to over regulate the industry, so why involve them? Changing doors for fire doors is not a structural change.

Finally, the department who should get involved with HMO’s is the Housing Standards department. I would call the department up and talk to them. If they sound positive and helpful, get them involved and do what they tell you to do and then keep quiet, run your HMO well, attend to maintenance issues and problems quickly so not to attract the attention of any other officialdom.

Best of luck

Jim Haliburton

I found your great webpage whilst searching for some answers I need about changing a property to an HMO. I hope you can clarify the issues for me. The property used to be let to a family, but has now been empty for a couple of years and I have been told that it would be easier to find tenants if each room is let seperately. It's located in a town centre and is in a conservation area (I think that's what they called it). I wouldn't have to make any changes to the outside of the building, just ensure it is fire safe (30 minute fire doors, fire escape, emergency lighting etc). However, when I phoned the council (and spoke to a man in Building Control), I was told I may have to apply for planning permission and that I would certainly need to get an architect to make plans which I would give to Building Control so they could give it to the Fire Safety people. He also said I would have to have some sort of sound proofing and a sound test. My granddad (who owns the property) has never had to do any of this with his other properties and neither has the letting agent I spoke to.

I cannot afford to pay an architect to make plans or to have sound proofing so I really hope this is not necessary. Please let me know what you think as soon as possible.

Thanks for your help.
Frey

I found it far easier in retrospect to manage the properties myself although at the time I didn’t think so, as I felt that I never had the time and was frustrated by having to do menial tasks. It took me on average 1 hour per week per property once they were up and running and full. The secret is to have all your properties within a few minutes drive of each other and local to you, or only let to professionals who pay you by standing order.

You need to develop a laid back attitude to it all but at the same time, do the best you can and realise that you will never satisfy all your tenants, all of the time and the more you do, the more they expect.

Remember that you are the boss, be as professional as you can but at the same time you very occasionally have to say to your tenants that if they are not happy, they are free to leave.

Do not make the mistake of thinking that employing staff is the answer. It causes more problems than it is worth, but that’s another story.

If you would like to learn more about managing HMO’s I run courses and mentorship programmes. For details go to the training course section in Just Do Education :-

http://www.justdoproperty.co.uk/education/training-courses#haliburton