These days, owning an HMO (House in Multiple Occupation) property can be a rewarding investment. However, it’s crucial to keep it occupied with reliable tenants to maximise your returns. Without reliable rental income or good tenants, it can become a complete headache. Fortunately, if you start utilising the right strategies, you can attract suitable and reliable tenants to avoid any disruptions or void periods. In this article, we’ll explore four effective ways to find tenants for your HMO property.
- Spareroom
Spareroom is one of the most popular ways to find tenants for your HMO property. It’s an online platforms specialising in helping landlords find tenants for shared accommodations, making it an excellent choice for filling vacancies in your HMO property. It allows you to create detailed property listings, specifically for your HMO, enabling you to specify your preferences precisely. Spareroom also offers robust search filters that enable potential tenants to refine their searches based on location, budget, and preferences, making it more likely to attract the right people for your HMO.
There is also a paid option that gives your property more visibility, allowing you to reach a broader audience, which is especially helpful if you’re in a hurry to fill the rooms. Another advantage of Spareroom is that it encourages potential tenants to verify their profiles. Verified profiles can include references and background information, making it easier for landlords to communicate and select the right tenants.
- OpenRent
OpenRent is another popular online property platform used to help landlords find tenants for their HMO. While it’s not as specific as Spareroom, it still offers the ability to create detailed ads. You can showcase the location and your criteria for finding the right tenants. What I like about OpenRent is its simplicity. It includes a customisable rental term slider and all the properties appear in a location-based search. It also offers a unique tenant reference process. This is great because it takes the hard work out of the landlord’s hands.
- Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace may not be every landlord’s first choice for tenant hunting for their HMO. It can be a useful tool though. Facebook Marketplace allows you to create a free listing to advertise your property. You can also share this listing on multiple Facebook groups, which means you can attract a wide audience, which is a great help to find tenants. Potential tenants can express their interest by liking the post or sending you a direct message about your offer. While Facebook Marketplace doesn’t have a screening and reference check process, it does offer a feedback and reviews system where previous tenants can review the property. The better the reviews, the higher your ranking. Similar to Spareroom, there is also an option to do boosted ads, which will promote your listing to a wider audience.
- Gumtree
Gumtree is another online platform that landlords can use to help secure tenants for their HMO. It allows you to promote the property with a free listing. These include a description, rental rates, and any other necessary information. Like Facebook and Spareroom, you can also boost your ad to attract a much wider audience. While not a HMO-specific platform, its user-friendly interface makes it an easy option when looking for tenants. Many people avoid Gumtree due to potential time wasters, but it’s a valuable addition to your arsenal.
To summarise finding tenants can be stressful and incredibly time-consuming if you aren’t looking on the right platforms. By combining these four platforms and creating effective listings, it will become a walk in the park for landlords. While it may be challenging at first, knowledge is power. By utilising all these platforms, I can almost guarantee that you will find tenants for your property within a matter of weeks.
My name is Dean Johnson and I am the Director of Solutions Property Management where we provide solutions for HMO Landlords in Croydon and surrounding areas of London. If you have any questions regarding your HMO or would like to work with me, simply get in touch or if you prefer to use facebook, you can also reach me on there. I would be happy to help.