10 best ways to find HMO tenants

I really don't get the wait list either, I have people ringing on recommendation or returning tenants but I rarely have anywhere - if they are looking to move then they have to find somewhere else, if they are prepared to wait 6 months or whatever for me, I will have forgotten about them by the time a room is free - maybe an area thing. I will move tenants from one property to another, when the time is right, so maybe that's a 'wait list' - but they are waiting in my property.

Reply to the comment left by "Mark Alexander" at "11/06/2014 - 08:49":

The reason that they may be willing to wait is perhaps because they want the best landlord in the area!!!

Alternatively, you could be right and other landlords would not accept them, but that is perhaps not due to the tenant themselves, but due to their circumstances, e.g. claiming welfare benefits. The fact that you may not want them as your tenants, simply means that there is a higher demand for landlords who would accept DSS tenants.

I understand that Mick does not do HMOs, but he does accept DSS tenants in his properties. I accept DSS tenants in my self contained properties, and also in my HMOs. This is the "market" that we specialise in, and there is huge demand, so that is why we have people waiting for our properties, they want a decent landlord that understands and accepts DSS, and also provides decent accommodation.

There are lots of landlords who don't accept DSS, or who provide very poor standard of accommodation, and tenants are desperate for good landlords such as Mick and myself.

Yes, fair point Mark-U got me there ha ha.

But in my case, I have people wait for me & me only. They don’t want any other Landlord.

They also want a particular house in a particular area.

And also, yes they are limited with being on HB-Although I do have a few working ones on my list.

And also muggins here is one a few Landlords that would rent to them. If u ‘posher’ Landlords met ‘em, you’d run a mile. I love ‘em though, amazing some of ‘em, give ‘em half a chance-Because no on ever has-And they a lot of the time treat u really good & value their home, that no-one else was gonna’ give ‘em.

Side-tracking, the amount of Russian women in Magaluf this year is increasing all the time. Will email u privately about that, u being the Russian expert & all that. Needless to say, they seem very VERY devoted women.

I’ve had some tenants wait for one off me TWO years.
Only this week, I have bought a house for a tenant who has been looking for one for me to buy for her, for 2 years. I don’t mind ‘em ringing me once a week for 2 years, if we then both get some’at good out of it for the next 10 years.

Hear Hear Rob-Yes the best Landlord ha ha, that’s me. Although 5% of my tenants would disagree.
Yes, one has to understand DSS-Cause most don’t.

I see that many Landlords fall out & give DSS tenants notice cause they want rent 1st every calendar month, whereas HB pays 4 weekly-And tenant gets in monetary mess. Work with ‘em, change rent to 4 weekly-And u could have a happy tenant for next 15 years-Saving more time than a tenant that pays on 1st of every month that leaves every 2 years.

Reply to the comment left by "Robert Mellors" at "06/06/2014 - 11:38":

Interested in Robert's feeds. in particular that he uses a licence agreement, rather than a tenancy. Obviously, there will be more to it than that, because licences are usually only used for supported occupation or for hostels. If Robert's accommodation does not meet that criteria, he will be fine - until someone questions it. I think it is unlikely he would be able to obtain possession, if it went to Court. Or are NorthWest Courts a bit stricter about these things?
Appreciate his comments about Council referrals, but must say, I would not want a HIMO if I was working, much less one without any security.

Thank you for your advice - I have filled my property after advertising on Sparerooms - amazing! Next question - how do I secure a deposit with mydeposits when the home address of a tenant is foreign and there is not a UK postcode? It just gets stucj on that page saying enter a valid UK postcode! I've tried to ring but offices are close.

For us at LettingFocus, we love the simplicity of Spare Room and response for our places in London is very high.
Using Upad and other onlinbe agents and putting it via there onto Rightmove et al is brilliant for whole houses but not so great for letting rooms, plus more expensive than SpareRoom, which is still nil cost for cheaper versions of ads on there,
GumTree, unless its changed is full of spam and after a day or so your ad gets lost
EasyRoomMate I found too clunky from advertising POV and also from enquirer POV.

David Lawrsnson
LettingFocus

I used to use uPad and Gumtree but having just discovered Sparerooms I advertised my latest HMO room on all three.

12 responses from Sparerooms and room let in 24 hours, amazing! Not a single response from uPad or Gumtree.

I'll only be using Sparerooms for my HMO rooms from now on.

I used to use Gumtree but I've had a downhill experience over the last couple months including scams and my ads disappearing in the masses of featured ads! I've used Spareroom's free option but felt quite limited, although I have to say there's enough demand. Upad worked for a while to get the properties advertised but I don't feel it added much value to what I could do myself! I'm currently using Weroom which is completely free and tenants are verified so it helps solve the problems I had with the other sources for tenants! I also like having the possibility to list my property as a whole or each room individually on Weroom.

1) spareroom 10 ads £50 per month
2) calls from Charities and homeless agencies
3) continual ad in the newspaper £200 per month

The newspaper I'm about to stop, the number of leeds has dropped significantly in the last 18 months.

My tenant profile is benefits, working and students, and in that order.

Thanks for the info, super helpful. Does anyone know where I can find a blank court proof form to fill out?