What checks do you do before putting a house forward?
- Planning: the current lawful use, whether an Article 4 direction removes the right to change from a family house to a small HMO, and whether the intended occupancy needs planning permission. Seven or more occupiers always does.
- Licensing: whether mandatory licensing applies at five or more people, and whether the council runs additional or selective licensing covering the address.
- Room count: bedroom sizes against the national minimums of 6.51 m² for one person aged over 10 and 10.22 m² for two, ignoring floor under 1.5 m ceiling height, plus the council's kitchen and bathroom standards.
- Layout: escape routes, stairs, and where kitchens, bathrooms and fire separation would go.
- Condition: the works likely to be needed, with a guide range from our build prices.
- Comparable lets: current room lets nearby, checked for each property rather than quoted as a town-wide figure.
Each check is written up so you can test it yourself. For a deeper look at one house, see our feasibility appraisals.
Is HMO sourcing regulated?
Yes. Finding property for a buyer on their instructions can count as estate agency work under the Estate Agents Act 1979, so we treat our sourcing as estate agency work. In practice that means:
- we accept sourcing instructions only once our redress scheme membership and HMRC anti-money-laundering registration are in place, and we give both in our written terms before we act;
- we work under written terms, agreed before we start, setting out what we do and what we charge;
- we carry out identity and anti-money-laundering checks on every client before acting;
- we never hold or pool investors' money, and purchases go through your own solicitor in the normal way.
The law requires anyone doing estate agency work on residential property to belong to an approved redress scheme and to register with HMRC for anti-money-laundering supervision before trading. Separately, pooling investors' money in a property the investors do not control day to day can amount to a collective investment scheme, which needs FCA authorisation. Before instructing any sourcer, it is reasonable to ask for their redress scheme and HMRC supervision details, and to be wary of anyone asking you to pay into a shared pot.
Do you give yield figures or investment advice?
No. We don't quote yields, projected returns or discounts, and we don't say whether a property is a good investment for you. Those depend on your finance, tax position and plans, which are matters for a regulated financial adviser, a mortgage broker and an accountant.
What we provide is property information: the planning and licensing position, the likely room count, the works needed with a guide cost range, and comparable room lets we have checked for that property. You can put your own figures into our HMO yield calculator and test them against different assumptions.
Asking prices are set by the seller and negotiated by you or your representative. Any valuation for lending is carried out by the lender's own valuer. Our reports are not valuations.
How does the sourcing process work?
It starts with a brief: the areas you are considering, the type of HMO you want to run, the number of rooms, and whether you want a house to convert or one already in HMO use. We agree written terms, complete identity and anti-money-laundering checks, then search.
When a house passes our initial checks, we send you a summary of the planning, licensing, room count, layout, condition and comparable lets. If you want to go further, we can arrange a viewing and a survey and prepare a guide works cost. You decide whether to offer, and the purchase runs through your own solicitor and lender.
After completion, you can use us for the design and build, licensing and management, or for none of these. Our turnkey HMO service combines the stages under one contract if you prefer.
What's included
- Houses checked for Article 4 and planning use first
- Licensing position checked for each address
- Room sizes measured against national minimums
- Layout, condition and guide works cost reviewed
- Comparable room lets checked per property
- Written terms and identity checks before we act
What does it cost?
Sourcing is quoted per property and agreed in writing before we start, so you know what you will pay and when. We never hold or pool investors' money: the purchase price goes through your own solicitor.
Surveys, appraisals, design and build are separate services, each quoted in writing if you want them. For conversion costs, you can start with our quote form.