HMOS At Christmas time: KPA property management

Everyone has a different idea about what it’s like to live in a shared house; some will see it as a necessity driven by affordability, others will see it as a stop gap due to changing life circumstances and, others will see it as a choice made by being in a new City and wanting to make memories and friends.

Luckily for us, in Bristol, the latter is often true. Bristol has some of the best examples of shared living, in a city which is vibrant, progressive, and much sought after, both in terms of a place to live and a place to work and spend time.

Whenever we do inspections at this time of year, it is heartwarming to see the HMO houses given a little seasonal make over. Quite a few of the tenants, in both our hmos and our landlords are from overseas – as Bristol is both a university city and a city with a large number of startups, attracting business talent from all over the world. Bristol tech companies alone make up 208 startups, accounting for 36% of the city’s high growth businesses, employing over 13,000 people, with a reported turnover, in 2022, of £4.69bn (Beauhurst Oct 2022).

As the tenants are from overseas, it is not always possible for them to spend Christmas at home with their families, so they choose to share the holiday with the co-living extended families that they have forged in the city. Traditions are shared, as are delicious food treats (and we can vouch for this, having been known to partake ourselves) and tales of the season in different climates. One of my favourite memories of this season, is from doing a property inspection, over in the south of Bristol, where a lovely Spanish tenant was preparing festive tapas!

We have not personally had any bad experiences with unsafe Christmas decorations, but we do communicate well with our tenants. Here are a few tips and things to take into account during this festive season, to help keep everyone safe:

(i) Guests are usually allowed, as long as it doesn’t become too frequent, but it’s polite to make sure that your tenants check with the other house sharers about their plans for visitors. (ii) Also, if you have any restrictions in your tenancy agreement about guests, make sure that your tenants are aware of this.

Tenants going away for Christmas. (i) The key thing is to prepare for a cold snap. Lots of tenants will be going to visit family over the Christmas break, so they should remember to leave their heating on low, to ensure no burst pipes. (ii) Check everybody’s plans for Christmas; if the property is going to be empty, be sure to leave it secure.

(i) Before tenants go wild with garlands, paper chains and all the trimmings, check your tenancy agreement to see what’s permitted. (ii) Even though you will be pleased to see your tenants treating your rented property as their home, you will not want them knocking nails in the walls, be sure to point out clauses relating to this in your agreement. (iii) Ask your tenants to talk to the other house sharers before decorating communal areas to make sure everyone’s happy with the plans.

(i) Everyone loves a Christmas tree but getting a big Christmas tree into position can scratch paint and wallpaper, no matter how careful you are, make sure that you speak to your tenants about their intentions and point out that maybe less is more with regard to the tree. (ii) Advise your tenants to take extra care when taking down decorations so that white tack, for example, doesn’t tear wallpaper.

(i) Most HMO landlords and letting agents ban the use of candles completely, for safety reasons, but it’s important to be especially mindful of this during the festive season. Battery LED tealights are a great substitute for these, and even flicker like the “real thing.” (ii) Ensure that your tenants have up-to-date emergency contact information, in case there’s an electrical or plumbing issue over the festive season. (iii) Tenants should be aware not to leave fairy lights on whilst in bed or not in the property. (iv) Advise tenants not to overload plug sockets with fairy lights, as they can overheat and cause fires.

Home security. (i) Ensure that your property is locked at all times, and that tenants take extra care if they have visitors as these may not be as diligent as they are and, burglars know that homes will be “worth raiding” at this time of the year. (ii) Check that your tenants know how the boiler works, the location of the stopcock and how to change the thermostat in your properties.

Christmas is a wonderful time of year for your housemates to come together and to celebrate the bonds formed and the friendships made throughout the year; ensuring that they adhere to the tips given above and have emergency conta ct numbers in the event that they should need them, will mean that they can do so safely.