Buying next to HMO advise

SedateFury

[FONT=&quot]Hi,[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Looking for a bit of advice, please! [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]A bit of context:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]We currently rent a house in quite a studenty area, but fortunately the road we rent on is nearly all locally owned and lived in and is actually very quiet. It has a proper old-fashioned community feel.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]We have finally got to the stage where we are in a position to buy a house but, due to budget constraints, we mainly had a contain our search to properties in the same studenty area of town as we currently rent. We found a great house, on what seemed like a pretty quiet road, and put in an offer which was accepted. We are currently at the stage where the survey has been completed, the mortgage application accepted and are just waiting on feedback from the sellers regarding a few issues the survey discovered.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Now onto the issue:[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]In the last couple of days the house directly next to our potential new house had a for sale sign go up. We checked online and it’s being marketed as an investment house to buy and then to be rented out to 4 or 5 students at a time. They are also recommending a potential buyer applies to the council for permission to convert the loft into another additional bedroom to be rented out.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]We have checked online and it turns out that there are already 8 other HMO on the street we would be living on. (It works out that about 25% of the street is HMO).[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Obviously we went into this knowing it’s a fairly studenty area, but the sheer scale of it and the fact that one would be right next door is making us doubt the wisdom of going ahead with the purchase. We both work full time and the prospect of lots of noise and sleepless nights is stressing us out already![/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]I know there isn’t a right or wrong answer, but has anyone else been in a similar position? Did you pull out? If you went ahead, did you regret the decision?[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Any comments or advice gratefully received! [/FONT]

couriervanman

Don't......find another house

sal_III

Just go for a stroll on the street late at night and see how the noise is. If you can't feel it on the street, chances are you won't feel it in your home.

The question is what are your alternatives, if you can only afford to buy in these "studenty" areas, or other areas cheaper for another reason. It makes no sense to lose money on this purchases over a hypothetical issue you are likely to face elsewhere.

edgex

Just saying 'HMO' doesn't tell you much.
It sounds like your area has licensing, which is a good sign, though check what number of rooms it kicks in it (the lower the better)

Look at the quality of the properties, do they look like good landlords that will deal with issues?

oystercatcher

sal_III wrote: »

Just go for a stroll on the street late at night and see how the noise is. If you can't feel it on the street, chances are you won't feel it in your home.

The question is what are your alternatives, if you can only afford to buy in these "studenty" areas, or other areas cheaper for another reason. It makes no sense to lose money on this purchases over a hypothetical issue you are likely to face elsewhere.

A stroll late at night this time of year is likely to be lovely and quiet because most students are not around yet. Early October onwards is likely to give a much better picture.


OP how about knocking on the doors of a few non studenty neighbours and asking them what it is like to live there ?

I think I would be running away but it really depends on what else you can afford.

Cakeguts

The house that you have made the offer on is in your budget for a reason. It is cheaper because it is next to all the HMOs. It is also possible that the seller put it on the market at this time because they expected a landlord to buy it.

Skiddaw1

Our previous house (Victorian terrace) was in a 'studenty' area and the house next door on one side was an HMO as were several others in the street. I must say that in the 20 years we lived there we very rarely had any issues (and certainly none we weren't able to easily and amicably sort out with the tenants)- indeed, many of the students who came & went became personal friends. It helped that the landlord (who had previously lived there with his family) was very careful about who he rented to (he also visited the neighbours several times per year to check there were no issues and made sure we all had his contact details).



The problem, of course, is that you just don't know who is going to move in when the next intake comes, or what the new owner of the property is going to be like if there are any difficulties. It's a permanent sword of Damocles and you can't really get around that if you decide to go ahead with your purchase.

SedateFury

Thanks for all the replies so far. I appreciate you taking the time to do so!

Sal_III – good idea, I’ll try having a walk around on a few evenings once the new term begins and they are all back. Fair point regarding alternative options. It’s pretty much to this area, or one likely to be fairly similar, or carry on renting and saving for the next couple of years.

edgex – our council classifies a HMO as 5 or more people who come from at least 2 different families. Any house meeting these criteria needs to apply to the council for a licence. Apparently, they are clamping down on issuing future HMO licences as locals are complaining about too many being issued in the past and that the area is loosing its character. Regarding quality of the surrounding proprieties – they look in pretty good nick to me and there isn’t any issue with rubbish, etc. Saying that, the new term hasn’t really begun yet, so I doubt all houses are occupied yet.

oystercatcher – I tried this after work yesterday and the only person who answered the door was a student in a house 2 doors down from where we would be buying. We had a chat and he said he has lived there for the last year and that it’s pretty quiet compared to some of the surrounding roads. He says he likes living there. I’ll try a few other doors later in the week.

Cakeguts – that true! We are fairly limited on options of ‘better’ areas.

Skiddaw1 – that’s good to hear!!J!Our house is a Victorian terrace too….hopefully this will help with any noise! As you say, it’s a bit pot luck when moves in each year. It’s the dread of not knowing from year to year which we might struggle with.

sal_III

SedateFury wrote: »

Skiddaw1 – that’s good to hear!!J!Our house is a Victorian terrace too….hopefully this will help with any noise! As you say, it’s a bit pot luck when moves in each year. It’s the dread of not knowing from year to year which we might struggle with.

On the bright side you wont have to endure potential trouble makers for long, unlike a potential non-student neighbour from hell, that might be there forever.

comedyseeker123

Cakeguts wrote: »

The house that you have made the offer on is in your budget for a reason. It is cheaper because it is next to all the HMOs. It is also possible that the seller put it on the market at this time because they expected a landlord to buy it.

I would say that areas with HMOs actually have high prices - people want to live in that area for a real and people buy because its a good investment.,

onwards&upwards

Having lived in student houses, I would never move next to one in a million years.

Looking back, we were so inconsiderate, and we weren’t even particularly bad as students go.