It's now been 10 months since Holly Yates from Derbyshire joined Platinum Property Partners. She has one fully tenanted HMO, another coming to the end of a refurbishment and an offer in on a third property. In her Partner diary, Holly tells us how she's finding her journey so far.
"The last two tenants in the first property moved in at the beginning of October and everything is going great. There were a few niggles in a couple of the rooms, but that was mainly because the furniture was new and hadn't been used before. We'll make sure we test everything out this time around.
At the beginning of January I also did the first quarterly inspection. I was a little apprehensive because I was so proud of the finished product - It was like my baby! I needn't have worried though because everything was fine and one room still even smelt brand new.
I gave the tenants two weeks' notice and gave them a time that I would be entering the property. I also gave them the option to be there if they wanted and asked beforehand if there were any maintenance issues that they were aware of. This way I could possibly sort any issues out on the day.
There was only one tenant who had a bolt loose on his headboard. But what seemed like a simple job turned into a small nightmare. It turned out that this particular bolt was not easy to source so it took a few days to find a replacement part, but it's all sorted now.
I also found a couple of other small issues that hadn't been reported. I fixed them anyway and hope that in time the tenants will understand that I am there to make their lives easier - they can tell me things! But at the moment, they seem reluctant to do so. It just seems that they don't want to disturb me.
In fact, a month after everyone had moved in one tenant reported that a hob wasn't working. They'd waited a whole month to tell me!
Before Christmas, I put a tree up for them and bought some chocolates and a card. The tenants had put a small tree up on the breakfast bar but it looked so lonely so I decorated. They seemed really grateful. One of them in particular had had a stressful weekend at work and they said it really cheered them up. That was nice to hear. It's amazing how 30 minutes of effort can make a real difference.
The first lot of tenancies elapse at the end of the month so I'll be getting in touch with them to have a catch up. I haven't been given any notice though so I assume they are all happy!
As for the second HMO, we're hoping to be fully tenanted by the beginning of April.
There were a couple of hiccups along the way, which we half expected as it is an older property.
Whilst converting the existing shower room into an en-suite we found that the shower tray had a leak. Over time it had caused a huge amount of rot not only to the floorboards but to the joists underneath. This all had to be cut out and replaced. Thankfully it wasn't too expensive.
However, it also transpired that the upstairs windows didn't meet fire regulations so they have had to be replaced. This was a cost we hadn't budgeted for but luckily we've managed to save money on other parts of the build.
Downstairs we have done a garage conversion, small extension on the back and moved the kitchen to create another bedroom. We learnt from the first property which materials work well so knew exactly what to get this time around. It also gives all of the houses some continuity, from both a maintenance perspective and aesthetics.
I was nervous about the tenanting process with the first property but I'm really excited about the second one.
I have decided that I am going to start advertising slightly earlier than before and will use images from the first property that will be representative of the standard of this one. I'm hoping to secure at least half of the tenants before the builders have fully finished at the end of February.
We're also selling one of our single occupancy buy-to-let properties and using the funds to continue to build the HMO portfolio. We may do this with a few others in the future. You get so much more in terms of return on investment so it makes sense.
I've now put an offer in on a third property and I'm absolutely loving the whole process."
