Do you convert houses into HMOs from scratch?
Yes. Taking a standard family house and turning it into a licensed house in multiple occupation is regular work for us: reception rooms turned into bedrooms, en-suites and shower rooms added, the kitchen resized for the household, and the fire safety work built in as the job goes rather than bolted on at the end. The parts that decide whether it works are room sizes, drainage and escape routes, and all three are worth settling before you buy the property, not after.
Will the work meet the licence conditions?
The conditions come from your local authority and they differ between councils, so the honest answer is that we build to what your licence and the local HMO standard ask for, and we ask to see them at the quote stage. In practice that means minimum room sizes, fire doors with the right rating and closers, a mains-linked alarm system, a protected escape route, and enough kitchen and bathroom provision for the number of tenants. Where something is a licensing decision rather than a building one, we will tell you that plainly instead of guessing on your behalf.
How long does an HMO refurbishment take?
A refresh between tenancies is usually a couple of weeks. A full conversion with new stud walls, extra shower rooms, rewiring and fire safety work is more commonly six to twelve weeks depending on the size of the house and how much of it is coming out. We give you a run of dates at the quote and update it weekly, because on a rental the programme is the thing you are actually buying.
Can you add en-suites to the bedrooms?
Usually yes, and it is normally worth doing. The limit is drainage: how far the waste has to travel to reach the stack and whether it can get the fall it needs, or whether it needs a pump. Some rooms are straightforward, some need the stack extending, and occasionally a room is better left without one. We look at the whole house at once and tell you which rooms are worth doing and roughly what each adds to the rent against what it costs.
Do you do the fire doors, alarms and electrical certification?
Yes. Fire doors, closers, intumescent strips, protected routes and mains-linked alarm systems are part of the build for us. Notifiable electrical work is carried out and certificated to the relevant standards and the paperwork comes to you, which matters because it is exactly what the licensing officer and your agent will ask for. Gas appliance work goes to a registered engineer, which we arrange.
Do you work on rentals that are already let?
Yes, though it changes how the job runs. Work in an occupied property has to be zoned, kept to agreed hours and cleaned down every day, and tenants need telling what is happening and when. Between tenancies is always cheaper and quicker if you can get the void. If you cannot, say so at the quote and we will price it for what it really is rather than pricing an empty house and then finding out.
