How to sell an HMO property

If you’re a landlord wanting to know how to sell an HMO in the quickest and most hassle-free way possible, read on.

Unlike standard residential property sales - or even selling straightforward commercial units - there are a number of challenges when it comes to selling a House in Multiple Occupation (HMO).

Not only does your motivation for selling come into play but so does the buyer market you are targeting. Both of these factors will also determine how you value an HMO, which you can find out more about here.

Whatever your objective, offloading an HMO can be difficult for a number of reasons:

• There’s a limited pool of potential buyers; many of whom will be existing investors not actively looking
• You may have the added complexity of sitting tenants or need to factor in an eviction process or rent arrears
• The licensing status and whether the HMO is legally compliant will also come under scrutiny

The three most common ways to sell an HMO are detailed below. Each of them have their advantages and disadvantages, which we’ll cover as well.

Sell an HMO via an estate agent

If you’re lucky, there may be one or two estate agents locally who have the expertise to market and sell an HMO. Like with any sale on the open market, however, this method could take time and there’s a chance the sale could fall through.

The fact is, there are not enough existing HMOs being bought and sold for most estate agents to invest time and effort in maintaining specialist knowledge about this niche lettings sector, therefore they don’t have waiting lists of possible HMO buyers.

Realistically, selling an HMO via an estate agent might be suitable when the layout of a property has not been significantly altered to cater for multiple occupancy living, therefore may appeal to an owner-occupier who can easily convert the home back into a single dwelling.

Sell an HMO at auction

By far one of the most common options for selling HMOs is at auction. Almost all of the big auction houses will cater for HMO sales and it’s one of the first places HMO investors will look if they are planning to grow their portfolio.

This option also means it’s more likely that a buyer will purchase your HMO with tenants in situ, giving you one less thing to deal with. The added bonus is that the completion timescale is often half that on the open market and you can achieve a really good price if the HMO is marketed well enough to spark a bidding war.

The disadvantages are that the property sale could still fall through or the HMO not sell at all, which could have a negative impact on the perceived value via other sale methods. HMO sellers will also have to factor in auction house fees and potentially facilitate viewings, which not all housemates are willing to tolerate.

Sell an HMO to a professional cash buyer

The only way to sell an HMO and achieve certainty of sale is to work with a professional cash buyer. Reputable organisations such HMO Buyer – part of Open Property Group - will purchase any HMO in England and Wales, and can complete the transaction within as little as seven working days. The trade off? Although a cash offer will be fair, reliable and quibble-free, it may be less than an open market value.

Regardless of the state of repair, licensing status, location, rent arrears or tenancy situation, HMO Buyer will make an instant cash offer, which you can order online here. At HMO Buyer, we work in partnership with the landlord to provide a realistic valuation based on the condition of the property, how it is operated, its location, its yield, any rent arrears and the motivation for sale.

In comparison to selling your HMO at auction or with an estate agent, there are absolutely no fees to pay when you sell to HMO Buyer and no delay, as our offer is instantly progress-able as we are a professional company with our own immediately-accessed cash funds.

Need to sell an HMO? Contact us for an instant cash offer today.