Living in HMOs will protect tenants from rent hikes

Due to the reduction in mortgage tax relief landlords need to raise rents by 20% according to the Residential Landlords Association, amounting to £179 per month.

Living in HMOs will protect tenants from rent hikes

Living in HMOs will protect tenants from having to bear the brunt of rent rises, investment franchise Platinum Property Partners claimed.

Due to the reduction in mortgage tax relief landlords need to raise rents by 20% according to the Residential Landlords Association, amounting to £179 per month.

However Platinum reckons renters in HMOs would only face a potential average increase of £19 each.

Steve Bolton, founder and chairman of Platinum Property Partners, said: “Our research suggests many HMO tenants could not afford the average rent rise most landlords would be forced to make to remain profitable and would have to move out.

“This leaves landlords having to choose between potentially going out of business or losing a tenant.

“Fortunately, HMO properties provide relief for both tenants and landlords. HMO tenants enjoy much lower rents, enabling them to save for their long-term goals.

“HMOs also provide landlords with up to four times more rental income than a single-tenancy property, leaving them much better positioned to absorb rising costs."

He added: “Ironically, the tax changes have been brought in in an attempt to improve homeownership. But higher rents will make it much harder for tenants to save, putting costly deposits even further out of reach.

“The changes are also fundamentally flawed because the government thinks landlords and first-time buyers buy the same types of properties – which simply isn’t true.”