Each summer, not far from where we live, a local farmer sets aside a part of his land for a Maize Maze. Dwarfed by the tall plants, the visitors to this maze are fascinated and frustrated in equal measure as they try to navigate their way to the centre of the maze, and then out again before the sun sets.

Right now, HMO landlords find themselves in a similarly confusing and complex dynamic: regulatory reforms, socio-economic shifts, and market dynamics all impacting and affecting HMO development and demand.

As property investors we have to learn how to utilise these changes to our advantage: not by becoming overwhelmed but by adapting to the ever-evolving landscape.

Renters Reform Bill: How Will This Affect HMOs?
The looming shadow of the Renters Reform Bill across England seems to be feared and despised in equal measure and continues to exert continuing uncertainty as to whether it will actually create as significant an impact as it was originally trumpeted to do. Especially now that certain amendments have watered down key aspects such as the initial tenancy term and eviction processes. Recent amendments to the bill have clarified that tenants will be prevented from serving a notice to quit in the first four months of the tenancy unless the landlord agrees to it; essentially, meaning that tenants and landlords will have a minimum initial six-month contract.

The appeasement of student HMO landlords by insisting on a new ground for possession, Ground 4A, was introduced to ‘facilitate the yearly cycle of short-term student tenancies’. This allows student landlords to regain possession of their property in time for the next academic year so long as they have given at least two months’ notice, required possession between 1 June and 30 September, and let an HMO exclusively to students at the beginning of the tenancy. This will help steady the student HMO sector but has rallied the cries of socialist student groups to claims of bias and discrimination.

Along with many other changes to the bill, some are assuming that the great fanfare of reform will end as a damp squib. It is the creeping regulatory appetite by politicians for centralised control such as mandatory registration for landlords, increased scope of powers for the ombudsman and centralised planning of the private rental market which is the most concerning aspect of the whole process and one of which we should be
fully aware.