Would you be concerned living next door to a HMO?
Posted by Old-Amphibian416@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 72 comments
I was wondering if house buyers would be concerned if the attached house (in a semi detached) was a HMO? Also, the house opposite is a HMO.
Would this make any difference to your decision to make an offer or not?
PetersMapProject@reddit
Some people have very weird ideas about what an HMO is.
All it is is three or more people from two or more households sharing a home. A couple sharing with their friend? That's an HMO.
Most young single people will live in an HMO until they get into a serious romantic relationship and move in together. I have met everyone from university lecturers to accountants living in HMOs.
Yet for some bizarre reason people seem to think HMO = a bunch of degenerates. It's just not true.
silly_capybara@reddit
The comments on this thread are really bizarre, aren't they. Most people in London live in HMOs, nothing wrong with it
Emergency-Assist-421@reddit
Yes but that’s the problem. A HMO could be a couple of well behaved professionals looking to put together a house deposit or half a dozen freshers more interested in partying than studying. It’s a gamble I wouldn’t take, especially if you are in a university city/area.
PetersMapProject@reddit
Students tend to be pretty well confined to the student ghetto neighbourhoods - like Cathays in Cardiff or Fallowfield in Manchester.
You won't find undergraduates in Canton or Denton.
Emergency-Assist-421@reddit
I am unfamiliar with those areas so that means little to me. In other cities, especially London, HMOs are a lot more spread out.
hhfugrr3@reddit
I think this is the point - it might start off as one thing and morph into something completely different as people move in and out. That said, we've had no problems with the one that neighbours us at the end of our garden.
flyingfoxtrot_@reddit
It really isn't true in a great deal of cases. I live in one. We're four very normal people living together. We live fairly quiet lives. No drugs, antisocial behaviour or wild parties. Just adults who act like adults.
I think these things should be taken on a case by case basis.
Psychological-Bag272@reddit
I lived in an end terraced attached to a 7 bed HMO for a couple of years. While I didn't have any issue with people who lived there, I wouldn't do it again. They aren't really obligated to take care of the curb appeal of the property, no matter how nice I tried to make my house looks, it was undermined by how messy theirs were. We believe it definitely affected the sale of our house.
PetersMapProject@reddit
TBF you could say that about any rented property.
Or my dad, who is an owner occupier that gives no fucks about kerb appeal. The next door neighbours recently put their house on the market and the estate agents photoshopped the junk from his driveway.
Beartato4772@reddit
Or indeed any owned property. We're not America, you don't get fined for your lawn being 1mm too long.
gouplesblog@reddit
Absolutely - I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole.
Canipaywithclaps@reddit
Depends on the type of HMO.
Students? Hell no Young professionals? Yeah, that’s what I’ve got now. As someone who lives alone it’s useful as someone is usually there if I need a parcel taking when I’m at work or if I need help with something heavy 😂
heroics-delta8s@reddit
Yes. It will bring down the value of your property. Which will also ultimately become a hmo.
TonyBlairsDildo@reddit
Buying next to a HMO is the stupidest thing anyone could do with their money. I'd rather live next to an actual prison. I'd rather live IN a prison.
If there are two HMOs in your immediate adjacency, then the street has been written off by the local council as a slum. The council won't respond to noise complaints, the police won't respond to public disorder complaints. The DVLA won't tow untaxed cars.
Your neighbors will be alcoholics and drug addicts either on bail going in, or on tag coming out. Their Bully XL's will live in the garden shitting everywhere, chewing through the cheap fence like it's nothing. The neighbors will burn rubbish. They'll move a huge sound system in and play shit music 24/7. They'll have mental health problems and start screaming at the top of their lungs to their ex on the phone at 2am in the street. She'll come round two hours later and have her teeth smashed my him in and bang on your door for help.
I'm not a fan of HMOs tbqh ngl
19Pip87@reddit
Do you live on my road?! You’ve described it to a T!
Beartato4772@reddit
They could become or stop being HMOs at any point anyway.
I'm not even sure you'd know.
hhfugrr3@reddit
I think you'd know because the council will tell you won't they? We got a planning application thing through the other week because a landlord wants to turn a nearby house into an HMO. I had a look at it - the landlord is clearly lying to the council about how many people he plans to squeeze in there but it doesn't have anything to do with me so I haven't replied.
19Pip87@reddit
Honesty I would strongly recommend replying to it stating your concerns. We didn’t and now regret it massively. It was allowed to be a HMO and we’ve have nothing but issues with it.
Emergency-Assist-421@reddit
Unlikely, especially in student areas they are enormously profitable.
19Pip87@reddit
Yes honestly don’t do it. I live next door to one and it’s a fucking nightmare to be blunt. It generally attracts a certain type of person who doesn’t give a shit about other people, who party at all hours or are generally obnoxious. My area stinks of weed because the tenants there smoke it all day and if they aren’t doing that then they are drunks getting their knobs out at 8am in the morning whilst kids are walking to school and pissing on car door handles.. (I wish I was joking!)
Police regularly come to the property I’d say every three months looking for someone but as it’s a HMO people do a couple of weeks there and then fuck off before the police catch up to them.
The HMO next to me is a three bed but god knows how many people live in it, each of them have cars so my road has zero parking now.
Council don’t give a shit about neighbourhood complaints about it.
Honesty. Do not do it. I’m looking to move but no one wants to buy my place as it’s next door to a HMO!
Lazy_Cat1997@reddit
What is a HMO? My mind goes to “her majesties office” lol
Itchy-Book402@reddit
Her Majesty Office
PetersMapProject@reddit
House in multiple occupation.
It just means three or more people from two or more households living together. A couple and their friend sharing a house is an HMO.
SnackOverflow90@reddit
No it’s not necessarily, especially if theres only one lease agreement. HMOs have a specific definition
PetersMapProject@reddit
This is incorrect.
It is absolutely standard for students to live in houses that are HMOs, but they are all on one lease.
The status of whether or not they are HMOs depends on how many people live there and if they're from more than one household (cohabiting couple and their family = one household, their friend moved in = second household).
whizzzzzzz@reddit
House of Mass Occupation
not-my-circus1992@reddit
House of multiple occupancy
Snooker1471@reddit
Depends. A landlord renting out to a bunch of solid professional 9-5 types. Not much of an issue (I have a friend who has used this model for his rentals for 30 years). A landlord who rents out to "anyone" big nope. Student house even bigger nope lol
hhfugrr3@reddit
It would put me off to be honest; however, we have an HMO at the end of our garden and we've not had any problems from them. If anything they're better than the family who lived there before because the dad would always stand in their garden in the dark smoking and creepily staring towards our house.
genxerrr@reddit
Yeah, I'd run like the clappers.
shark-with-a-horn@reddit
It really depends on your options, if you're moving to an area with a lot of rentals anyway it's not going to make a massive difference. HMOs are very varied, some are just professional lets because city renting is very expensive.
mellonians@reddit
It's a double edged sword. I grew up in a HMO that my brother's dad owned and we had a room each and four of of the rooms were let to revolving tenants. We did have our fair share of problems with the occasional tenant but my mum swiftly dealt with these And we were by no means the worst house in the street. I have by no means a rose tinted view of the place but I wouldn't be horrified at the concept of living back in that street, all things considered. In all fairness, the bail hostel that was opposite was some of the best neighbours we had, They were no trouble at all with the exception of the police turning up all the time to do their checks. Made the place look a lot untidier. Also, I wouldn't mind at all living next to the HMO that I last lived in as an adult about 7 years ago. That was all professionals with ensuite rooms.
Ultimately you need to consider what kind of HMO it's going to be slumlord bedsets or an investor. Trying to maximise a house purchase by letting single adults in responsible jobs. What is the parking situation? Does the landlord live on site? Can you contact the landlord?
Bowtie327@reddit
As someone who isn’t very social and after living between 2 single elderly people that I have a very good neighbourly relationship with, the less people I live next to the better, but that’s just me
The lady I’m attached to doesn’t make a peep aside from the midsummer murders theme every week and a grandfather clock that seems to only chime sometimes
We take each other’s bins in/out if the other hasn’t put their out and it’s getting late, I feel like these types of relationships are less likely with a HMO
Less_Cauliflower_OK@reddit
I wish my wife was that quiet...
PuzzleheadedFold503@reddit
HMO - Landlord bought a house they can't afford, and is trying to make profit from it.
Tenants aren't the problem.
Landlords are.
Emergency-Assist-421@reddit
Bizarre take
ArcadeCrossfire@reddit
Couldn’t pay me to buy next door to a HMO. I’ve lived next to and in the vicinity of lots of them and they’re fucking ruinous. Noisy, dirty, poorly maintained, over populate the area. They should be way more tightly regulated, I’d prefer them banned but that’s not realistic in 2026.
Historical_Project86@reddit
It depends what you mean. We're in a semi and the attached house is split into 2 flats. We've rarely had an issue. The downstairs flat is dead quiet, as is the upstairs flat now that they've had a kid. Before that they would have a few parties every year, nothing major. I guess if we lived closer to town then the situation may be different. They've definitely got the short straw, because our daughter has poor mental health and sometimes her screaming fits go on for a while.
Ok-Rain6295@reddit
Depends on who lives there. I’ve never lived in an HMO that had parties and only one occasion of the police being called (but house owners also beat the shit out of their partners. It’s not just a poor people thing)
Remote-Pool7787@reddit
Hang around the street for a bit and get an idea of what sort of HMO it is. If it’s young professionals you won’t have any problems, although car parking might be an issue. If it’s students, deliveroo workers or the recent homeless/addicts then no, your life will be hell
Aggressive_Fish461@reddit
I’ve lived in a few different HMOs. One downstairs neighbour hated us for no reason at all - she got annoyed at the fact we had to go up and down the stairs to our own front door.
TBH I think it would likely be fine living next to one - it wouldn’t be a dealbreaker for me. I might be more wary if it was a student house with conjoining walls - as I know people who have had noise issues in that situation.
But at the end of the day, you could have nightmare neighbours that actually OWN their house and therefore will never move.
I do agree with the points about parking - more likely to be multiple cars associated with that one house.
spartan0746@reddit
Yeah, wouldn’t do it.
disastrousgreyhound@reddit
Agreed the rotation of new people is the main thing for me. HMOs churn through tenants much more quickly than any other type of property apart from student housing. 99% of people will be sound but it just takes that 1% to ruin living in your own house.
freckledotter@reddit
No. You'd probably never know they were there
Dunny2k@reddit
Oh you definitely would
freckledotter@reddit
I've lived in plenty actually. One was almost exclusively single middle aged men apart from me. Driving instructors aren't really known for wild times.
Akiyama_Gari@reddit
At my old house, the house next door became an HMO (previously one old lady lived there). We moved a year or so later, and I would never willingly live next to one again.
You might be ok... But in my opinion the risk of bad neighbours is increased with an HMO. The tenants have no reason to try and live amicably with the neighbours or keep the outside of the property clean and tidy. Some tenants might be perfectly nice, but as soon as one bad tenant moves in the nice ones will leave.
Socioeconomic area might have an effect. Are they professional working people or problem tenants who can't rent anywhere else?
Best-Hovercraft-5494@reddit
Depends on the HMO. Unmanaged and absent landlord that's turned a house into 6 rooms? Nah. Managed property with turnover, probably fine. I live next to the latter and it is housing association managed. Apart from the bins being a mess sometimes, and one mad short term tennant in 2 years, it has been fine (she was gone in a week).
It is a massive issue in my local area where this issue is playing out. At same time people are complaining about HMOs they are also complaining about new purpose built housing.
dontjustexists@reddit
Im currently living in a HMO and the neighbours next door are louder than us
Affectionate-Owl9594@reddit
I do on one side and will never, ever again.
meadowender@reddit
Well my current neighbours constantly shout at one another, the kids and the dogs. The kids, 3 boys under 11 are non stop as you would expect and argue with each other most of the time, triggering more shouting. The 2 dogs bark all the time, they don't walk them. He does endless DIY and seems to have a hammer instead of a hand. They also have numerous chickens and 2 cockerels as well as other birds, calling ducks maybe. This isn't a council estate either, it's a very peaceful village. So I think I would take my chances with a HMO quite honestly
Serious-Top9613@reddit
Yes. I’ve lived next door to an AirBnB. That was just as bad. Car doors slamming in the early hours, guests pulling forward onto MY driveway to reverse back into theirs, transit vans being parked on the access road which kept blocking my car in on my driveway (had to knock on their door every morning and ask if they’d shift their vans so I could get out). I ended up just parking on the street, even though I had a perfectly usable driveway because of them. Not to mention the guests would drive straight over another neighbour’s front lawn to get to the driveway. He’d been complaining too.
sapphire-sky-dragon@reddit
I lived in an HMO , a converted 3 bed semi and the neighbours absolutely hated it, there where 7 of us and there was no trouble everyone was quiet, most worked but I was treated like a lepur until they found out I was actually English then they became friendly but where unhappy with the HMO.
I think I live opposite one now, no one really knows who is in there but its got 3 letterboxes and its constantly different people who mostly seem to be foreign.
Again no hassle they just come and go like everyone else so they arent all bad but id never buy a house near one especially a big one as you just never know who you're going to get .
Straight-Nothing-912@reddit
I wouldn’t make an offer on it, if it ended up being not for you it could be a nightmare to sell on!
Dunny2k@reddit
As a police officer, absolutely not. The amount of calls we get from HMOs is really high.
TomLondra@reddit
House buyers only care about the resale value of their home. Thatcherite mentality.
PartyPoison98@reddit
People are weird about what an HMO is. It's just a shared house. Nothing about it makes it better or worse than any other house. You could live next door to an HMO with 4-5 perfectly fine people, or one household thats an absolute nightmare.
terryjuicelawson@reddit
There are a few around here, some are student houses, others look more like professionals. They are almost universally loud, have parties and late gatherings in the garden, lots of cars, they don't take care of the place, never seem to bother putting the bins out right. A big no if it is a semi detached, but nearby is alright. Also if the people living there seem OK, they can be replaced with almost anyone, any time.
AgileInitial5987@reddit
Are you HMOphobic?
Aggravating-Ant-6767@reddit
I used to live opposite one. Police regularly attended, shady characters visited at all hours, and they were just generally a pain. Good thing was we could buy Christmas presents cheap if we wanted as they’d knock on our door and try and sell all the stuff they’d nicked from Boots.
Dissidant@reddit
Depends on the occupants, generally speaking unless you are fortunate enough to be in a state of the art build with modern spec noise dampening (or a detached) you are making that gamble each time someone moves in next door, even if its a small house
lalajia@reddit
I would avoid it like the plague.
50_61S-----165_97E@reddit
Really depends, if you get a house full of working professionals you'll rarely have a problem except maybe for parking issues.
Alternatively you could get a house full of 18 year olds that have just finished school and it turns into a grotty frat house.
If everyone in the house looks like they just came off the back of a lorry, then chances are it's an overloaded slum HMO, avoid it like the plague.
Effective_Topic_4728@reddit
Yes, there will be a revolving door for tenants, parties etc. loads of cars parked everywhere and maybe drugs. Best case scenario is the tenants are good but the house still looks a mess within 3 years. Landlords won't fix anything and tenants won't pay to fix anything out their own pocket.
Obvious-Water569@reddit
I currently live next to two of them. Never had even the slightest bit of bother from either.
Loud_Reach_2156@reddit
I would be leaving asap
Anxious_Equipment144@reddit
Genuine Concerns.
kevsavesuk@reddit
I’d been really careful
Big_barney@reddit
Yes, I wouldn't consider it for a second.
BrilliantPrudent6992@reddit
Depends if you want to get high on second-hand weed smoke?
cheflifecdf@reddit
Always nice to have a link close by though
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