Most Landlords Are Leaving Money on the Table. Most Don't Know How Much
You might be compliant — but that's just the baseline, not the whole picture. A room £50 underpriced costs you £600 a year; a void, £20 a day. Energy bills rarely self-correct. A free 15-minute call answers your compliance questions and tells you honestly where your HMO sits on rent, voids and utility costs.
Most HMOs Don't Fail — They Quietly Underperform
In shared housing, small pricing, selection or management decisions compound faster — especially as tenant turnover increases.
Most HMOs don't underperform because of one big mistake. They underperform because of lots of small decisions that feel reasonable in isolation — but compound over time.
- A room priced slightly off
- One room type that always takes longer to let
- Energy and maintenance costs drifting as occupancy changes
- Management becoming reactive rather than preventative
None of this feels urgent day to day. But across a year, a room that's £50/month underpriced costs you £600. An energy bill that's £30/month too high costs you £360. Small gaps, compounding quietly.
The challenge for HMO landlords isn't effort — it's knowing what actually matters most right now.
What the HMO Performance & Cost Review Covers
Every HMO is different. We shape the session around where your time, money or energy is currently being lost — not a fixed checklist. The areas below reflect the most common profit drivers we see in HMOs, but the emphasis of each session is guided by what will make the biggest difference to your property.
We don't cover theory. We focus on what actually moves the numbers.
Compliance Q&A
Compliance rules vary by council and property — and they keep shifting. On the free call we'll answer the compliance questions you've got and point you toward anything worth a closer look, so you know where you stand before we get into the numbers. (The full review is an in-depth Q&A — the same thing, with more time to work through your questions properly.)
- Straight answers to your licensing, safety and standards questions
- A steer on the areas most likely to catch HMO landlords out
- Where a quick check now avoids a bigger problem later
This is general guidance to help you understand your obligations and flag potential risks — not formal certification. For definitive requirements, always check with your local council.
Rent & Pricing
Getting pricing right is about balancing demand, speed to let and annual yield — not just chasing the highest headline rent.
- Which room types are holding price in the current market, and which are being discounted first
- How small, low-cost changes can increase achievable rent without major works
- Practical ways to improve letability without cutting headline rent
- 3 common pricing mistakes in today's market
Room Marketing & Letting Speed
If filling rooms quickly and consistently is a challenge, we'll take a deep dive into your adverts and tenant selection process and give you practical tips plus great questions to ask your agent if you're using one.
- A practical look at one of your room adverts, with clear improvements you can make
- Simple changes that increase the number of enquiries a room receives
- How speed of response impacts enquiry to viewing conversion rates
Tenant Selection & Risk Reduction
With the changes in the Renters Reform Act, tenant selection becomes even more important. We look at your strategy and provide practical tips for improvement.
- Common mistakes landlords make when choosing tenants under pressure to fill rooms
- Practical ways to assess suitability for shared living — not just affordability
- How upcoming rental reforms make getting tenant selection right even more important
Gas, Electric & Energy Cost Review
Once rooms are occupied, energy costs are one of the biggest ongoing drains on profitability — and small changes often make a bigger difference than landlords expect.
- Typical per-room energy cost ranges for local HMOs — and how to spot when a property is an outlier
- The most common reasons bills drift above expectations as occupancy changes
- Practical energy-saving measures that reduce bills without affecting tenant comfort
- Which "energy-saving" upgrades usually pay back — and which rarely do in HMOs
Maintenance & Cost Control
Most HMO maintenance overspend isn't caused by big failures, but by small issues compounding over time — which is why a proactive approach matters.
- Proven proactive maintenance principles that reduce call-outs and emergency spend
- A small number of repeatable interventions we use to prevent £1,000+ repairs
- How preventative checks in high-use areas materially lower annual maintenance costs
- Where reactive maintenance quietly drives up spend in shared houses
- Practical systems that reduce avoidable maintenance requests from tenants
Who the HMO Performance & Cost Review Is For
This review is designed for HMO landlords who want to make better commercial decisions, not just stay busy.
It's a good fit if you:
- Own or operate a local HMO
- Care about net profitability, not just headline rent
- Suspect you may be under-earning, over-spending, or both
- Want clear, practical actions you can actually implement
- Are open to changing how things are done if the numbers stack up
Not a Good Fit
This probably isn't right for you if you're looking for reassurance rather than honest challenge, or aren't prepared to act if the numbers point that way.
How it Works
HMO Performance & Cost Review
What we go through together:
- 60–90 minute one-to-one Zoom session with an HMO specialist
- Benchmarked pricing review against comparable local HMOs
- Energy cost review against typical per-room benchmarks
- Maintenance spend and cost control assessment
- Tenant selection and letting speed review
- Clear, prioritised action list you leave with
- Full money-back guarantee if you don't get at least 3 actionable takeaways
Most landlords find at least one area where they're leaving more money on the table than they realised. The review tells you exactly where — and what to do about it first.
Money-Back Guarantee
If you don't leave with at least three clear, practical actions you can implement in your HMO, we'll refund the fee in full — no questions asked.
We've run enough of these to know that a focused session on the right numbers always surfaces something worth acting on.
Not Ready for the Full Review?
If something feels off but you're not sure what, or you'd just rather talk it through before committing — book a free 15-minute call.
The honest challenge with HMOs is that most of the benchmarks aren't public. Gas costs per room, achievable rents by room type, void rates — there's no easy place to look this stuff up. We'll give you a first sense of where your property sits on the call.
No prep needed. No obligation. Just a straight conversation about your HMO.
Why Urban Share
Urban Share was named Best HMO Agent in the UK in 2025, recognising our specialist work managing HMOs in a fast-moving and highly regulated market.
The business is led by owners who began investing in HMOs in 2008, giving us a practical, investor-led understanding of what drives cash flow, profitability and long-term stability.
This review draws directly on what we see working — and not working — across the HMOs we manage every day.
Regulated, accredited and landlord-led.
