Letter: I Welcome the University and Its Students

Published on: 8 Aug, 2024
Updated on: 8 Aug, 2024

Homes being converted into HMOs

From David Smith

In response to: I Hope HMOs Will be Converted Back to Family Homes

Whilst no one wants HMOs in their local area it’s disappointing to criticise and penalise those who have limited accommodation choices.

The University of Surrey is a major employer in the town and has attracted countless businesses to the nearby Research Park in Guildford.

Students may not pay council tax, but many contribute to how Guildford works as a whole. Who does Jenny Grove think is taking all these casual retail jobs which ensure our High Street is fully lined with shops and cafes, or working in her local supermarket?

Quite frankly, anyone that isn’t a student probably can’t afford to live in Guildford and work in retail given the high house prices. Furthermore, more occupants mean more spending power in the town which is surely a good thing? Collecting bins is a small price to pay for this benefit.

The problem lies with not enough purpose-built and affordable homes being provided which has led to greedy landlords carving up family homes and creating transient communities. I welcome the university and its students, Guildford would be pretty soulless without them.

Responses to Letter: I Welcome the University and Its Students

John Perkins Reply

August 9, 2024 at 9:14 am

What is it that makes landlords so uniquely “greedy”?

If they create transient communities then how would any other HMO developer be different?
David Smith Reply

August 10, 2024 at 9:12 am

Carving up three-bed ex local authority homes into seven bedroom houses and charging the same rent as a luxury five-bed house, to me is greedy, especially when the overall market value can often be a million apart.

A house in Gateways Guildford (five-bed), off Epsom Road, has just been listed at £4,750 pcm. In contrast, a HMO seven-bed, with two shower rooms (I call it a seven-bed but reception rooms have been converted to bedrooms) is listed in Broomfield, Park Barn at £5,500 pcm, nearly an extra thousand pounds a month.

The value of the house in Gateways, if put on the market, would be circa £1.5 million; the average sale price in Broomfield according to rightmove is circa £342,500. If this isn’t geed what is?
John Perkins Reply

August 13, 2024 at 9:33 am

£4,750 pcm for five bedrooms works out at £950 pcm per bedroom each. £5,500 for seven bedrooms is £786 pcm per room. The difference, £164 pcm, to an impecunious student is a lot of money.

From a landlord’s point of view, £4,750 pcm for a house costing about £1.5 million gives a return of less than four per cent, though a more reasonable valuation of £1.25 million would return almost five per cent.

Valuation of a seven-bed property in Broomfield is not easy, but an average of all properties is misleading as prices there are unlikely to be much different from those in Gateways.
- Alan Judge Reply
  
  August 14, 2024 at 11:32 am
  
  That 5 bedroom house has receptions rooms, remember.
  Lounge, Dining Room, Study, Large kitchen. 3 Bathrooms, Utility room…
  - John Perkins Reply
    
    August 15, 2024 at 8:19 am
    
    I don’t understand the point Alan Judge is trying to make.
    
    Conversion to an HMO will result a loss of home facilities, but that is an argument about whether or not such changes are detrimental.
    
    My question was: why and how does it make a landlord greedy?
    - Alan Judge Reply
      
      August 15, 2024 at 2:06 pm
      
      Well, these landlords aren’t doing it for love.
      - John Perkins
        
        August 17, 2024 at 8:00 am
        
        No trader, company or government does anything for love. That does not make them greedy.
        
        Sadiq Khan claims that landlords are greedy and must be restrained by the imposition of rent controls. It would never occur to him to impose such controls on taxation.