HMO Management.. Lets keep it clean!

I often get asked questions on my HMO Facebook group about cleaning and keeping HMOs tidy, so this is what we do.

It almost an impossible task to keep a shared house tidy all the time, as soon as tenants leave a dish in the sink it seems to prompt others to do the same and then before you know it, the whole property becomes a dumping zone.

It really doesn't matter what systems you have in place the only thing that will ever work will be to employ a cleaner on a regular basis, you can try cleaning rota's...they don't work!

Monday is room 1's turn to take out the bins, room 1 doesn't comply then room 2 doesn't on Tuesday because room 1 didn't do it the day before, you get the picture!

So here are my top tips on keeping a good tidy house in an HMO

1. Employ a cleaner to attend at least once a fortnight and they should also be prepared to wash up
2. Always provide bin bags, our cleaner does this each time they visit the house and charges it back to us, if you don't provide bin bags then guess what, they will still use the bins!
3. Make sure the tenants are aware of bin day and include this date in their documentation We provide this on a welcome letter) and also stick it on a notice in the kitchen
4. Make sure you have some form of House Policy to include the cleaning of the house and removal of bins etc
5. Supply 2 large bins for the kitchen, one for recycling and one for general waste
6. We always employ a head tenant usually this will be the more mature and responsible person in the house, they are asked to keep the house tidy and ensure that everyone is pulling their weight, we incentivise the head tenant with a slight reduction in rent.
7. And finally, make sure that you are conducting regular house checks.

It's never an easy task with a shared house but if you follow these simple rules then you should be able to keep on top of things.

Have fun!

Rick

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