So your HMO property is up and running. You’ve done everything to systemise your HMO business, and you’ve secured tenants to live there as well. Everything is running smoothly…

That is until your phone starts ringing at an ungodly hour because tenants need to report an ‘emergency’!

You answer right away, worried that there’s an emergency you need to get to — maybe there’s a fire, or perhaps a break-in, or could there be a leak?

And then your tenant tells you that the hot water isn’t working, or that the door handle is broken, or that they lost their keys and they’ve locked themselves out!

Are these really emergencies? Well, it depends.

For me, these aren’t emergencies. They might be urgent, but nobody’s at risk, and the property isn’t ‘at risk’. These are all problems that can be resolved in the morning. Even a tenant locking themself out isn’t an emergency — if they’ve got their phone to call you, then they can probably call a friend to let them in, or crash somewhere else for the night; I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t help a tenant with this type of stuff ‘out of hours’ if that’s what you want to do, but it’s not an emergency, and trust me, once you have a few rooms under your belt, this stuff can happen more often than you’d think (or hope).

To avoid unwanted situations like this, you should first decide on whether or not you’ll be providing an out of hours service. Are you only available for a certain period of time? Are you providing 24/7 service? Or are you doing both but the out of hours service is only reserved for emergencies?

There are pros and cons to an out of hours service, but one of the really good pros about it is that it will help ‘sell’ your management service. There’s a degree of comfort for our tenants in knowing that if something happens outside of working hours, somebody will be there to help them.

Of course, this is something you should weigh for yourself because it depends on how you want to run your HMO business. However, it is definitely a good idea to decide this early on so you can set expectations for yourself and your tenants.

To give you an idea of my out of hours service, here’s what I do:

We switch off our phones at 5:30 PM but tenants can still call and voice their concerns on voicemail if they press “1”. This is for concerns that can be addressed in the morning (i.e. things that aren’t an emergency), but we do have a policy for emergencies wherein they can press “2” to be redirected to a staff member straight away.

As for what I consider emergencies, it’s everything that puts the tenants and the property at risk. So we’re talking about fire, floods, a gas leak, also theft, criminal activity, and personal injury. However, it would be wise for my tenants to call professional authorities before they let me know because they would be better at solving these emergencies.

To make sure my tenants know who to call first in these emergencies, and so they understand what we determine as an emergency, we provide them with the information in the form of a tenant welcome pack and an emergency procedure which is pinned to the notice board in their property. The notice board will always be placed in a common area while the welcome pack is given to them as soon as they move in and sent over by email.

Now that you know how I do it, here are some tips you should remember if you decide on providing an out of hours service yourself:

You need to let your tenants know early on what your out of hours service is. This includes specifying what constitutes emergencies, what kind of situations they can call you for out of hours, and what they should first do if they encounter an emergency.

Having a plan or policy in place will make everything clear for your tenants. It will also help you avoid unwanted situations.

Like what I do, the notice board and welcome pack will also come in handy for you. It’s possible for your tenants to lose the welcome pack or maybe forget to read what’s on the notice board, which is why you should remind them of the emergency procedure periodically.

But remember, proactivity beats reactivity, so if you want to increase your chances of avoiding these emergencies, make sure you have all the information about maintenance provisions at hand. This includes doing regular inspections, risk assessments, having outsourced companies set up for plumbing or gas — all that stuff that you need to tend to for the safety of your tenants and your property.

All of the above will help you prevent your out of hours service from being misused (if you decide to have one). If you have a system in place for this type of service, everything will still run smoothly even if it’s a weekend, a holiday, or simply when you’re away.

So don’t forget to plan ahead and be consistent. Once you’ve set forth your rules for an out of hours service, your tenants will know what to expect from you. And to avoid any confusion, you need to be consistent with it. You can’t say you’re free to answer any of their queries at any time of the day when you yourself can’t be sure if you can commit to that promise. What happens if you have an emergency? Or if you’re on holiday in an out of signal area? Planning and being consistent will help you avoid these types of situations.

So write it down, make a plan, and see how it all fits with your own package. Not only will this help you streamline your HMO property business, but it will also help you protect your time and your staff’s time outside of working hours so you can continue to build the HMO business you want.

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About the Author:

Andy Graham is the founder and the lead trainer at The HMO Roadmap! He is also the co-founder of The HMO Mastermind and Smart Property, a specialist HMO property investment and management company. He writes as a regular columnist in different magazines about a variety of HMO topics and the host of The HMO Podcast! Follow Andy on Instagram!