How to stop your HMO utility bills spiralling out of control on your rent to rent property and keep your housemates happy

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In this episode we’re talking about heating costs and how to stop them spiralling out of control!

And you'll love this episode because it helps you keep your costs down AND keep your housemates happy at the same time!

If you’re just joining us, go back to episode 1 as the episodes do build on each other to give you the full view of rent to rent success. 

With rent to rent it works when you know your costs.

So you’ve used your Deal Analyser and you know the deal stacks but what if your tenants are careless and your bills spiral.

Many landlords are familiar with this, where you’ll go round in the height of Summer.

You open the door and a wall of heat hits you. All the windows are wide open.

Housemates are wearing bikinis to stay cool.

And it’s a familiar story that someone put the heating on when it was cold and then forgot it. 

It’s just carelessness because often when we’re not paying, we’re not paying attention.

So what do you do?

Well you can put a fair use clause into your ASTs.

We have one in our ASTs but we’ve never had to enforce. Because we have Inspire.

It changed everything.

So simple.

I know this will be a gamechanger for you too.

It’s the Inspire Heating System. 

And this system can be set up to come on and off at the times you choose. This is the same as you’d normally do with a boiler. Typically you’d have the heating on in the mornings for a few hours and in the evening for a few hours.

However, not all boilers are straightforward and the complexity of the boilers sometimes meant it was just easier for them to put the heating on 24/7 and live semi-tropical all year round!

Inspire has the same automated settings.

The heating comes on automatically in the mornings and evenings.

Here’s the difference though.

Housemates can turn the heating on by pressing one button.

They press the boost button so the heating comes on for an amount of time pre-programmed by you - which could be between 1-3 hours for example.

Here’s the magic though, after that time has passed the heating will go back to pre-programmed settings.

This means no one has to remember to switch it back to timed. Tenants love it too.

It’s easy.

And they control it.

As well as boost, housemates can increase or decrease the temperature at any time. 

At the time of recording Inspire units were just under £200 which is well worth it over a 3 or 5 year contract.

I made a video about this where you can also see what it looks like and the notice we put next to it, which is something you might want to do too.

CLICK HERE to watch the cut HMO heating costs video

So your costs go down.

And your housemates get happier!

Have you found this useful?

We’d be super appreciative you could leave a review on apple podcasts. 

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And for every podcast review you give, you’re giving to help children in the Turkana region of Kenya to have the uniform and books they need to attend school. We’ll be contributing through B1G1. 

Have a great rest of the week.

And remember,

Believe Bigger, Be Bolder and Be a Gamechanger!

See you soon!

Stephanie & Nicky

xx

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