Yes - With the Right Fire Safety Partner

HMOs remain one of the most attractive rental strategies in the North West, particularly in and around Chester, Warrington, Liverpool and Greater Manchester. The reason is simple. In many parts of the region you can still buy at prices that make sense, while room demand remains strong enough to support healthy rents and relatively low voids.

But that extra yield is not free money. HMOs are treated as higher risk accommodation for very good reasons, and the compliance expectations are higher. If you want the returns without the constant worry, you need to treat fire safety as part of the investment model, not an afterthought. With the right fire safety partner, it is absolutely doable.

Why HMOs Tend to Yield More Than Single Lets

An HMO usually produces higher income because you are renting rooms rather than a whole house to one household. That changes the economics in three ways. First, you generate multiple income streams from one asset. If one room turns over, the whole property does not go empty. Second, demand is often broader. Shared living suits students, early career professionals, key workers and people relocating for work. Third, rents do not always move in lockstep with purchase prices. In places where property is still relatively affordable, rents can represent a larger percentage of the asset value, which is what drives yield.

There is a good example of this north south gap in mainstream market data. Zoopla reported that London delivers the lowest average gross yields for buy to let at around 5.1 percent in 2025 (Zoopla). That is not an HMO figure, but it sets the context. When standard yields are already tight, investors naturally look for strategies like HMOs to improve cash flow.

Real World Yield Difference North West Versus London

There are two sensible comparisons to make. The first is the general rental yield picture. Independent market write ups using recent datasets place the North West in a materially higher yield band than Greater London, with London regularly sitting in the lowest range. For example Aspen Woolf’s 2025 summary shows North West gross yields in a higher band than Greater London, with Greater London described in a lower and flatter range (Aspen Woolf).

The second comparison is more directly relevant to your question: HMO yields. A 2024 to 2025 regional comparison published by the Landlords Guild summarised HMO yields by region and reported the North West at around 11.5 percent, while London is materially lower (england.landlordsguild.com). If you want one more data point that anchors the idea of London being yield constrained, Zoopla’s 2025 yield commentary again places London at the bottom end of the national yield range (Zoopla). Taken together, the story is consistent across sources. The North West can support materially stronger yields than London, and HMOs are one of the clearest ways that shows up.

Why the North West HMO Model Works So Well

The North West has three advantages that repeatedly show up in day to day landlord experience (Zoopla).

Affordability headroom - Lower purchase prices mean the rent has a better chance of producing a strong yield even after costs.
Demand density - Liverpool and Manchester have large student and professional populations. Warrington sits in a commuter and logistics corridor. Chester attracts a mix of professional renters, hospitality workers and people who value the city but want a lower cost than many southern equivalents.
Rental growth in specific local markets - Zoopla’s December 2025 rental market report highlighted stronger rent growth in more affordable areas and specifically referenced Chester showing annual growth for new lets in the period they analysed.

All this matters because stable or rising rents help protect the model when mortgage costs or maintenance costs increase.

The Trade Off: HMOs Carry Higher Fire Safety Expectations

If you accept that HMOs can yield more, you also need to accept why they are treated differently. More occupants means more ignition sources, more cooking activity, more electrical loading, and more chance that one person’s mistake affects everyone else. You also have sleeping risk spread across multiple rooms, and evacuation is less predictable because residents are often unrelated and unfamiliar with the building. That is why councils and enforcement bodies take HMOs seriously, and why licensing and fire safety requirements are often more demanding.

In practical terms, many councils require a written fire risk assessment as part of licensing processes. Salford Council’s guidance is explicit that mandatory HMOs and those under additional licensing will need a written fire risk assessment for the application process, linked to Housing Act requirements (Salford City Council). Alongside local licensing expectations, national guidance sets the legal duty framework. The Government’s collection on fire safety guidance for those with legal duties is a useful anchor for responsible persons and duty holders navigating what is expected (GOV.UK).

For HMOs specifically, LACoRS fire safety guidance is widely used across housing enforcement contexts as a risk based approach for existing residential accommodation including shared houses and bedsits (DASH Services).

The Compliance Issues That Most Often Harm Returns

Most costly HMO problems are not caused by bad intent. They are caused by assumptions, and assumptions are expensive. One common pattern is treating contractor advice as a substitute for an independent fire risk assessment. An installer may install competently to a specification, but it is the fire risk assessment that should drive what the building actually needs. Another pattern is piecemeal upgrades. A landlord replaces doors, then later discovers the alarm system is not appropriate for the layout, then later discovers the emergency lighting does not match the escape strategy. Each step might be reasonable in isolation, but it costs more when not planned coherently. A third pattern is documentation gaps. Licensing, insurance and due diligence for refinancing can all become painful when records are incomplete or inconsistent.

What It Looks Like With the Right Fire Safety Partner

This is where a good partner changes the lived experience of being an HMO landlord. A competent fire safety partner should make the job simpler, not scarier. That means:

A fire risk assessment that is tailored to the property layout and real occupancy.
A prioritised action plan that separates urgent life safety issues from longer term improvements.
Practical liaison with contractors so the work is done correctly and proportionately.
Ongoing review when the building changes, for example when you reconfigure rooms, change tenancy type, or alter the escape route conditions.

We do a large volume of HMO work across Chester, Warrington, Liverpool and Manchester, so the aim is always the same: help landlords protect the yield by getting compliance right first time, and avoid the stress and cost of rework.

So Is HMO Investing Worth It in the North West?

Yes. The yield case is stronger than London in most comparable analyses, and the North West continues to benefit from demand and affordability dynamics that suit the HMO model (england.landlordsguild.com). But it is only worth it if you approach fire safety as part of the investment plan. When you do that, HMOs can be both profitable and responsible, and far less stressful to run.

If you are a property investor in the North West or considering it, please reach out to us - we would be glad to be your fire safety partner in the region.

Disclaimer

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Fire safety requirements vary depending on property layout, occupancy, licensing conditions and local authority expectations. Always seek advice from a competent fire risk assessor before making decisions that affect fire safety or compliance.

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