Husband and wife team Sarah and Andrew Watt have focused on high quality yet affordable homes with their HMO business.

As part of our campaign highlighting how landlords have upgraded the standards of privately rented property, we talk to Sarah and Andrew Watt about their Milton Keynes portfolio.  

Download our report, Raising the standards of privately rented property, to read more about how landlords have driven improvements in the sector.

Sarah and Andrew Watt are a husband and wife team who run Alt Street Property, based in Milton Keynes.

Together they own and manage a portfolio of 10 properties – four of which are houses in multiple occupation (HMO), with the remainder consisting of single let houses and flats.

Sarah and Andrew have built a successful lettings business by providing high quality yet affordable homes that meet the varied needs of a mix of tenant types, including young professionals in the co-living HMO market and families in the single let houses that they own.

In doing so, they have invested a substantial amount of time and money in improving the properties they own, something that is paying dividends. 

On the co-living side, upgrades see tenants benefit from well-equipped essentials, such as design-led kitchens and bathrooms, as well as private outdoor spaces and courtyards. In addition, the couple say that the biggest improvement they have made has been the addition of larger communal spaces that feature a pool table, wellness corner and bar.

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Sarah said: "The cost-of-living crisis placed financial strain on some people and shared living offers relatively affordable accommodation. But, just because it can be more affordable than renting or buying alone, sharing a house doesn't have to be dingy, I think that’s a bit of an outdated perception. 

“We put a lot of pride into our co-living HMOs, with full facilities such as a pool table, bar and a wellness corner for tenant wellbeing.” 

And it’s not just tenants who have benefitted from Sarah and Andrew’s efforts; recognising the need to minimise the environmental impact of our homes and conscious of proposed changes to energy performance certificate (EPC) ratings, they have bought properties with a ‘B’ EPC rating and solar panels.

On the other side, Sarah and Andrew started off with single lets and are pet-friendly landlords.

“When we first moved to the UK, we had our pet Beaglier with us and found 93% of privately rented homes would not accept pets.” As frustrating as it was at the time, it also presented an opportunity to provide accommodation to this market.

“We now have three pet-friendly single lets in our local area and the pets are almost our tenants as well. Regular inspections, thorough screening and referencing, and taking guarantors, are some of the measures we take to ensure our properties are well-maintained throughout the tenancy and it’s worked really well for us, particularly with the post covid pet boom.”

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Asked to share any advice for other landlords, Sarah said: “My top tip is always being on top of maintenance. This may sound obvious, but I think it can be tempting to save time and money but it’s often more efficient and cost-effective to nip things in the bud early on and address any issues before they become more serious and costly. 

“Also, effective planning when things need improving can make a big difference. New kitchen? New bathroom? Plan it in amongst tenant turnovers because not only does this reduce costly void periods in the long term, it’s also a lot easier and less disruptive for the tenants.”  

Looking forward, Sarah and Andrew plan to expand the size of their portfolio and reinvest into their existing portfolio to upgrade some of their rooms and houses.

They plan to add ensuites to bigger rooms as tenants turn over to accommodate a growing number of people downsizing from living alone in a one bed flat. They also plan to convert one of their three bed, one bath end terraces into a four bed, two bath by utilising an existing garage conversion.

Longer term, they want to steadily add properties to their portfolio and aim to diversify within the property sector.

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