Insane student HMO heating costs?

12:05 AM, 13th October 2026, 6 days ago

25

Hi, I know I’m not alone, but my energy bills have gone through the roof in my student HMO’s.

For over 20 years I let my houses exclusive of bills but a few years ago the local market (York) changed and now students (and likely their parents) insist on bills included.

Whilst I would “load” the rental figure to allow for more usage than average, despite rent increases every year the energy costs far exceed any increases. Tenants are stretched to their absolute limit as it is thanks to years of government policies that we are all too familiar with so I cannot simply keep raising the rents in line with increased energy costs.

I’m genuinely terrified that with 4 fixed rate mortgages coming to and end next year (in addition to my own home) and energy prices set to rise around 20% in January I just don’t know how I’m going to be able to keep going.

As with so many landlords, our gross rental income has gone up massively but our net disposable income is getting significantly lower each year. I don’t expect tiny violins but as a responsible, experienced landlord of 25 years I’ve built up a good business, with many hundreds of happy tenants and I’ve already disposed of the less profitable properties to try to keep going.

My point is that with a perfect storm of higher interest rates and ever increasing energy costs do any readers have any practical suggestions of how to keep energy costs down – maybe offering out of the box bespoke bills inclusive / exclusive rents or physically limiting energy usage?

Any suggestions I’m sure would be appreciated by other readers too.

PLEASE no lectures from smug landlords who own their properties mortgage free!

Thank you,

Andy