INTERVIEW: The young graduate building a student lettings market ‘disruptor’ city by city

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A young entrepreneur and recent graduate who recently launched a new kind of student lettings platform tells LandlordZONE that her business already has a presence in eight key UK cities and has plans to expand into another ten by the end of year.

Called HYBR – short for hibernate – it is the brainchild of 24-year-old former Bristol student Hannah Chappatte (pictured) who says she observed the ‘toxic’ relationship between letting agents, landlords and students and, during her final year, began building its platform and pitching to Bristol landlords.

“I noticed that students hated renting and they distrusted landlords, while landlords distrusted students, so I wanted to create something that would raise the standards of student renting by creating a win-win for all involved,” she says.

HYBR asks landlords to be involved in the running of their rented properties, although it does offer a full management service, but also hand-holds students who use its service with advice and support as they move into, and live within, their rented home.

“HYBR offers [tenants] around-the-clock customer support from former students who understand what they are going through,” she says.

“We offer a broad range of properties and prices that are tailored to the student market, so students only see properties relevant to them.” 

120 properties

The business already has 120 properties on its books in eight cities and, once it gains more investment, hopes to add another ten to the list by the end of the year, aided by 40 ‘ambassadors’ on the ground.

“So far the business has been bootstrapped with our profits and from winning several business competitions,” she says. “But we’re now talking to outside investors to help it expand.”

Chappatte says she launched HYBR because she noticed how landlords had only two options – pay very little to a self-management platform but do a lot of the work themselves, or pay a hefty commission to a letting agency to manage their property – with nothing in the middle.

“For landlords, we offer affordable, flexible packages with all the one-off services they could need at a fraction of the cost of agents, and we source tenants fast. We beat advertising portals through leveraging the use of social media and utilising our ambassador teams,” she adds.

It is currently operational in Bristol, Exeter, Cardiff, Gloucester, Lancaster, Lincoln, Liverpool and Sheffield.

Read more: The ultimate guide to student properties for landlords.

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While city centre offices remain in the doldrums, other sectors hold out more promise

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According to RetailSector.co.uk a return to offices is seeing a boost in activity with footfall in central London and other UK large city centres outside rising by around 6.5 per cent. In some parts of central London dominated by offices this figure has reached almost 9 per cent.

However, in contrast to the London experience, many provincial and market towns across the UK, footfall has increased much more moderately at around 1.5 per cent as more workers remain home-working in the regions.

Voucher scheme

In Northern Ireland the Economy Minister, Gordon Lyons, has announced the launch of a High Street Voucher Scheme to boost local high street businesses. It means that everyone aged 18 and over can apply for a £100 “spend local” card to use in shops before the end of November. Not surprisingly nearly 500,000 requests have been made for the scheme and the website used of applications was overloaded in the process.

Accordingly, it is easy to see why we welcome the High Street Voucher Scheme, which announced recently, with the objective of boosting local businesses. The £100 per head for the over 18s will be a welcome shot in the arm for the high street.

With the level of demand for commercial property generally reflecting the health of different sections in the economy, it is not difficult to see that prime city centre retailing is in the doldrums, with footfall in Belfast City centre down 19.1 per cent in August, which is ahead of the decline in the rest of the UK where falls were on average at 18 per cent.

The NI voucher scheme which will cost £145m and is designed to boost activity in businesses hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, like non-essential retail and hospitality. High streets and town centres in NI were already facing a tough time before the pandemic began with the rise in online shopping. It is hoped the voucher scheme will encourage more people to go out to shops, which could help the economic recovery.

Drive-thru thriving

It’s an ill wind that blows no good, so while the high street has been suffering through the pandemic other sectors have gained traffic. One such is the drive-thru sector, offering convenient and fast way of picking up mainly food. Demand has increased considerably for these relatively safe car-based quick service solutions. You may have noticed the car queues at local Costas and McDonalds or you may even have joined them!

Other businesses in this sector have experienced the increase in business and many are now on the look-out for suitable sites for more outlets. It’s not only McDonalds and Costa, KFC, Greggs, Starbucks, and Tim Hortons are all now in competition for the best locations in this sector.

According to reports in the Irish News from Northern Ireland,

“There is considerable room for continued growth in this sector of the market, however, with many of the sites now occupied it will take innovative thinking on behalf of operators, developers and planners to keep the supply of opportunities going.”

Logistics and warehousing demand

It has been well known in the industry for some time that the warehousing sector has enjoyed a tremendous boost through throughout the Covid pandemic as the surge on online delivers means that warehousing space is essential for many retailers. Demand for these industrial style sheds in the right locations continues apace throughout the UK and in most cases outstrips supply.

An expert’s view

“With this traditional supply diminishing and rents rising, we will start to see some speculative warehousing being built with the emphasis on height and therefore volume for storage and distribution,” says Declan Flynn writing for the Irish News.

“We anticipate rents achievable in this sector to far exceed those for the traditional warehouse market. A notable entrant in this market is Amazon who having only just taken occupation of their 400,000 sq ft distribution centre in Belfast last year and have now revealed plans for a new 70,000 sq ft facility in Mahon Industrial Estate in Portadown, with a further requirement on the cards for the north west.

“Our general outlook for the commercial property market going forward is much more positive than it was this time last year when we were in the middle of lockdown. Transactions had ground to a halt and there was complete uncertainty over the job market, combined with Brexit,” says Mr Flynn.

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That Cockroach time of year!

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Heating ducts and pipes can be prime spots for cockroaches as the heating goes on in the autumn the British Pest Control Association (BPCA) has warned and issued a guide with advice on preventing the warmth-loving insects getting into premises to help private landlords prevent an infestation.

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Setting up a Mixed Partnership Structure?

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My wife and I are both higher rate taxpayers and currently hold a portfolio of 9 BTL properties in joint names. We are familiar with the four structures that we could use to hold & manage the portfolio:
1.

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Council claims government has ‘gone cold’ on selective licensing approvals

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Scarborough Council fears ministers have gone cold on selective licensing after a year-long wait to get approval for its new plans.

Last summer, the authority voted for a new scheme to cover the Scarborough South area in the town’s Weaponness and Ramshill ward following a public consultation.

This needs government approval as it would take the total number of properties covered by selective licensing above 20%, however, councillors at a meeting of its lives and homes overview and scrutiny committee heard that there was still no news.

Housing manager Andrew Rowe (pictured, above) told the meeting the government had previously blamed Covid for the delay in making a decision.

He said: “Despite lots and lots of chasing, including some lobbying by the [local] MP, the government has not made a decision on that third scheme yet and we sense that perhaps the government is becoming a little bit cold on selective licensing but we will see.”

Change of emphasis

Rowe added that a number of selective licensing applications from other authorities in recent weeks had been refused, suggesting a “change of emphasis or policy” from the government.

However, a Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesman tells LandlordZONE that decisions to approve selective licensing schemes are made on a case-by-case basis and would not be drawn on whether there has been a policy change.

He adds: “Scarborough’s selective licensing scheme application is currently under consideration by the department.”

Councillors heard that one option was to end the first selective licensing scheme the council adopted in 2017 – in Castle and North Bay wards – as all the inspections in that area had been carried out, which would mean it would no longer need the government to sign off on the Weaponness extension.

All privately rented properties within parts of the Central ward in Scarborough were covered by a second scheme in 2019.

Watch the meeting.

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Complimentary entry – The Property Investor Show 15 & 16 October at ExCeL London

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The Property Investor Show is the largest, longest-running and most respected property investment expo presented in the UK and after a Covid-enforced absence is delighted to return to ExCeL London on 15 & 16 October.

For over 20 years

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Landlord Action reports eviction instructions up 43% versus pre-pandemic

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Landlord Action, one of the UK’s best-known eviction and housing law specialists, has seen a 43% rise in instructions from landlords and letting agents between 1 June 2021, when the eviction ban ended, and 1 September 2021, versus the same period in 2019

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Tory conference to debate private rented sector reform and green homes plans

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The Conservative party faithful will get the chance to share their views with MPs on the future of the PRS and making homes greener at next week’s conference.

Away from the main stage, fringe events at the Manchester meet include a discussion on what the Renters’ Reform Bill means for the future of private renting, when Shelter’s chief executive Polly Neate will join Eddie Hughes, Minister for Rough Sleeping & Housing, to discuss renting before the return of the Renters’ Reform Bill.

This fringe event promises to explore how it can, “use this moment to deliver lasting change to the private rented sector, working with renters and landlords”.

The government has promised to introduce the Bill in the autumn which will include details on abolishing Section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, proposals for a new ‘lifetime’ tenancy deposit model and reforms to drive improvements in standards, including by ensuring all tenants have a right to redress.

Green plans

Another meeting will see Housing Minister Christopher Pincher (pictured) joining other MPs to discuss the government’s pledge to ‘build back greener’.

“It will consider how best to overcome the obstacles that are holding back a green housing revolution, and discuss incentives to homeowners, the regulatory and financial structures to drive technological development, and the responsibility for decarbonising social housing stock,” says the promotional blurb.

Landlords will be hoping that they manage to come up with something better than the Green Homes Grant, which handed out funding for energy efficient improvements but was scrapped in March, just over six months after its launch.

Spending watchdog the National Audit Office has since slammed the government’s handling of the scheme, saying it was delivered to an over-ambitious timetable and was not executed to an acceptable standard.

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Purchase of second home in Family Trust for son?

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Hi All, My wife and I have a small property portfolio held in an LLP. We are in the process of purchasing a property for our 37-year-old son using the equity from our main home.

As he’s autistic and unable to handle his finances prudently

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LATEST: Scotland to begin paying £10m fund to tenants with Covid rent arrears

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The Scottish government has outlined how co-operative landlords and tenants can share a £10 million fund to help plug Covid-related arrears, four months after announcing the measure.

Councils have been tasked with distributing the new grant fund which aims to help both private and social tenants who have fallen behind on their rent and are at risk of eviction.

Each authority will get a one-off allocation of funds, based on an agreement with CoSLA, The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities.

Tenants and landlords are being told that they can’t apply directly for funding – instead local authorities will use their discretion to determine whether individual circumstances warrant a grant payment.

The cash will be available until the end of March 2022.

Housing Secretary Shona Robison says the grants will support tenants and landlords who are willing to work together to address rent arrears and agree a repayment plan.

“Councils have substantial experience in supporting people who have fallen behind on their rent and are therefore well placed to work with both tenants and landlords in making use of this grant fund,” says Robison (pictured).

“Anyone who has been financially impacted by the pandemic and needs help to avoid eviction should contact their local authority housing department to discuss their circumstances.”

Nina Ballantyne, Citizens Advice Scotland social justice spokesperson, adds that the network saw a real spike in demand for housing-related advice during the pandemic.

“Our analysis suggests almost 300,000 people in Scotland missed a housing payment last year because they ran out of money before pay day.”

The new grants come on top of the Scottish government’s £10 million Tenant Hardship Loan Fund launched last December, offering an interest-free loan.

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