Mike first investment was a 2,000 sq ft Light Industrial Unit at Ash Court. It went to auction in Allsop’s (Nov 2020) commercial auction. Despite not seeing inside it before buying it (totally inadvisable but the numbers were that good!). Mike bought the unit post auction for £152k cash on an impressive 8.8% yield and it has since been valued at an impressive £190k. Simply the best deal Mike ever made in his entire career, as it meant +£38k instant equity on purchase.

In 2021 Mike followed it up with another purchase of another 1,200sq ft Light Industrial Unit in Peterborough. This is the area of the business is a growth area of Mike’s business as it is true passive income, tenants are all on Repairing and Insuring leases and it is not subject the increasingly onerous residential legislation. It is Mike’s dream to own more of these units as they the most profitable on a time invested basis. The only catch is, of course, they have to be purchased outright in cash, due to the expensive commercial finance (significantly more than Blocks or HMOs) so growth is slow but Mike intends to make another purchase soon in 2026.

After owning these units for since 2020 Mike now has a good base knowledge of Commercial lease legislation too and Mike has enjoyed expanding his knowledge across multiple sectors.

Mike led the business: strategy, marketing, client relationships, and the delivery of complex national events. Branded DJs was the market leading in store DJ company, with many innovations such as creating bespoke DJ Branded DJ Booths for clients and the UKs largest selection of Female / Retail DJs. This included managing multi-location DJ events. At times he managed 25+ DJs operating simultaneously across the UK.

Following retail crisis and the rapid growth of his property development business, Mike closed Branded DJs in March 2020, concluding a 10 year old commercially successful and innovative venture within the UK Retail Events sector.

Check out the Branded DJs website here: www.brandeddjagency.co.uk

Over the years Mike Smith has become a specialist in HMO planning law, with a proven record of securing permissions in Nottingham, one of the UK’s most restrictive Article 4 planning authorities. Nottingham City Council routinely refuses new and intensified HMO applications, even where proposals are policy-compliant.

Through word of mouth & his Estate Agency. Mike has provided planning consultancy services for many clients and obtained lawful use certificates on numerous HMOs for clients and has a 100% record in obtaining the requested permissions. Mike has also successful challenged Nottingham City Council at the Planning Inspectorate (the highest planning authority in the land) twice and won. He is proud to have stood up for the Landlord community against the Council’s improper application of planning law.

Beech Avenue Example: Planning Inspectorate Appeal

This example case involved a 6-bedroom HMO seeking planning consent to become a 7-bedroom Sui Generis HMO. Despite a strong and well-evidenced case, supported by comparable decisions, the council refused the application.
Mike prepared and pursued a detailed planning law appeal, challenging the council’s interpretation of policy and the lawful application of Article 4 controls. The Planning Inspectorate allowed the appeal, overturning the refusal in full. The full documents can be downloaded on the links below.

Mike is available for paid consultancy on HMO Planning law, HMO appeals, and HMO lawful use matters relating to Article 4 Directives and other HMOs.

Renovations kicked off in August 2022. The vision: industrial Manchester character with modern luxury. Phase one introduced striking exposed brick slips in the lounge to give exposed brickwork, a new contemporary kitchen, and a bespoke living wall, bold, natural, and completely unique.

Phase two (Jan 2023) was where things got complicated. The goal was to add an en-suite downstairs but with all waste services upstairs and with an agreement with the Freeholder to do it within his demise only, the job was far from simple. The pipework had to snake around corners and penetrate thick concrete floors. A commercial grade macerator to pump waste up a floor was the solution along with a very complicated pipe run. Building regulations demanded mechanical extraction. The solution? A duct that snaked through floors and walls powered by a commercial-grade turbo fan, pulling air 4 meters to the main bathroom above. Quite simply the most complicated bathroom Mike has ever put in, it was closer to commercial services work than just a bathroom due to the complexity of the building restrictions.

The £32,000 project delivered a show-stopping transformation. From its exposed brick slip textures to its ingenious layout, the Lexington now stands as the building’s statement flat and is one of the most unique flats in Manchester! How many other flats can you sit on the sofa watching the clouds go past?

Mike initially lived in it for 2 years but it was rented for 20 months (2024-26) achieving a record breaking £2,250pcm in rent per month and the profit from this went towards Mike’s Digital Nomad Lifestyle!

A unique penthouse flat, of course, gets the best tenants who want to pay for a unique home.

Wellington Street was a rare find: A Freehold block of two flats, owned by the same landlord since 1996. It came up in a online auction in December 2023. The original buyer had bid as high as £160,000 but then pulled out. The seller was 80 years old and highly motivated. Mike moved quickly and secured it for an incredible £134,000. The best deals are often found post auction when sellers have no other options.

The flats were in a very poor condition, damp, tired and needing work, but the location was outstanding, just 50 metres from Nottingham’s main shopping centre and effectively it is the first residential street outside the city centre. Rental demand always is excellent in this area given the prime letting location.

Flat 1 was refurbished immediately after purchase, between December 2023 and January 2024. The damp issue was dealt with properly using a full membrane system. It was not cheap, but permanent solutions are always preferable to ensure tenant comfort. The flat was then tidied up, repainted and furnished.

Flat 2 was still occupied by a long term elderly tenant, who was retained out of respect for his circumstances. He chose to move on in late 2024. Once vacant, the flat underwent a full refurbishment in late 2024, including a new kitchen and bathroom, completely transforming the unit. The rent increased from £525 pcm to £850 pcm.

The Result: +£32k equity & 12% Yield 

Both flats now rent for £850 pcm with zero voids, producing £20,400 per year. The project has been since valued at £200,000, delivering a clean + £32,000 equity uplift after all build costs were accounted for and over 12% yield on total spend. For a city centre location with great rental demand, this was an excellent high yield cash deal in a the post Mini Budget market where expensive mortgage borrowing makes far less sense.

The interior was cleverly modelled to allow for 6 bedrooms and designed to a luxury industrial designer specification which attached a very high rental figure for the area, £450 per room (£31,800pa). The quality of the house speaks for itself when you see the photos.

The development also involved a highly complex C3 (Residential) to C4 (Small HMO) planning application against a hostile Council who tried to stop the house being legally used as a HMO. Mike knew the Council had no lawful basis to refuse the application and he got the Council’s decision overturned at by the Planning Inspectorate. Mike is one of a very select group people who have successfully challenged Nottingham City Council and s many years of HMO experience was invaluable in this.

Despite the house being a success and being lucrative, Mike took a dispassionate decision to sell the house in an auction because the houses USP (the décor) was less pronounced when it was tenanted. The market was incredibly hot in late 2020 with many buyers paying overinflated prices. This decision proved to be an excellent one and the property achieved 250k, £40k more than it was valued by the bank & £60k more than Mike had spent on it! It was even featured by the Daily Mail on 2nd Dec 2020 as an example of a profitable flip project the deal was that good!

Digital Version: https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-9006781/Why-doing-houses-flipping-good-idea.html

The price was set at £302.5k (Oct 2019) which was a fair price given the very poor condition. Mike’s angle was that due to the large size of the flats (60m2) they could easily be turned from one to two bedroom flats and thus increase the rental value substantially with some well placed stud walls.

Mike purchased using a short term bridging loan. As it was split between two titles it was possible to do works on each side, refinance and put the recycled capital to work on the other side of the building. Essentially halving the build capital requirements for the work. A rare situation for a block of this size!

The first side Ebury Rd which was completed and tenanted in March 2020 with a build cost of £70k and end value of 245k. The left side was then completed in September 2020 with an end value of 250k with a spend of 75k. All in a spend of £447k.

Mike developed this property at the height of the Covid Pandemic and the project was an extreme endurance test. First in March 2020 the bank paused the next tranche of capital (thankfully only for a few weeks!) and then was significant shortages of even basic materials like plaster! Just to finish the project was a real achievement given the significant disruptions the project faced but Mike persevered and to keep things moving he even picked up a paintbrush for a final weeks!

Because the flats were now 2 bedroom flats and in excellent condition they were now commanding some serious rent, £675-750 each and the building brings in a very impressive £52,000 per annum, 10.93% gross yield on a total GDV of £495,000.

As of 2021 the building brought in an excellent 29k net profit after finance, voids and maintenance costs, see the breakdown below. Even the area is a relatively nice area for a rental property and Mike intends to hold the property for many years to come and unlike HMOs which are becoming increasingly competitive it has an excellent defensive moat.

Purchase Price – 1st Oct 2019

• Purchase price: £305k (Bridging finance)
• Build Costs: £138k
• Bridging Interest Costs £12.5k
• SDLT: 3k (note this was using commercial SDLT rates due to the 6 flats)
• Total: £456k invested

GDV – Gross Development Value
Side 1 – 245k
Side 2 – 250k
Total: £495k

Refinance
Refinanced at 75% LTV
88.5k left in adjusting for the 34k equity created.

Income as of 2021
4 x 2 bed flats @ £695pcm
2 x 2 bed flats @ £750pcm

Annual rent 51.3k

Outgoings
Mortgages x 2 : – 17k
Voids, Other, & Maintenance @ 10% – 5k

Outgoings: -22k

Annual Profit
29.3k

Metrics
Return on capital left in deal: 32.5%
Payback time: 3 years.
Gross Yield 10.9%
Net yield after finance and running costs: 6.23% of 495k

Established 11 years ago, Notts Relocate is an Estate Agency founded by Mike Smith to deliver high-quality HMO property management services.

Recognising the need for scale to found a team and additional income to reinvest into property, Mike expanded the business to manage properties for other landlords alongside his own. This created a highly responsive team, reduced voids, and delivered the level of service he had previously found lacking with traditional agents. It also means that the % management costs on his own properties is significantly reduced and quality high. The business primarily operates on a lease (rent-to-rent) model, alongside some % based clients.

With a background in club promotion, Mike developed strong marketing capabilities for HMO rooms, helping maintain better occupancy that most agents. His focus on quality homes and selective client relationships has resulted in long-term partnerships, with many landlords with Notts Relocate Ltd close to a decade. Finding a company that “just gets on with it” is rare after all.

Few businesses sustain performance over this length of time, but Notts Relocate Ltd has delivered consistent, reliable profits year on year, supported by a carefully selected team of five staff in Nottingham. The profits of Notts Relocate has also enabled significant portfolio growth for Mike. From starting with two properties, Mike now owns 10 x Residential and 2 x Industrial Units, reflecting the significant cash flow the business has brought in over 11 successful years.

The company has consistently adopted remote working, including using  virtual assistants in the Philippines, helping build an efficient operation and develop tech ecosystem to support working across the globe. e.g. VOIP telephones. The same remote tech ecosystem & UK based team, has allowed Mike to operate remotely as a Digital Nomad as work from 25 countries to date with surprising ease.